Tech question: why does shockwave crash Firefox?

[Chieftain]

The sidebar ads being run by too many websites to count these days are a reality.  But several times a week I end up opening a news website I regularly check, only to have my laptop freeze because whatever ad the site is running is using some kind of format that Firefox does not like.  The only way out is CTRL/ALT/DEL, open the Task Manager, and stop Firefox. 

I have received a message that Shockwave has crashed, but not always.  This was happening once or twice a week but lately it has been nearly every day, and in some cases more than once a day.

I keep my software up to date and run virus scan on a regular basis. 

Any ideas about what I can do to stop this??  I'm not sure if it is Shockwave that is the problem, or if the ad the website put up crashed it....

 

[mystery-ak]

Happens to me to...maybe some one here can answer this...

[katzenjammer]

Yes, this happens to me as well, I am interested in an answer too!

[EC]

Try using AdBlock Plus as an addon. I turn it off for specific sites which I want to fund, but leave it on for most. As a result, my Firefox rarely crashes.

[mystery-ak]

Try using AdBlock Plus as an addon. I turn it off for specific sites which I want to fund, but leave it on for most. As a result, my Firefox rarely crashes.

I have AdBlock Plus as an addon...doesn't work for me...it's not FF that crashes it's shockwave and not always..

[EC]

Is your shockwave plugin up to date?

[mystery-ak]

yes

I have followed all these steps here...

http://www.shockwave.com/help/faq_flashplayer.jsp

[Rapunzel]

Happens to me all the time... and I have everything up to date........ no good reason for it.

[Chieftain]

Is your shockwave plugin up to date?

yep...that was the first thing I checked.  Again, I'm not sure if it is a Shockwave problem, or a poorly coded ad that locks Shockwave up. 

[EC]

yep...that was the first thing I checked.  Again, I'm not sure if it is a Shockwave problem, or a poorly coded ad that locks Shockwave up.

There are badly coded ads out there. Sometimes deliberately badly coded.

I know you probably already do, but have you run a malwarebytes scan and Ccleaner to clear your cache and cookies?

[Chieftain]

There are badly coded ads out there. Sometimes deliberately badly coded.

I know you probably already do, but have you run a malwarebytes scan and Ccleaner to clear your cache and cookies?

I clear both constantly, and I do have have a good scanning program and firewall. 

[EC]

I clear both constantly, and I do have have a good scanning program and firewall.

I'm at my limit of repair skills then 

Got this form a support forum:

For users of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, make sure to disable the protected mode feature of the Flash Player plugin. While it has theoretical security benefits, it remains buggy.

See this support article from Adobe under the heading "Last Resort": Adobe Forums: How do I troubleshoot Flash Player's protected mode for Firefox?

More detailed steps if you run into permission issues editing the mms.cfg file:

(1) In a My Computer or Windows Explorer window, open this folder:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash

If that folder does not exist, then you are using 32-bit Windows, and you can open the following folder instead:

C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash

(Note: This folder exists on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, but on 64-bit Windows Firefox uses the Flash player in the SysWOW64 folder instead.)

(2) Check for a file named mms.cfg:

(A) If mms.cfg exists, drag it to your Documents folder where you can edit it without being bothered about administrator privileges

(B) If mms.cfg does not exist, open your Documents folder, right-click > New > Text File and name the new file "mms.cfg" (putting quotation marks around the file name help prevent Windows from tacking .txt onto the end)

(3) Open mms.cfg from Documents into a text editor such as Notepad. Add this on its own line (I put it last):

ProtectedMode=0

Save the file and close Notepad.

(4) Hold down the Ctrl key and drag the mms.cfg file back to the Flash folder to make a copy there, keeping the original in Documents

This change should take effect the next time you exit and restart Firefox.

[Oceander]

I have this problem, or one very similar to it, at least once a day with firefox on my 64-bit Vista laptop.  The bit about turning off protected mode is interesting; I'll have to try that.  Otherwise, I may have to do a full uninstall of FF, use cc cleaner to remove all the remnants, and then try again with a clean instal.

[Rapunzel]

I have this problem, or one very similar to it, at least once a day with firefox on my 64-bit Vista laptop.  The bit about turning off protected mode is interesting; I'll have to try that.  Otherwise, I may have to do a full uninstall of FF, use cc cleaner to remove all the remnants, and then try again with a clean instal.

I did that a while back --  only helped marginally... it did fix some strange problem I had that was slowing down my computer to the point I thought it was going to crash, but I still get the shockwave freeze.

[WAYNE]

   Are you using Adobe ?  I have FF also and never experience any of those symptoms .  If it is not Adobe I would suspect it is malware from one of the games in nonAdobe ..

[jmyrlefuller]

I have had similar issues... but I'm pretty sure it's not Firefox, Shockwave or any software issue-- at least directly.

It's probably the computer itself. It seems that modern Web pages have ramped up their RAM usage considerably the past few years (between Flash and embedded fonts/CSS and other pretty stuff). I dusted off an old dinosaur of a laptop from about nine years ago and was astonished at how slow it was; this despite not having any malware on it.

[Gazoo]

The sidebar ads being run by too many websites to count these days are a reality.  But several times a week I end up opening a news website I regularly check, only to have my laptop freeze because whatever ad the site is running is using some kind of format that Firefox does not like.  The only way out is CTRL/ALT/DEL, open the Task Manager, and stop Firefox. 

I have received a message that Shockwave has crashed, but not always.  This was happening once or twice a week but lately it has been nearly every day, and in some cases more than once a day.

I keep my software up to date and run virus scan on a regular basis. 

Any ideas about what I can do to stop this??  I'm not sure if it is Shockwave that is the problem, or if the ad the website put up crashed it....

 

I don't think it can be stopped. I have malware bytes and used to think it was firefox and changed to Maxthon browser and the ads follow me where ever I go.

Whatever anyone on my computer searched for is in ads everywhere for days.

[WAYNE]

  I have zero ads . I use adbloc pro for FF.

[Oceander]

I have had similar issues... but I'm pretty sure it's not Firefox, Shockwave or any software issue-- at least directly.

It's probably the computer itself. It seems that modern Web pages have ramped up their RAM usage considerably the past few years (between Flash and embedded fonts/CSS and other pretty stuff). I dusted off an old dinosaur of a laptop from about nine years ago and was astonished at how slow it was; this despite not having any malware on it.

got plenty of RAM and plenty of cpu power