Flash 10.2 not working in Windows 7 IE8 despite 'successful' installation

Question

Hi there,
I downloaded flash player to attempt to view flash media on sites such as bbc website and youtube.
Despite the installation claiming to be successful, I still cannot view video on any sites I have tried.
(bbc website says I don't have the correct version, youtube says I need to upgrade)
My system details are as follows:
Windows 7 Home Premium, 32-bit operating system
Internet Explorer 8.0.7600.16385IC  (it makes no mention of being 64-bit)
Flash Player 10.2.152.26
I have tried following the troubleshooting guides on the adobe website, particularly 'Flash player does not work in Windows 7'
but I have not managed to fix the problem.
I've also gone through several threads on this forum, relating to similar problems, but I'm sorry I haven't been able to fix it.
So far, the stuff I have tried is listed below, but since it has not worked, I assume I have done something incorrectly, missed something,
or I have not yet found the right solution.
The Flash Player does not appear on my programs list, but it does show up in the control panel/list of installed programs.
I don't know how to get flash player to run on its own, so I can't access settings etc. for the hardware acceleration.
The folder located at C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash contains 5 files:
Flash10m.ocx; FlashInstall.log ; FlashUtil10m_ActiveX.dll; FlashUtil10m_ActiveX.exe; install.log
When I visit the adobe page for testing flash player, it does not show me any animation; there is a blank white rectangle with a tiny red 'X' in its top left corner, which I assume should be a box containing the version information if the player had been recognized.
I have looked at the IE8 'tools/Manage Add-Ons - 'show' All Add Ons, and there is no listing of  'Shockwave  Flash Object'
although there is a listing of   'shockwave activeX control' which is enabled.
I've set my IE8 security settings to medium for the categories of 'Trusted Sites' and 'Internet' and I've made sure to set:
'Download Signed ActiveX Controls' to 'Prompt'  and 'Run ActiveX Controls And Plug-ins' to 'Enable'
I've tried unintalling the flash player using the specified tool, removing the adobe download tool, and manual re-installation.
Finally, I tried (with much hesitation) to modify the registry key referred to in the Flash-Killer or 'kill-bit' guidlines.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX Compatibility\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}
The key existed, with a Name: compatibility flags  ; Type: REG_DWORD  ; Data: 0x0000400 (1024)
So I changed the value from 400 to 000 as suggested.
This is not worked either, despite uninstalling flash player, re-booting and re-installing.
Finally, I updated the graphics driver for my ATI RADEON HD 5670 card, but aside from scaring me by drastically altering the screen resolution and not allowing me to roll back the driver, it has unfortunately not solved the flash player problem.
I appreciate that the people with expertise have given loads of help on this problem, I hope I haven't missed something important when following the advice, but I'm pretty stuck, so if anyone can help, I thank you very much.
thanks,
pad

Answer 1

Hi eidnolb,
unfortunately, the installation of FP 9.0.280 based on running flashplayer9r280_winax.exe has not worked:
I cannot see the animation / spinning, there is no animation and no box showing the version.
(I have included a partial screenshot in this message, file name flashplayer_test_screenshot.jpg)
Therefore, I did not continue with the instructions.
The control panel list of programs does show 'Adobe Flash Player ActiveX' as being installed, version 9.0.280.0
There were no messenger utilites listed in the system tray.
As you advised, the first thing I did was to modify the {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} registry key value from 400 to 000.
After modifying the value by making it Zero, I re-started the computer.
Regarding Administrator Account, I looked on ther 'User Accounts' information, and there is only one user, my dad, and he is listed as Administrator.
Sorry, but I will need to ask for your further advice. In case it is useful, I tried to get a list of all processes that were running on the computer
(in case some of them inhibit the installation. most of them don't mean anything to me, even when they are given a description by the windows 7 Task Manager Processes List - I have pasted the text file below in this post, since I couldnt see how to attach files.)
thank you for your help,
pad2001
Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
System Idle Process              0 Services                   0         24 K
System                           4 Services                   0        956 K
smss.exe                       312 Services                   0        880 K
csrss.exe                      456 Services                   0      3,328 K
wininit.exe                    528 Services                   0      3,736 K
csrss.exe                      536 Console                    1      6,104 K
winlogon.exe                   592 Console                    1      5,288 K
services.exe                   632 Services                   0      7,200 K
lsass.exe                      640 Services                   0      9,380 K
lsm.exe                        652 Services                   0      3,436 K
svchost.exe                    760 Services                   0      7,008 K
svchost.exe                    856 Services                   0      5,832 K
atiesrxx.exe                   920 Services                   0      3,376 K
svchost.exe                    988 Services                   0     16,176 K
svchost.exe                   1028 Services                   0     51,320 K
svchost.exe                   1068 Services                   0     28,928 K
audiodg.exe                   1156 Services                   0     15,976 K
svchost.exe                   1200 Services                   0     12,432 K
svchost.exe                   1316 Services                   0     11,852 K
atieclxx.exe                  1408 Console                    1      4,956 K
wisptis.exe                   1432 Console                    1      6,512 K
AvastSvc.exe                  1552 Services                   0     22,832 K
wisptis.exe                   1792 Console                    1      8,360 K
TabTip.exe                    1804 Console                    1     10,448 K
dwm.exe                       1892 Console                    1     29,420 K
explorer.exe                  1940 Console                    1     53,728 K
RtHDVCpl.exe                   336 Console                    1      8,688 K
AvastUI.exe                    328 Console                    1      4,060 K
sidebar.exe                    476 Console                    1     36,108 K
spoolsv.exe                   2264 Services                   0      9,464 K
taskhost.exe                  2272 Console                    1      6,072 K
svchost.exe                   2332 Services                   0     11,252 K
svchost.exe                   2524 Services                   0     12,836 K
PsiService_2.exe              2572 Services                   0      3,052 K
SeaPort.exe                   2616 Services                   0      7,908 K
WLIDSVC.EXE                   2684 Services                   0      9,104 K
SearchIndexer.exe             3104 Services                   0     19,096 K
WUDFHost.exe                  3244 Services                   0      5,468 K
WLIDSVCM.EXE                  3372 Services                   0      2,644 K
wmpnetwk.exe                  3452 Services                   0      3,772 K
notepad.exe                   3600 Console                    1      6,096 K
svchost.exe                   3876 Services                   0     11,480 K
iexplore.exe                  2936 Console                    1     29,228 K
iexplore.exe                  3640 Console                    1     59,180 K
wltuser.exe                   3704 Console                    1     10,016 K
dllhost.exe                   2480 Services                   0      5,000 K
svchost.exe                   2680 Services                   0     21,228 K
InputPersonalization.exe      3180 Console                    1      1,440 K
wuauclt.exe                    116 Console                    1      5,516 K
taskmgr.exe                   3204 Console                    1      9,052 K
iexplore.exe                  1872 Console                    1    112,188 K
cmd.exe                       1048 Console                    1      2,936 K
conhost.exe                   3012 Console                    1      5,200 K
tasklist.exe                  4300 Console                    1      4,664 K
WmiPrvSE.exe                  4340 Services                   0      5,352 K