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Oddly enough if you look at my posting history you'll discover that I know the guidelines. Specifically, the bit you quote: Please don't post on HN to ask

Oddly enough if you look at my posting history you'll discover that I know the guidelines. Specifically, the bit you quote: Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something (e.g. to ask us questions about Y Combinator, or to ask or complain about moderation) ... ... is talking about not posting to the group questions that are intended for YC or for PG - the "us" in the above excerpt. "Ask" and "Tell" are not part of the culture, they are independent of this. Moving on ... My investigations haven't got very far, not least because I've been struggling for the past 6 hours to make my machine usable again. I've given up. I'll just do without flash until someone can tell me how to fix it. The forums I've checked haven't helped at all, although I didn't know of SuperUser. I'll try that tomorrow. And regarding ESR's recommendations, again, oddly enough I've suggested in the past that people read them, and I had them in mind when I posted, but I am seriously beyond caring. I had hoped someone would (a) recognise the problem,and (b) cut me a little slack. I guess I was wrong. Pursuant to your observation, I've edited my original submission to give some indication that I have expended at least a little effort already in trying to solve this. ADDED IN EDIT: The question appears to have been asked in SuperUser and has had no replies. Based on other searches in other forums I'm not surprised, but I'll make more searches tomorrow.

pmjordan 16y ago
Have you tried using Chrome, with its embedded version of Flash (check chrome://plugins to enable only the embedded one)? If that doesn't work either, it sounds like there's a bust configuration somewhere, rather than a problem with the installation as such. Another thing to try: log in with another OS user account, and see if it works there. Finally: what's the failure mode, exactly? Browsers pretend no flash is installed? Flash hangs on start, etc.?
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
  Thanks for that - useful. I'll have a look at using the embedded version. Currently Chrome comes up with the bar across the top saying something like "the following plug-in has crashed: Shockwave Flash" (or something - I don't have the machine in front of me right now, and can't remember exactly).
  - pmjordan 16y ago
    I don't know if this works on the windows version, but you could try launching it from the command line and see if there's any output. Maybe get a chromium debug build or something? Have you tried other browsers? You might be able to trace which files are accessed by it as it starts (using whatever the equivalent of strace is on windows - Process Explorer?).
    - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
      Thanks for the advice and comments. Not sure how to launch from the command line - I've very little experience of Windows, although lots and lots of experience with DOS (of various flavors), Linux console/shell, and Linux GUIs. I can get to the command line, just don't know what executable to run. I haven't tried other browsers, and I have no idea how to trace system calls on Windows without some sort of dev environment. So far I've gone to chrome://plugins and disabled the Flash plugin, then re-enabled it, and now it seems to work. Mostly.
      - pmjordan 16y ago
        Start -> Run; type "cmd"; drag & drop the chrome icon onto the command line window. You may need to prefix it with start /wait To capture output. But there might not be any output. Process Explorer traces some stuff, and doesn't need a system environment. I'm not sure if it would suffice, particularly with a process that dies quickly. You'd have to try it. Good to hear that it works - not quite sure what you mean by "mostly". :-) I'm no Windows expert but feel free to contact me out-of-band (contact info is in my profile) if you think I could help.

pmjordan 16y ago

Have you tried using Chrome, with its embedded version of Flash (check chrome://plugins to enable only the embedded one)? If that doesn't work either, it sounds like there's a bust configuration somewhere, rather than a problem with the installation as such. Another thing to try: log in with another OS user account, and see if it works there. Finally: what's the failure mode, exactly? Browsers pretend no flash is installed? Flash hangs on start, etc.?

RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
Thanks for that - useful. I'll have a look at using the embedded version. Currently Chrome comes up with the bar across the top saying something like "the following plug-in has crashed: Shockwave Flash" (or something - I don't have the machine in front of me right now, and can't remember exactly).
- pmjordan 16y ago
  I don't know if this works on the windows version, but you could try launching it from the command line and see if there's any output. Maybe get a chromium debug build or something? Have you tried other browsers? You might be able to trace which files are accessed by it as it starts (using whatever the equivalent of strace is on windows - Process Explorer?).
  - RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
    Thanks for the advice and comments. Not sure how to launch from the command line - I've very little experience of Windows, although lots and lots of experience with DOS (of various flavors), Linux console/shell, and Linux GUIs. I can get to the command line, just don't know what executable to run. I haven't tried other browsers, and I have no idea how to trace system calls on Windows without some sort of dev environment. So far I've gone to chrome://plugins and disabled the Flash plugin, then re-enabled it, and now it seems to work. Mostly.
    - pmjordan 16y ago
      Start -> Run; type "cmd"; drag & drop the chrome icon onto the command line window. You may need to prefix it with start /wait To capture output. But there might not be any output. Process Explorer traces some stuff, and doesn't need a system environment. I'm not sure if it would suffice, particularly with a process that dies quickly. You'd have to try it. Good to hear that it works - not quite sure what you mean by "mostly". :-) I'm no Windows expert but feel free to contact me out-of-band (contact info is in my profile) if you think I could help.