Cant play youtube or flash on Windows 7

[Seth_F]

Youtube won't play on my computer. This happened after I installed Windows 7 on my laptop. Evey other video from other sites play just fine. It's just Youtube that's having problems. I asked friends, and they say Youtube is working fine.
I go to the Youtube website and then nothing happens. No error messages. Just a blank screen.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

You need to install Adobe Flash.

 

[photonboy]

Browsers usually tell you when you need to install Adobe Flash.

Other:
1. Make sure all Microsoft updates are done (should be on Automatic updates)
2. Try using more than one browser (Firefox 4, IE9 and Google Chrome)

All of these browsers prompted me to update. I highly recommend the "WOT" (Web of Trust) extension for all three.

Firefox has an addon you can manually add called "NoScript" which requires you to enable scripts manually (but just the first time) for each site. It's a really great tool but if it's installed ADOBE FLASH is always disabled by default until you enable the site through NoScript.

 

[TheTech214]

Are you using Internet Explorer? If so you are probably us the 64 bit one. This is a simple fix, just click the start button and type in the search box: internet explorer. Click on the one that just says internet explorer. After you go and do this go to adobe and download flash player. Make sure to create a short cut with the correct version Internet Explorer.

 

[photonboy]

IE 64-bit:

Actually, both versions should be next to each other when you click START->All Programs on the lower left of your screen.

IE 64-bit is not ready for use and should not even have been included. Ignore it completely.

Again, try the three different browsers I mentioned.

Other:
1. SIZING THE SCREEN:
Use CTRL + Mouse scroll to resize your browser screen (I think it works now on all major browsers). The new size will be remembered for each site. Now that screens are higher resolution the normal size is usually too small for text. You can also set a default scaling size in advance for all pages. SOME SITES WILL LOOK WEIRD IF SCALED (gaps between sections).

2. DPI Scaling
I also change the DPI scaling as I find normal programs too hard to read. In general this works great, however a few programs (mainly some games) may have issue with this. In that case you need to find the EXE file for the program or game and disable DPI scaling (right-click->properties...). I would probably not use DPI unless the resolution is 1600x900 or higher. (I have 2560x1440 and NOT using DPI scaling and resizing the screen makes text far too small to read very well. Windows desktop AND the web browsers really need to sort out automatic scaling.)

3. Start Menu:
You can add or remove any link from the left side of the Start Menu. I use Windows 7 and simply right-click the EXE main link for any program and choose "Pin to Start Menu". You can right-click and remove the link from within the Start Menu.

For more advanced control you can right-click->properties from most empty spots in your Start Menu. I change the option to remember recently used programs to ZERO so the only links are those I choose myself via the above method.

**Let us know what the problem is and that it's solved!!!

 

[rammel]

Youtube won't play on my computer. This happened after I installed Windows 7 on my laptop. Evey other video from other sites play just fine. It's just Youtube that's having problems. I asked friends, and they say Youtube is working fine.
I go to the Youtube website and then nothing happens. No error messages. Just a blank screen.