Adobe Flash Technical issue

Why is Adobe Flash constantly loading when I have a browser open when there is NO MEDIA in the browser that requires flash?

It took 6 minutes for Firefox to close completely a few minutes ago.

If you have ever seen a screen shot of my desktop you will notice I have Windows Task Manager open.  I ALWAYS have Task Manager open.  With 11 hacking attempts on my computer in the last 3 months I want the ability to use Task Manager to shut down any process running on my computer.

When I close Firefox, Adobe Flash will suddenly load even though my browser is open on a "BLANK" page when I close it.

And Firefox will NOT completely close from memory until I shut down Adobe Flash.  I"ve closed Firefox and left to the doctor, come back 3 hours later and looked at Task Manager, and while there is no tab for Firefox on my taskbar it is STILL in memory and Adobe Flash is loaded.  When I kill Adobe Flash, Firefox FINALLY drops out of memory.  I've tried to reopen Firefox, and I'm told it is already running and to close it.  Click over to Task Manager, yup there it is, and there is Adobe Flash.  Kill Flash and Firefox shut down so I can reopen it.

WHAT in Sam Hill is going on with Firefox and Adobe Flash?

Added a screen shot showing what I mean.

HP and Mozilla you guys are annoying me

First lets go with HP aka Hewlett Packard.  I have an HP Mini 5102 that is CONSTANTLY losing the wi-fi network settings, or just plain forgetting it even has a wi-fi card.  I'm tired of uninstalling the driver and having to reinstall the driver then the network passwords   I'm browsing the HP Support website on it right now and it just forgot the network AGAIN!  This is the 11th time in the last two hours.  Every other computer in this house has no problems connecting to the network, but this one CONSTANTLY has issues with connecting and STAYING connected.  I have clicked the little box telling the netbook to AUTOMATICALLY connect to the home network and it can't even seem to do that right.

Now I've got it connected again.  And why can't I have your support site scan my system for any driver updates that I need?  I know my desktop can be done that way, why isn't that option there for the 5102?  You have over 30 drivers there.  Which one or ones do I need?  On my desktop I just download your little software tool and it checks all of them for me.  Why doesn't it do it for the 5102?

The ONLY modification I have done to this machine is replace the 1GB ram DIMM with a 2GB DIMM.  And the problems predate that.

All of the necessary Microsoft updates are installed, it automatically updates whenever an update is available.

So tell me HP, WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR SYSTEM?

Googling my problem shows me that hundreds of other people have had this problem.  And according to many your solution is to send the computer back to you and charge them money to fix what is evidently YOUR SCREWUP TO BEGIN WITH!!!

I am rather well computer literate.  I used to run several BBS's back in the days in addition to building many of my own desktop systems and repairing a few of my old IBM Thinkpad Laptops.

I shouldn't have to deal with this garbage EVERY DAY, SEVERAL TIMES A DAY!

From a battery that loses it's charge after being uplugged for 2 days to constant network problems.  WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?!?!?!?


Now on to Mozilla aka Firefox.  I have been trying to disable the plugin check on my HP 5102 for 2 months since I uninstalled Java.  And yet EVERYTIME!!  When I start your program it INSISTS on doing the plugin in check.  Even after I edited the about:plugins configuration file.  QUIT IT!  If I want to check the plugins I know the web page to do so.  I uninstalled Java after they got hacked and I WILL NOT reinstall it.  So quit checking the plugin and bugging me to install it.

Please people it's simple.  Make stuff that works and QUIT CHANGING THE SETTINGS I ALREADY SET!!

If I want to change a setting I WILL CHANGE IT.  Not you.

Computer Maintenance and Security and YOU

About once a month my Ex-wife asks me to "Fix" her computer, at the same time my mother asks me to "Fix" her computer about 3 sometimes 4 times a year.  They are always concerned because their computers have gotten slower and are acting weird.

On my Ex-wife's computer, it is usually a combination of factors almost always related to the fact she lets our kids use her computer whenever they want and we have 4 boys who LOOOOOOOOOOVE  computer games.  And downloading patches and cracks.  Yes, most of the time her computer is Virused up with so many Virii I just pull her hard drive out of her computer and hook it up to one of my external drive enclosures and start letting my various A/V, Anti-Malware and drive maintenance programs go to work on it.  The full scans usually take 2 days.  Seriously, for a 320GB hard drive it takes 2 days to run all the scans I do on it.  The last time I pulled full maintenance on my computer I was on the laptop for a full week, 3.4 TB spread out over 5 drives takes a long time to scan fully.

My mothers computer isn't usually as bad but some of the Virii and other Malware she has gotten have been rather bad.  I actually had to do a wipe and full re-install once on her laptop it was so bad.

Both my Ex and my mom try to keep up with their computer maintenance, but with me just a phone call away they don't really stay up on it like they should.

However it does get old after the 7th or 8th time.

This isn't directed at my mother or my Ex, but to everyone in general.

The following are the list of programs I use.  And the schedule I follow for my personal computer systems.

CCleaner  I run this program every time I close my browser

Registry Mechanic  This is run once a day, I have a subscription that covers my two desktops and my netbook, which all run different versions of Windows, Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit, and Windows 7 Business.

Malwarebytes Which is run every Saturday after being updated, and run in Chameleon Mode once a month.

Spybot Search and Destroy  Is also run every Saturday after updating and run in detail full scan mode once a month as well.  Be sure to re-immunize your system after every update.

Advanced System Care  This is run once a week after update, usually Sunday morning.

 AVG Anti Virus This is my main AntiVirii Program  They also have a Free version for home/Student use at Free.AVG.com  This is also a decent program.

There are other Free and low cost Anti Virus Programs but I don't use them as I have had problems with them in the past, usually related to browser setting they didn't like and kept trying to change and I didn't want them changed.  So the programs got changed.

Also, I reboot my computers once a day, normally after it finishes it's daily virus scan.

File Back up - I use the built in Windows Back for my Vista desktop and the Win7 Netbook, for the Win XP Pro I use Filefort File back u.  And all of my computers are backed up twice a week, on Tuesday and Saturday.

Defrag I use the built in Defrag program for the XP and Vista systems once a month.  Still haven't found a Defrag I like for the Win7 yet.

Now those are just the scans I do offline to protect my system.  Lets get into what add on I use to protect myself when I am on line.

First my browser.

Firefox  is the browser I use  and I use several add-ons/plugins to protect my system.

Adblock Plus to block ads

Adblock Plus Pop up Addon to help adblock block pop ups

Better Privacy which removes pesky Flash Cookies that track your browsing

Do Not Track Plus which blocks even more tracking cookies and such

Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus hides pesky page elements I don't want to see and can load malicious code on your computer through Javascript.

Ghostery add on blocks even more cookies and trackers.

No-Script Blocks scripts from running until you authorize them.

install and configure those addons to make it a LOT harder for malicious and rogue code to get loaded on your computer.  Of course they can all be undone by clicking on the wrong thing.  But I can't sit over your shoulder to tell you what to not click on.

With a little effort and some commonsense you can protect your computer from virii and other assorted nasties, however the best program or add on in the world won't protect you from your own stupidity.

So be sure what you click on, and remember.

If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

or TANSTAAFL  There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch