Fixing the Shockwave Flash Crash in Chrome

Have you seen this a million time while surfing the web in Chrome? Yeh, me too.

While other browsers call upon the Flash installation of the host system, Chrome includes an internal Flash installation. When everything goes smoothly this isn’t a problem—the internal Flash installation is updated with every new Chrome release.

Unfortunately things can fall apart if Chrome attempts to use both the OS installation of Flash and the internal Chrome installation of Flash.

The result is serious browser lag, temporary lockup, and then a browser-wide crash of all active Flash instances.

You don’t realize how many web sites use Flash until every single tab locks up with a crash warning—”The following plug-in has crashed: Shockwave Flash“

How can you tell if a Flash conflict is the source of your trouble?

1. Run Chrome.
2. In the address bar, type about:plugins in the address bar.
3.  Look down the list of plug-ins for the Flash entry.
4. If you see Flash (2 Files) there is a very good chance the source of your Flash-related crashes is a conflict between the two.

In the upper right hand corner of the browser window there is a small toggle labeled [+] Details. Click on that toggle to expand the entries for all the plug-ins. Return to the entry for Flash.

You need to click on the Disable link for Chrome’s internal installation of Flash (make sure you disable the one located in Chrome’s AppData folder and not the separate stand-alone Flash installation). Once you do so the entry for the internal installation should look like so:

Go ahead and close the tab and then close Google Chrome. Restart Chrome and resume normal browsing—visit Adobe’s test page to ensure everything looks good:

Remember, you’ll no longer be getting automatic updates with each Chrome upgrade. Make sure to check for updates at Adobe’s Flash download page and/or turn on the update check in your local installation of Adobe Flash.

If for whatever reason disabling the built-in Flash doesn’t help, we suggest playing around with different combinations. Try turning off the OS Flash installation instead of the built-in Flash installation for example. Also, try visiting a flash-based web site while Incognito Mode (when you enter Incognito Mode it turns off all your Extensions which may or may not be causing issues with Flash). Finally, as a last ditch effort, you can reinstall Chrome (if Flash works in every other browser but Chrome, this is likely the only option you have left).

Have a tip or trick for dealing with tricky Flash installations or other browser quirks? Sound off in the comments.

Thank you http://www.howtogeek.com

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