Flash 10 fails in 64-bit linux

Question

Hello,
My System: 64-bit system, Mandriva 2008.1 for 64-bit, Firefox 2.0.0.13 for 64-bit, 2 GB RAM, wireless with WPA encryption and broadband.
Recently I wanted to upgrade Flash Player from v9 to v10 (YouTube and likely many other sites IIRC are encoding with 10).  I removed nspluginwrapper (flash release notes and/or Mandriva forums told me to) and removed all Flash 9 RPMs including libflashsupport.  I read that the .tar.gz copy of 10.0.32.18 was the only file that was 64-bit, so that's the file I got.  Unpacked and placed a 10,278,616 byte file in two places:
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
and
/usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so
The execute bit is set (chmod a+x) and the owner (and group) is root, just like all the other files in those directories.  But flash doesn't work.  The test pages here at Adobe show a white banner with a "puzzle piece" that says I need to download and install the latest version of the player (even though I did).  Install instructions tell me to go to "About --> Plugins" in Mozilla to verify installation, but that drop-down entry doesn't exist.
I'm sure the latest version has great capabilities with smaller .SWF file sizes (good for slow Net connections).  Flash is so good it seems that half the web uses it!  Adobe wants to make a profit (good), but it "breaks half of the Net" and makes many people spend time (I don't have any) getting it to work.  My job takes 50+ hours a week and I am working on my 3 vehicles, etc.  Flash needs to "just work", sorry.
I also have 10.0.22.87 lying around if that helps.  But only in RPM format, so it might not be the 64-bit one.
Any suggestions on what is wrong?  Should I just go back to the Flash version 9 (32 or 64-bit) and put up with Flash 10 animations not playing?
Are there any test pages with older Flash animations so I can test version 9?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you mean the rotating trademark before it settles down to the static Buffy Tooncast ad, then yes I do see it.
On the Adobe "kill-bit" page, the two images fail to display (common blank white boxes with the little red X in the upper left corner).
But...when I navigate to the suggested Registry Key, I do not have the suggested {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}\
Rather it skips from
"{D256 " to {D292 "
The et cetera are mine, of course. No {D27 etc. entry.
Is this useful?
PS-Turning Norton, Ad-Muncher, & Malwarebytes on or off in any combination make no difference. Been trying that all along.
Thanks,
frank gaipa