Are you having problems with your web browser periodically crashing?

[Skinner]

We think the problem is being caused by one of the ads on our site, but we're not sure which one.

If you have been having problems, please post in this thread and share as much information as possible, including the following:

1. Your Operating System

2. Your web browser and version number

3. Your version of Adobe flash player (you should be able to get this by right-clicking on any rich-media banner advertisement)

4. Links to any pages here on DU where you have had this problem (if you don't remember the exact page, it would be helpful to know if it was a discussion thread, or a forum, or the latest page, or the homepage, or some other type of page)

5. If there was a banner ad on the page, do you remember what it was?

6. Any other information that you think might be relevant.

[Cass]

1. Yes, I have had this problem.

IE latest version (7?) and Adobe Flash Player 9. I can't remember which page triggered this.

[corkhead]

53. No problems for me. I use IE 7 but I keep flash disabled unless I specifically need it.

It can be turned on and off pretty easily from the tools menu

[Cass]

115. Thanks for that tip, corkhead.

I've disabled mine and will see how it goes. Today has it has been crashing almost constantly.

[raccoon]

2. Yes. I was in IE so I'm in Firefox now. No crashes yet.

Sorry, Skinner, I don't have the info you requested. If it happens again I'll make a note of those things.

[Skinner]

6. Do you at least know your IE and Flash version numbers? (nt)

[raccoon]

10. IE 7.0.5730.11 and Adobe flash 9. nt

[BlueJazz]

34. Yep..Same thing here....I'm a Tech and all that and I noticed .....

...that when I deleted Flash (9) that the Crashes disappeared.
When I installed flash again...Crashes came back (On DU ..ONLY)

Oh..Running XP Pro..service pack 2 ...other same as raccoon.
and same thing happens with Vista...

[Wiley50]

3. Nope. I'm a Firefox user. No Probs at all n/t

[Mugsy]

57. Ditto

Firefox, XP Pro. No probs.

[ezgoingrl]

4. Yes

I have IE 7 and Adobe 9. I don't have links, but I will try to get you some today. Thanks Skinner!!

[greyl]

5. No problems - Firefox 2.0.0.3 nt

[EST]

7. Yes, and I'm using Mozilla.

I didn't really suspect anything external, figuring it was the typical windoze cluster, but I will start watching more closely.
Mozilla
W-XP
ad-aware, avg and spybot all run without problems.

[Lobster Martini]

8. Frequent problems -- here are the specs

Using AOL 9.0 Security Edition SE and Adobe Flash Player 9. Problems generally occur in threads and (possibly) the latest page.

[loudsue]

44. Same here.... all of the above.

:kick:

[AlinPA]

9. It crashed while reading this thread. (IE had trouble with addon Flash9b.ocx)

I have Explorer Browser 7.0.6000.16441
Adobe Flash Player v 9,0,28,0

[AlinPA]

14. Also, I am running XP Home Edition, v2002 Service pack 2

[sandnsea]

78. I get that too

I think I've got the same browser and adobe stuff.

[MiniMe]

82. That error is driving me crazy

I'm running IE 6, Windows XP Professional, flash verion 9. It happens when I click on a thread to read from general discussion. Probably on other threads too, but I mainly hang in GD.

[hobbit709]

11. Occasional freezes but does on other sites too.

Win2000, Mozilla 1.7.12, Flash 8.0.22.0 on this system

[stellanoir]

12. Yes, not yet this morning but it's been happening to me sporadically for about 3 weeks.

Hasn't happened on any other sites at all.

Happens when I try to open a thread. Says something like "Safari has quit" gives me an option to report the problem to Apple or reopen. I've not reported it to Apple because I knew you guys were tweaking the site and this is thankfully a fairly new computer.

Sometimes when I get back on and return to try to read the same thread it's crashed again, so I'll go somewhere else for a while to make sure the browser is still functional. Then in a short while I'll return and then I'll be able to open the thread.

I've safari 2.04.4 (419.3)

I use Quick Time Player 7.16 (don't think I have Adobe but I'm a bit of a techno ninnie)

[RamblingRose]

13. Yes. I am using Safari (v312.6) for Mac OSX (v10.3.9)

It's crashed when I select a thread from the latest discussions page. I haven't paid attention to anything else.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

71. safari v419.3 OSX 10.4.9 running on a 2 gig Intel Core Dual

which is GREAT on all other programs.

[deminks]

15. Yes, discussion page from the latest page, XP, IE 6, Adobe flash 9. nt

[snappyturtle]

92. Same all the way through....happened six times yesterday. nt

[Buzz Clik]

16. Yes. Very frequent with windows IE

1. Your Operating System: Windows XP

2. Your web browser and version number: IE 6.0

3. Your version of Adobe flash player 9,0,28,0

4. Links to any pages here on DU where you have had this problem: It can happen anytime, but most frequently when I click the Reply button or click the link to open the thread.

5. If there was a banner ad on the page, do you remember what it was? No idea

6. Any other information that you think might be relevant. Never happens when I run FireFox

[Duppers]

168. Yes, same info here.

It happens frequently when clicking a thread on the greatest page.

[tularetom]

17. Happening on Macs as well

Running System X Version 10.4.9

Safari 2.0.4

Happens only when I click on a thread title

[emmadoggy]

153. Hmm. I have Mac OS 10.4.9 and Safari 2.0.4 but have not had problems.

I don't recall any browser crashes. I remember some error messages a few times during some of the revamping/misc. problems that have been going on lately here at DU but can't think of any browser crashes.

:shrug: Mysterious and frustrating issue.

[pinto]

18. Yes.

Morning.

IE 6 XP1

Adobe Flash 9,0,28,0

Crashes when linking from Latest to GD.

(Last ads I noticed were the trailer for 'La Vie an Rose' and the Masters in Diplomacy ad. :shrug: )

Thanks.

[Benhurst]

19. No problems; but then I use Firefox.

[Deb]

20. Yes, thanks

Thought it was my kid's old computer -

OS - Microsoft ME
Browser - IE 6.0
Adobe - 9,0,16,0

This thread kicked me off

Ads - La Vie en Rose (movie ad)
Karl Rove book

[Perky]

38. Skinner I think its Adobe.

if she is getting the same problem in IE6 when running ME. It is not IE7 or XP.

just a thought.

[WiseButAngrySara]

21. Yes! I thought it was my computer. IEX (newest version)

Adobe flash player ver 9
I seem to recall that I have received error codes from IE when I've clicked on a link in My DU. I receive an error code which shuts off all connections and tabs and I have to click back on again. Minor nuisance.

[WiseButAngrySara]

23. PS: I can't find the exact version # of IE by right clicking. It's not

specified in properties? Help would be appreciated.

[LaurenG]

49. Right click on IE, click on properties, then find target and right click on the IE icon

at the tabs at the top click version. :hi:

[Jamastiene]

154. Open IE, then just click Help, then

About Internet Explorer. It tells you there.

[myrna minx]

22. I have version 9,0,16,0 installed adobe.

I have been kicked out many many times in the last two weeks. I'm primarily in GD and I think the only time I've been kicked out is when I've been in GD. I just got kicked out (5 minutes ago)of an H20 man thread, currently in GD.

I have XP and Explorer.

[AlinPA]

24. While reading this thread; believe ad banner was LA VIE EN ROSE

[Perky]

25. yes

XP pro
IE7 with multiple tabs open at any time.
I am seeing it crash because of a problem with flash player

I am rarely not in General discussion, and as such I have neveridentified a specif reason for the problem.

I wonder if it is not the fundraising boxing glove.

[asjr]

26. Yes, I have had problems. I have

XP and when it occurs it always states something to do with Adobe. Only happens on DU. I am computer illiterate so I just start over again. Next time I will try to see what ads are on.

[msongs]

27. adblock :-) nt

[HomerRamone]

28. Add-on causes IE to need to close

Windows XP

IE 7.0.5730.11

Flash 9c.ocx 9,0,45,0

http://www.democraticunderground.com/ (homepage)

[flyarm]

29. yessss lots of problems..and i have a new computer..

when i try to open a thread ..the computer freezes..i can usually only open one thread..then i get not responding with aol..then i have to shut down and reboot.

I have Sony Vaio lap top ( PC) and it has windows Vista..

sorry i am computer illiterate so the other questions i don't know..

and i didn't pay attention to what was on the page other than i would open one thread and everything was ok..then i would try to open another thread and the computer would freeze..

then i would go to another sports web site and it didn't happen there..it has only happened at DU..

ok i just read others posts..i have AOL 9.O VR... WHATEVER THE VR MEANS

fly

[kiteinthewind]

30. YES! I thought it was my computer! I run Safari 2.0.4. on an eMac/Mac OS X 10.4.9

I don't know about the flash player. I can't right click with a Mac.
I most frequently am on the Latest Page, Greatest Page, GD, GD Politics, or ER

[Bravo Zulu]

31. Also having problems on huffington post

version 9,0,28,0 installed
XP
Ie version 7.0.5730.11
Also having problems on huffington blog, do you use same advertisers?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

[Perky]

40. WHich Neocon owns Adobe?

:tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat::tinfoilhat:

[PegDAC]

98. According the "The Blue Pages",

Adobe is a 99% blue company.

[KoKo]

32. Using Firefox 2.0 and have had stalls and loading problems also denial

of access in the last three days just for DU. Hasn't crashed but seemed to be like the old problem before you did the upgrade. Seemed to happen when jumping from one forum to the other where the stalling would start and then I would get Firefox Message that I couldn't access DU. I don't see many DU ads as a donor...so haven't had a problem with the ads.

I use HP Computer with Firefox and the latest Flash Player and use WinXP.

[KoKo]

65. Okay...I just had my first DU crash when trying to post and provide

a link to an article. DU failed to appear in my upper Tab Box (using Firefox 2) and my computer stopped dead after saying Firefox could not find server for DU and then none of my other tabs would connect me to links I already had open. I had to reboot... So, that was a definite DU problem since it happened when I was posting here.

I listed my system, browser, etc. in the post above.

[leftofthedial]

33. yes.

1. Mac (G4 machines) OSX 10.3.9

2. Safari 1.3.2

3. Flash Player 9

4. homepage when clicking on "Discussion Forums"; within "Discussion Forums" when clicking on "General DIscussion"--Safari crashes before page loads

5. don't remember--I tune them out

6. Very random, but fairly frequent recently

[FloridaJudy]

35. No problems. Firefox. n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

36. Yes, several times and is limited to one section

When I click on the "My DU" it often crashes. It's been several times over several days, so I can't recall anything about the ad (although I've trained myself to pretty much ignore them). It only happens when I go to click the My DU icon.

I use XP with IE 7.0

Adobe Flash 9

[Norquist Nemesis]

37. Well, so much for only one page; Just happened to me again

I clicked on the "Discuss" link at the top of the table and Kaboom!

[wicket]

39. Haven't had any problems, am on a Mac

:D

[L. Coyote]

41. NO. Firefox. BUT, there are some links that have very strange effects

when you try to access the site. Firefox pops up a security certificate alert for a government (.gov) site even though the page has nothing to do with the gov. My impressions may be wrong, but apparently, traffic to certain places on the Web is being monitored by the government as is any computer accessing those sites, and there is a huge draw on memory when this happens. Something starts happening in the background we cannot see.

Make sure you are using a firewall, that the firewall is turned on, and that you have an active subscription to a virus check service. Then, every time you log on to the internet, your security updates.

Regarding the ads, some are slow at loading and seem to have a script that makes the page wait until the ad displays. Do not allow that kind of ad. Users can just cklick reload or refresh to overcome this wait.

[Triana]

42. Yeppers...almost daily!

And I keep DU open all the time on one of my tabs.
_ _ _ _ _

We think the problem is being caused by one of the ads on our site, but we're not sure which one.

If you have been having problems, please post in this thread and share as much information as possible, including the following:

1. Your Operating System

Winduhz ExPee (I don't have this issue on my Linux system)

2. Your web browser and version number

Firefox 2.0.0.4

3. Your version of Adobe flash player (you should be able to get this by right-clicking on any rich-media banner advertisement)

Adobe Flash 9

4. Links to any pages here on DU where you have had this problem (if you don't remember the exact page, it would be helpful to know if it was a discussion thread, or a forum, or the latest page, or the homepage, or some other type of page).

Hmmm...I tend to leave DU open in all kinds of places so hard to tell but I do often return to the home page, Gen Disc or Latest before I leave the computer (and when I return, Firefox has crashed).


5. If there was a banner ad on the page, do you remember what it was?

Sorry, No. I ignore those things, mostly and/or don't see them since I donate.


6. Any other information that you think might be relevant.

This started about a week ago. I was wondering WTF. You just answered my question. I'm sorry I can't answer more of yours!

[blogslut]

43. Yeah

I have had problems with DU and frankly most of the web recently. I'm on Windows 2000 with Firefox 2.0.0.3 and my Flash version is 9.


I eventually installed the AdBlock plugin for Firefox and things are doing much better. :)

[SoonerPride]

45. Yes. I thought it was a freeper conspiracy.

Damn freepers.

:)

[Lurking Dem]

46. Yes.

OS X 10.4.9

Firefox 2.0.0.4

Adobe Flash Player 9

[LaurenG]

47. Yes I keep crashing now 2 times in 10 minutes

1. Your Operating System Win2K -sP4, V5.00.2195

2. Your web browser and version number IE 6.0.2800.1106

3. Your version of Adobe flash player (you should be able to get this by right-clicking on any rich-media banner advertisement) Flash Player version 9

4. Links to any pages here on DU where you have had this problem (if you don't remember the exact page, it would be helpful to know if it was a discussion thread, or a forum, or the latest page, or the homepage, or some other type of page)hot tub and "My DU"

5. If there was a banner ad on the page, do you remember what it was?'La Vie an Rose'

6. Any other information that you think might be relevant.

[ezgoingrl]

48. Link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1067309

It was on the latest page, I do not remember any ads, sorry.

IE 7 & Adobe 9

[Midlodemocrat]

50. All day yesterday. Both I/E 6 and Firefox (the latest)

I also have the latest Flash player.

Frankly, I thought it was me because comcast had screwed up my service for the entire week, so I didn't notice the pages on DU. If it happens again, I will make a note of it.

Oh, and I'm running XP Pro

[karlrschneider]

51. No crashes with Firefox, will use IE for a while and see

...

[tblue37]

52. Yes--and it always says there's an add-on

causing IE to close.

XP
IE7

I don't have time to search up the other info for you--have to run. I'll be back on Sunday, when I will try to provide more info.

[msedano]

54. Mac OS10.4.9 / Firefox

But Safari is not crashing.

From the greatest threads page or the latest page. view a link, return to the index, click a new link. crash.

Safari Version 2.0.4 (419.3)

[malaise]

55. No problems -Firefox n/t

[John Q. Citizen]

56. yep.

Windows 98 SE,

Explorer 6.0.280011

Opening a Breaking News Link,

This has bee happening quite a lot for a few days now.

[Make7]

58. Nevermind....

I had lost all the CSS formating when I first posted. I was using Firefox 2.0 at the time.

ETA: CSS worked fine in Netscape and IE.

ETA2: Looks like my Firefox just got dumb for some reason - I restarted it and it's fine.

ETA3: I am using Flash 8 on this laptop and have had no crashes in any browser.

[bemildred]

59. Firefox with NoScript on W98SE, AVG Free, no problems. nt

[Kadie]

60. Yes.

This is from my event log...

Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module flash9b.ocx, version 9.0.28.0, fault address 0x0018a6fa.

[raccoon]

61. I was in IE again, ver 7.0.5730.11, Adobe flash 9,

in the Lobby, clicked on LBN, and got an Adobe flash 9 error message.

The following add-on was running when this problem occurred:

Add on name: Flash 9b.ocx



Then IE crashed with a SYSFADER application error message.

[Bjornsdotter]

62. No Problems, Firefox 2.0

[The Backlash Cometh]

63. Yes.

My web browser includes a feature that suppresses pop-ups, so I can't say there was a pop-up related to it. The only pop-up that gets through periodically is Net Flix, or whatever it's called.

My system crashes, when I attempt to make a reply, or even when I did a mapquest request. Actually, it doesn't crash completely. I just get one of those Microsoft error messages, and the web crashes, not the computer.

If you still want the other information, just ask and I'll give it to you through PM.

[Skinner]

77. We don't have pop-ups on DU.

(We have a few old ones on very old pages, but we don't have any pop-ups on our discussion forum.)

[The Backlash Cometh]

79. Wouldn't pushing a reply button create a new window?

I'm a neophyte and would consider this a pop-up.

[Skinner]

84. clicking reply opens a new page

but it opens in the same browser window.

[Patsy Stone]

64. FDL was having the same issues during the Libby sentencing,

so it must be an ad you both have. I did exactly what you suggested a couple of days ago on all of my PCs and that solved the problem.

[sinkingfeeling]

66. Just happened to me. Yesterday, before noon CDT, IE closed up on DU about 12 times.

I always have several IE windows open and the only one that fails is DU. I'm running here on Windows XP, Adobe 7.0, and IE 6.0.

I was on the 'Latest' page and attempted to open a thread. Don't know if a banner ad was on the page.

[merh]

67. I was booted off of firefox when I was trying to get the

properties of this photo

Image is in this thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3307175

I was immediately kicked off the firefox browser.

[KoKo]

76. Okay...that's the problems I've been having with Firefox...do you have Flash 9?

Earl G. says it's a Flash 9 problem. Not having ever had any problems with Firefox until recently it sounds like what's been happening to me when I try to post DU and refer back to get a link for what I want to post from another site and I get kicked off Firefox. :shrug:

[merh]

121. I don't know what version of flash I had on the computer I was

using when it happened. I'll have to look.

[FloridaJudy]

122. Just tried that. No problems. Vista/Firefox n/t

[LeftyMom]

68. No, but I adblock all the ads.

:shrug:

[LSK]

69. No - Firefox user

[NJmaverick]

70. Windows XP

Internet Explorer- Latest version and fully updated

Flash Player- Newest version

Varies, mostly on the discussion board

Don't remember


Error message indicates in involves the flash player. I have found these crashes on two different computer systems with similar setups.

[EarlG]

72. Possible solution?

I did a bit of Googling and discovered that DU isn't the only website with this problem - it seems a lot of people have run into difficulties with IE and the Adobe Flash 9 plugin.

I found a possible solution, this is by no means guaranteed but it might be worth a try if you are comfortable making these changes to your system:

http://www.devlib.org/blog/2007/02/25/uninstall-flash-in-ie7-and-reinstall-fixes-crash-issues/

[KoKo]

74. Thanks...not tech savvy enough to do "brute force removal" but will

try the other. Says that Firefox also uses Flash...and the tab problems sound like what I've been having. Maybe the Firefox users who aren't having any problems don't have the latest version of Adobe Flash...and that's kept them safe. It might depend on the sites one visits that use alot of flash, too.

[PegDAC]

103. I tried the official method

and it seems to have worked.

[pinto]

131. Thanks. Seems to have worked for me.

[Nite Owl]

151. I went to the link

and tried to print the page so I could follow it easier if I needed to remove flash 9, both DU and the devlib pages shut down. Tried it twice, the first time I got an error report, the second time it just shut down real quick. Went to another site that doesn't close when DU does and tried to print a page and it was ok.

If flash 9 needs to be removed can you just go to start>add,remove programs>find falsh 9>click on remove?
Also, I have IE6 not 7.

[EarlG]

163. Here's the text from that site

To reinstall Flash, you need to uninstall the software. This can be done in two ways, the official Adobe way, or using a brute force mechanism. For the technically savvy users, we recommend the brute force mechanism, as it removes any dependencies on Adobe software having to work correctly to uninstall the Flash plugins.

Both the mechanisms require that all applications that use Flash, be closed. If an open application is using flash, the uninstall will fail. Applications that use flash include all your internet browsers (IE, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera) and often IM applications like MSN, Yahoo, Google Chat etc.

1. The official uninstall.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_14157">Follow the instructions from Adobe on this page.

The instructions essentially involve downloading a program which goes through your system and removes the plugins.

Once you have uninstalled the plugins, make sure you reboot your PC. If in doubt, reboot again.

2. The brute force uninstall.

Open a DOS / CMD Window.
1) Type cd 'windows'systems32'macromed'flash
2) Then type flashutil9b.exe -uninstallUnlock
3) Finally type flashutil9b.exe -uninstallSafeVersions
*** If you see a dialog for step 2 or 3, select "Don't Install" and try the step again. You probably had a typo.
*** If you see an error "flashutil9b is not recognized ...", install Flash as described below and let us know what happens.
4) del flash9b.ocx
5) del flashutil9b.exe
*** If you see an "Access is Denied" error, it means Flash is in use and you must close all apps besides the DOS command window.

Once you have completed either of the two uninstalls and have rebooted your PC (like we said, if in doubt, reboot again!), reinstall Flash.

This can be done by visiting the official http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">Adobe Flash installation page.

You can finally test the installation by visiting this page on Adobe's site, which verifies the version of the software. As of early March 2007, the latest released version for Windows is 9.0.28.0.

[Nite Owl]

164. Thanks EarlG

copied/pasted it, emailed it to myself to print out.

[DemReadingDU]

73. Computer also froze up,

but I don't recall what I was reading or the website it happened.


edit to add...we have a laptop that was just updated for Adobe flash 9.0. It freezes all the time trying to shutdown. It seems to get hung up on Symantec. I need to manually close Symantec (from the ctr-alt-del), then the computer will finally shut down.

[Eurobabe]

75. Nope, Firefox user here.

[AwakeAtLast]

80. I have, and DU is not the only website

Unfortunately, my husband is the computer genius and he is out of town. I do know that we use IE2, but that's about all I know.

The other site was IndyStar.com.

I have Adobe Flash Player 9.

[seaglass]

81. I haven't had it happen here but it's happening every day on

Eschaton for the past week - do you share an ad?

Flash 9
IE 6.0

[NastyDiaper]

83. Yes getting crashes. But not unique to DU.

Seems about a month now. Every 2-3 hrs ie crashes and i've noticed no real pattern site wise.

[AZBlue]

85. Repeated problems.

I'm on Windows XP and use Internet Explorer (can't figure out how to find the version number). I have Adobe Flash Player 9.

I've been booted out of IE whenever I click on a forum link from the lobby - this morining it was GD-Politics (happened twice). Don't remember the banner ad, sorry. This has been happening for a least 3 or 4 days so far.

[AZBlue]

125. At home, I couldn't even get in at first - it kept crashing my IE and caused me to lose some data

(my earlier post was from work)

I'm on Windows XP here too and use Internet Explorer and have Adobe Flash Player 9.

Like I said in the subject, it happened when I tried to log-in to DU. I noticed that the NYT ad was up one time, but I've seen that ad lots of times and had no trouble before.

Good luck!

[AZBlue]

155. Something I've noticed several times now: I can only log onto DU if it's the only window open

in my browser.

Don't know if that helps, but thought I'd post it.

[yy4me]

86. Here are my statistics:

IE6 SP2
Adobe Flash 9.0

The message I receive is as follows:

Internet Explorer has encountered a problem with an add-on and needs to close.
The following add-on was running when this problem occurred.

File: Flash 9.ocx
Company name: Adobe Systems Inc
Description: Adobe Flash Player 9

It seems to happen when I progress from from one group or forum to another.


1:20PM

IT just happened. I had gone to the Latest page and clicked on "Has anyone here seen this "scathing report"? and up popped the message. I could not scroll to see that was on the page at the top.

I clicked on "continue on the error message and got this:

Add-on encountered a problem on top line above the list of add ons.
Shockwave Flash Object
Adobe systems Enabled Active X Control
Flash 9

[JerseygirlCT]

87. IE6, Flashplayer 9

and it seems to happen when I'm checking on my posts. The error message pointed to the flashplayer as the problem, but that's all I know.

And it's been happening for the past few days, and often.

[virgdem]

124. I have the same - IE 6.0, Flashplayer 9.0

I went to tools, Manage add-ons and updated the flashplayer (Shockwave Flash Object - Active X Control). I then rebooted the system. So far, no problems, but if there are, I will add this info to the thread.

[unc70]

88. SWF/Flash is a high security risk - has own scripting

I normally access DU and the rest of the net using either the lynx or w3m browsers which are essentially text only, incredibly fast, and almost free of problems. My company bans SWF/Flash from all of our computers, no matter what operating system and browser. We would ban all Adobe software if we could because of their enormous security risks, but we are forced to deal with some pdf files. We process them on Linux with open source programs which do not implement the embedding and scripting that Adobe is pushing on the world.

Once you have encountered a transparent Flash image overlaying your browser window and intercepting your keystrokes/mouse actions, with results being sent to a site in the Ukraine, you become rather paranoid. This was on Linux, but would work on Windows and Mac, too. That attack appeared to have been caused by a malware ad served in swf with an embedded ActionScript which remained active as one continued browsing on other pages.

Even when they are not actually spying on you, a lot of the Flash-based ads have become excessively aggressive/clever in their attempts to evade ad-blockers and popup-blockers. Some of their tricks might be causing the problems you are reporting and certainly many not being reported. I noticed some of these other problems recently when I happened to access DU from a more-typical home computer. Examples of these problems include losing keyboard/mouse focus in a window (no action after clicking on a link) and having errors after openning another tab/window within the browser.

A common culprit in this behavior would be a swf/javascript/xml combo which refreshes itself by retrieving additional images and displaying them on the current page, rather than just when you load/reload the page. This often happens on pages that try to be dynamic themselves. The scripts that do this generally don't co-exist very well with each other, particularly when using tabbed browsing. Some of them block while reading new images, others get too clever trying to "float" an swf image (another form of popup) when they aren't the active tab.

While I haven't seen an example, there are claims that there is a way that swf/actionscript can bypass your configuration/security to access the mike and camera on your system and send the resulting movie stream to another site. Normally, you would have Flash configured without access to your mike and camera (it's one of the options accessible if you right-click a flash image).


Skinner, I am willing to try to help by PM or phone.

[unc70]

91. Could be Ajax, object loading, xml2, net 2.0, blogads, googlesyndication

The DU site uses a lot of these things, when it can, along with constructs looking for state changes.

blogads and googlesyndication have their own scripts that are running around changing all sorts of things withing pages, even if they aren't doing popups. No telling what the ads might include in the mix.

I don't have time to dig much further right now. You might try looking at a web history in the browser and your firewall to see if you notice anything suspicious. Might need to enable the firewall logging.

[jannyk]

89. Yes, only on DU and only the past few days

was happening each time I logged on to DU Tues/Weds. I'd read a few threads and then try one more and my Yahoo Browser would close down.

Operating System = Windows XP

Browser = AT&T Yahoo v 7

Adobe Flash = v 9

Always happens when clicking on GD Thread to read it.

Never take any notice of banner ads, but error message contains words 'google ads' several times.

[jannyk]

99. Twice more in 3 minutes!! Was on GD page one - Ads were....

At the top 2nd time 'New York Times'. On left Chris Dodds and JS/Daily Show

Don't know what was at top first time as I was halfway down page and couldn't scroll up, but the JS/Daily Show was on left- Dodds wasn't.

Always happensas I click on a thread to read - then error message "Yahoo Brower has to Close".

[Hell Hath No Fury]

90. Yes...

I am on Windows ME, don't know the other tech info (will check) but the two times it happened in a row the Edith Piaf banner was up -- I was trying to get into GD and My DU at the time.

[breakaleg]

93. Yes. Firefox user. Windows XP. Adobe 9,0,28,0. system freezes and must have hard boot.

[blues90]

94. I don't have flash , running windows 98 SE & explorer 7

I don't have problems while on the site but my computer locks up if I leave it on and am away for about three hours . Never did this before . I closed DU down last night and did not have this problem this morning .

[dhill926]

95. yep, many crashes...

mostly on Latest page. On both Safari 2.04 and Camino 1.5. Mac OS 10.4.9. Adobe Flash 9.

[PegDAC]

96. Yes, I am.

It started yesterday afternoon. When I click to open a thread it tells me IE has encountered a problem and needs to close.

I'm running IE7 and Adobe Flash 9 on Windows XP. The error report generated said the problem was caused by Adobe Flash.

[Mind_your_head]

97. Yes

IE 7.0 and Adobe 9

It seemed to be worse when the fund drive was going on (the punching thingy on the top o the page?) It was better after that, but it's been pretty bad again today.

A tech friend of mine was over one day when it happened and I asked him why it was doing this....he took a look and said that it was something in one of the flash ads. It wasn't on my puter, something with the site (but I guess you know that already).

Good luck on finding the problem and getting it all fixed up again!

[waiting for hope]

100. I'm getting this error:

Flash9b.ocx

and it's really bugging thr crap out of me........:)

[Quixote1818]

101. No problems. Firefox. nt

[jillan]

102. Yes - it's been driving me crazy

I use internet explorer.

It usually happens when I open another page.

[diane in sf]

104. Yes, it was crashing every five minutes

night before last and the following morning--it seemed ok last night and now.

1. Mac 10.3.9
2. Firefox 1.5.0.12, and it had upgraded itself the day before the crashing started.
3. Adobe Flash player 9
4. When I would go to more greatest threads and then try to click on further articles
5. Sorry can't remember
6. Crashing was only happening on DU, no problem withBuzzFlash, stuffonmy cat, FireDogLake, etc.

[SharonRB]

105. I was having awful problems at home on my laptop last night

and I sometimes have problems at work.

I'm on Windows XP both at home and at work, using IE at work and Yahoo at home (which I think is actually IE). I'm not sure of the version number.

I don't know my version of flash player, but one of the error messages I get related to flash.

I know I was having major problems getting into my Inbox last night, but I have trouble on other pages as well -- it varies.

I have no idea what the banner ad might have been.

This only seems to be happening when I'm on DU.

[kestrel91316]

106. Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Internet Explorer unknown version

Adobe flash 9 something

I crash about every 5 minutes on here sometimes, various pages (usually GD) but not always.

[Coexist]

107. ALL the time, lately

1.Windows XP
2.Internet Explorer (how do I find out the version #?
3. Flash Player 9
4. GD
5. No - sorry
6. The "error report" contents are about 2 pages long - do you want that stuff?

[Richard Steele]

108. Nope. Running Firefox w/ AdBlock here, zero DU-related problems. nm

[TorchTheWitch]

167. ditto for me - no problems

n/t

[Lasher]

109. Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer has encountered a problem with an add-on and needs to close.

The following ad-on was running when this problem occurred:

Add-on Name: Flash9b.ocx
Company Name: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Description: Adobe Flash Player

I am running Internet Explorer 7
Version: 7.0.5730.11
Cypher Strength: 128-bit

My OS is Windows XP SP2

Lasher

[bluescribbler]

110. It happens to me a lot.

I'm using Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 2, IE version 6.0.2900.2180, Acrobat version 9,0,45,0.

It doesn't really seem to matter where I am on DU, or what I'm doing. The most recent incident happened just a few minutes ago as I tried to access the Journals page from the home page. Last night I was trying to delete a post from my journal.

I have no idea what ads were running at the time.

I hope this helps. It has been frustrating for me.

[Hekate]

111. I can't go to the new home page at all--I just get an error message.

I've learned to bypass it entirely by going straight to "Discuss". There are an increasing number of sites I can't access any more: ABC and others want me to upgrade, and WaPo makes my screen hang so I have to crawl under my desk to turn off the computer, then put up with the disk repair trying to figure out wha'hoppened (again).

So for what it's worth, I use a Mac G3 with OS 8.5 and Netscape Communicator 4.7. I know the system is old, but dammit I don't want to spend the money on a new one. Not that it's your fault.

Hekate

on edit: the error message is on a gray page and says merely:
Not Found
The requested URL /discuss/images/dcf.js was not found on this server.
Apache/1.3.34 Server at www.democraticunderground.com Port 80

[Skinner]

171. I think I may know the reason for your "gray page" error.

Thanks giving us the error message. I think I see the problem. When Elad wakes up, I'm going to see if he can fix it.

[Elad]

178. This should be fixed now n/t

[Kajsa]

112. I sure have.

1. Mac OS 10.4.9

2. Safari 2.0.4

3. Not sure- no banner to click

4. Forums

5.Again, not sure, but I do remember 'La Vie en Rose' on several pages.

hope this helps.

[DeleteRepublicans]

113. Here's my info.

Here's my info.

1.  WINDOWS XP

2. maxthon, version (1.1.039)

3. 9,0,28,0

4.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1065355

5. Never saw the page i was going to. Thai banner where i
started from are the ones on the home page
http://www.democraticunderground.com/

6. maybe it happens when another flash player is being
used...like the xm online radio player.

[EFerrari]

114. No. n/t

[madfloridian]

116. I just got a message that IE had encountered an add-on problem

and had to close. Then it closed. Did not say what add-on.

[truth2power]

117. Yes. Frequently...

I just went out to r-click on a banner ad to see what flash player I'm using. It said Adobe Flash Player 9. Then when I clicked on "Forums" I got the error message again. Said: problem with add-on and needs to close. Flash 9b.ccx.

It threw me off entirely and I had to start over.

edit> running IE and XP Professional 2002 Service Pack 2.

[133724]

118. No Problems....

Suse 10.2

Firefox 2.0.0.2

Adobe Flash 9

No problems....

[idgiehkt]

119. Yes. Glad I came over here today.

It's something to do with flash, but since i recently did a disk cleanup and can't find some things (like my Paint program, lol) I thought it was on my end. Plus I am almost always on youtube so I thought it could be that too. It never occurred to me it might actually be DU, lol.

edit: also my back button won't work on this site anymore...I have to hit it like 10 times to go back, usually I just work around it.

[Ilsa]

120. Yes, earlier today. Microsoft Vista on new machine.

DU and another two windows were open and one or two tabs were open in each window. The extra windows were open from me linking a site through DU. I don't rememebr any specifics. I htought maybe my McAfee security scan caused it.

[Penndems]

123. YES, and it's driving me crazy! :(

1. Your Operating System: Dell Dimension 4100S, Microsoft XP

2. Your Web Browser and Version Number: AOL 9.0 VR

3. Adobe Flash Player: 7.0

4. Links to problem DU pages: GD, LBN, Lounge, Pennsylvania Forum

5. Banner ads: NYT top banner, Liberal Headlines, banner ad for "Our First Revolution"

That's all the info I can think of.

[Kurovski]

126. All I'm getting is the same post about Paris Hilton.

Is that like crashing?

[Der Blaue Engel]

127. I was until I disabled the ads, and haven't had the problem since

I was running Firefox 2.0.0.4 on Mac OS 10.4.9 and also Safari 2.0.4, with Adobe Flash 9.0.28.0. Unfortunately, I don't remember any specific pages, but if I remember right, it was when I clicked on a post link in one of the forums (i.e, it didn't happen while I was clicking on posts within a thread, and it didn't happen on the homepage or latest).

[Telly Savalas]

128. DU is working fine on my Commodore 64.

[Jamastiene]

157. Lol.

:rofl:

[madfloridian]

129. Again just now..Flash 9b.ocx

There was an ad in the upper left corner of the page on the journals site where I was starting to link to My Journal.

[proud patriot]

130. Yes

1. Your Operating System

Windows xp

2. Your web browser and version number

IE , I'm not sure about the version # but I do keep up to date
on any updates .


3. Your version of Adobe flash player (you should be able to get this by right-clicking on any rich-media banner advertisement)

version 9

4. Links to any pages here on DU where you have had this problem (if you don't remember the exact page, it would be helpful to know if it was a discussion thread, or a forum, or the latest page, or the homepage, or some other type of page)

I think it happened when I went to click on a forum from the latest page and
when I was in GD went to click on a thread .


5. If there was a banner ad on the page, do you remember what it was?

Nope sorry wasn't paying attention , but I will now .

6. Any other information that you think might be relevant.

I can't think of anything right now .

[upi402]

132. yes

vista home basic

[Ilsa]

133. I just happened. Very brief and restarted. I was on the Forum front page

and selected Gen. Disc and it shut down my Windows Vista (I have a new laptop that came loaded with Vista). I am also listening to Mike Malloy Show on Nova M radio online, so my Windows media player is also up. It was not affected at all. No streaming problems.

[KAZ]

134. Having the same problem with Atrios, except more often.

Flash9b.ocx It's keeping me off his blog! XP 5.1 SP 2. Explorer 6.0.29, and I aint upgrading! Flash is at 9 something.

[napi21]

135. Yep, sure have!

I just bought a new computer, so the OP is VISTA.

Explorer version 7

Adobe Flash Player version 9.0.45.0

Most the time it crashes when I'm moving from one forum to another, or trying to post a reply to a post.

I don't believe there were any banner ads.

DU seems to be the only site where this happens.

[NastyRiffraff]

136. Periodic crashes

On Firefox only (v 2.0.0.4-Mac) Safari hasn't crashed yet. I use the two browsers more or less equally.

Crashes only when clicking on a thread title.

Info: Mac OS X 10.4.7

2 Gb RAM, Intel duo 24" iMac

[RevCheesehead]

137. Truthfully, I had more problems with the fundraiser punching arm.

Too many .gif's will send my 'puter crashing.

[douglas9]

138. Using Opera without a hitch

Using Opera 9.21.....w/ AdMuncher..... never had any problems......

[jarnocan]

139. YES, almost everytime try to move to new page, just happened again

I was able to get on this page, but it had just crashed when I tried to go from main page to a discussion. Has happened on other discusiions too. Seems mostly this site- think sabotage?
I am using other sites with no or few problems.

[Cassandra]

140. YES!!!!!

It's taken awhile for it to dawn on me that DU might be the problem.

Windows XP home
Netscape 7.2 (I'm doing this in Firefox because Netscape crashed twice while trying to respond to this question).
Although Firefox gives me Adobe Flash 9, I don't know what's attached to Netscape because it crashes when I rightclick to find out. (Just checked and Adobe Flash 9 seems to be on Netscape as well).
Any page, didn't matter.
The La Vie en Rose ad certainly crashed me easily. That's what I was trying to rightclick on when I crashed.
Sometimes it was when I was going from one page to another but other times it just crashed when nothing was going on.
HELP!!!!

[rucky]

141. I have Flash 9 running on another computer

that crashes with IE6 every time it tries to run. Rolled it back to Flash 7

[jdadd]

142. Yes everytime I try to leave the home page.....

I click on latest, greatest, my DU, I get a crash...
XP Home, Adobe flash player 9c ocx, IE 7.
I'm presently running with flash player Disabled, limits my viewing but able to surf without crashes.

[WritersBlock]

143. Yep...

Happened about 5 minutes ago.

1. XP Tablet PC edition 2005, Version 2002, SP2

2. Maxthon 1.5.9 (Build 80)

3. Flash 9,0,28,0

4. happened on a refresh of "My DU"

5. sorry... can't remember any in particular. On edit: happened again; ads were the one about "Our Next Battle; the Dodd Amendment," and "Our First Revolution.

6. Got a popup message saying "Maxthon has blocked an error." Didn't get the full code, but I will if it happens again. I did see the word "Flash" in it, however. On edit: had a screenshot but lost it. Got two separate errors this time, maybe because I was going back & forth from Maxthon to Irfanview, trying to capture it. First error was in the Macromedia directory, and the 2nd was in the Maxthon directory.

[etherealtruth]

144. Yes only while on DU ... the latest page and homepage

Never in discussion threads (at least not yet)

Will carefully read through this thread for a "fix"

[flyingfysh]

145. You should ban Flash ads

until Adobe fixes their problem.

[UTUSN]

146. I think it's Adobe flash player

I usually don't click "Send Error Report" but this time I did and the message that replied said that my version of Adobe flash player was the problem, that there is a newer version, and provided a link for upgrading.

It's only been a couple of hours since the download, but no further crashes so far.

[Error]

147. I am getting crashes - blue screen

Says something about "IRQL not less than or equal"


If you have been having problems, please post in this thread and share as much information as possible, including the following:

1. Your Operating System

XP Pro

2. Your web browser and version number

firefox 2.004

3. Your version of Adobe flash player (you should be able to get this by right-clicking on any rich-media banner advertisement)

You have version 9,0,28,0 installed

4. Links to any pages here on DU where you have had this problem (if you don't remember the exact page, it would be helpful to know if it was a discussion thread, or a forum, or the latest page, or the homepage, or some other type of page)

5. If there was a banner ad on the page, do you remember what it was?

6. Any other information that you think might be relevant.

[Scout1071]

148. It's been happening to me repeatedly.

Windows XP. AOL.

[Nite Owl]

149. Yes, IE closes on my computer

Windows XP Pro, IE6, Adobe flash 9

Don't remember in which forum. It seems to have stopped happening since yesterday afternoon (though I wasn't on much), and hasn't happened yet today. I've been on for about 45 minutes, so far so good.

No ads except on side of latest page, I have them turned off.

[proud patriot]

150. Just had it happen and I was clicking

from the lastest page on a thread titled "Kablooie" a lounge thread
that caught my eye because it was linked from the latest . It looked
like it could be a bug and I was going to alert on it .

I hope this helps :hi:

[Jamastiene]

152. No crashes on DU, but I can tell you right now that Adobe software

is fraught with problems, especially their flash player and the Adobe Reader plugin. Every time I try to download a pdf file, It crashes any browser I use. I use Firefox 2.0.0.4, Netscape 7.2, Netscape 8.0, and rarely Internet Explorer 6.0. PDF files would crash all these browsers routinely, until I started right clicking and saving as any pdf files I wanted to read.

Du has not been crashing for me and I am using Firefox 2.0.0.4 more often than not lately, but I thought it might be helpful to mention general browser crashing problems I have had with the two Adobe products I mentioned.

[nosmokes]

156. Yes!

Mac OSX
10.4.9 to be exact
firefox2

always in GD and usually when i'm going to open another topic.

[proud patriot]

158. Happened again The ads were

" La vie en rose" (sp?) the move ad at the top .

the smaller ad on the left side was the "Dodd Amendment"

I was clicking on my inbox from the lastest page :hi:

[LiberalHeart]

159. Didn't crash here, but crashed right after I exited.

As I moved to a new site yesterday, my browser froze. I rebooted, only to find that my browser settings were changed, I lost all my stored passwords (the ONLY site that "remembered" me was DU). Also lost my email account; had to redo it -- lost all my sent emails and inbox emails and templates.

I use Netscape 7.2; Adobe Flash Player 9.0; Windows XP Pro. I was probably leaving general discussion when it happened, but there's an off chance it was breaking news. It might have been a Paris Hilton thread because I read several yesterday.

[LiberalHeart]

160. I think Firedoglake is having trouble with crashes, too...

Have any advertisers in common?

[Garrett]

161. Even Netscape!

I wasn't going to respond because I have such funky software, but I see quite a few individualistic set-ups, so here goes. Maybe it will help eliminate some suspects.....

I had problems at several sites about three weeks ago, right after I upgraded to Flash 9. It crashed so often it was all but unusable. I did some research on Netscape's unofficial help page and they recommended downgrading to Flash 8. They had lots of details about what aspect of Flash 9 wasn't working correctly, but the bottom line was "re-install Flash 8," which I did. I haven't had a crash since. This was about three weeks ago.

Win XP
Netscape 7.2 / Mozilla 5.0
Shockwave 9.0 r28 replaced by Shockwave 8.0 r24

[ismnotwasm]

162. Yes actually

That's interesting. I ran spybot and cleared a few little buggers. Hmm.
I have Vista, with MSN explorer, I don't know the version number, Adobe 7, and I don't pay attention to what I'm looking at since I lurk a lot, but I thought it was because I usually have two or three windows open at the same time.

Edit;, It just happened again, I ran spybot (I'm not computer savvy so I don't know if that has anything to do with it) I had "Advertising.com, Avenue A Inc" cleaned out

[Connonym]

165. Call me paranoid, for a while I have suspected

that the site is being sabotaged :tinfoilhat:

ETA that reading about problems with Huffpo and Kos give me further faith in my theory.

[Faux pas]

166. Internet Explorer has encountered a problem with an add-on and needs to close.

xp home sp2
ie 7
flash9

Having problems on and off for several days, mostly in gd section b/c that's where i mostly play. Have the ads turned off so don't have any info on that. This is frustrating! LOL like i'm the lone ranger here.

[laylah]

169. I got the same

error message about 5 minutes ago.

[NoPasaran]

172. Me too

Windows XP
IE 6.0.2900
Flash 9.0.28.0

Seems to happen when clicking on threads on the Latest Page.

[Maddy McCall]

175. Same for me. Same message, same specs.

Thanks for posting this.

It's happened FOUR TIMES today. :grr:

[JTFrog]

170. I.E. 6.2 and Flash 9

The pages were random links from the home page. Individual threads, not individual forum home pages.

Unfortunately I never pay attention to the banners.

I've quit using IE now anyway. I needed to do that, just got prompted along a little :)

[seemslikeadream]

173. YES

please make it stop, please

[juno jones]

174. I've been disabling the add-on.

Seems to work, except I have to re-enable it to see flash on other sites.

explorer7, flash nine, clicking on current threads.

tune out advertising, sorry, but I do remember 'vie en rose'.

[orleans]

176. the past couple of days i crashed out. unfortunately i wasn't

paying attention to shit! just got the sign up that internet explorer had to close. (for what it's worth)

[Blackhatjack]

177. I have been crashing for weeks, narrowed it to an adobe prob than cannot be fixed....

Several tech help sites have posted solutions, but none seem to help. Most seem to believe it is related to Windows looking for a file that Adobe flash has usurped.

Using IE 7.0 here.

[Blackhatjack]

179. How ridiculous is it that Adobe puts out flash conflicting w/IE and does not create a solution?

It would seem appropriate for sites to eliminate Adobe flash on their sites until Adobe provides a fix for this incompatibility.

The tech sites are literally filled with requests for a solution, and none of the solutions offered fix the problem.

If Microsoft can issue a patch to let Adobe flash work with IE 7.0 without crashing, that would be fine.

But neither Microsoft nor Adobe have taken any action.

Just pushing users toward FIREFOX and other alternatives. Users are not going to put up with this forever --and the option of disabling flash/enabling flash constantly is not a viable one.

[Radio_Lady]

180. My computer has crashed multiple times. Has there been any announcement about fixes?

[wildflowergardener]

181. Error

Hi. I just got this error today. It happened right after I clicked on the Pets Discussion Group.

Below, is a screen capture of my screen after it happened.

I am running Windows XP Professional with Internet explorer 7.0.5730.11