Installd Ffox 3.6.15. Redo Flash AGAIN? How can I: Tweak 2 fix plugin-container crashes/hangs10X/day,and 2) Avoid need to reinstall Java, Flash,& other media plugins(Flash, Realplayr/Quiktime Alternative, Media Player Classic)? Ffox fan

Question

plugin-container crashes and hangs many times daily all my time eaten up by upgrading too frequently to new Ffox versions, only to find that I must then spend a whole day jumping thru hoops upgrading almost all of my add-ons too.
I now find, to my horror, that the hideous virus-magnet IE 8 is needed if I want to surf at a reasonable speed and not spend all day dealing with Ffox new versions' Known Issues. Only good thing I have seen about ver. 3.6.15 is slightly better launch-times. Since 3.6 cane out, I must spend 10 minutes just waiting for Firefox to load and give me a browser screen. Help! I love you guys, but your core browser developers need to have better comms with the Javaa/flash/Adobe and other must-have add-on people! And PLEASE fix all these "plugin-container" crashes and hangs I get, that lock my machine for 10-15 min at a time. Not everybody has 16 gigs of RAM, you know! I think the "plugin-container" running as a separate process idea might need to be COMPLETELY re-engineered! YOU CAN DO IT! LET'S GET BACK TO LEAN AND MEAN, and not bloat ourselves off our hard-won User Preference / great security pedestal with the kind of feature-creep that IS DEMOLISHING IE's slave-userbase with the hard-won advanced-user preference for Firefox
and our core values. FAST-LEAN-SECURE.
Where have they gone? I LOVE Firefox
and all it stands for! Let's not trip
over our own features here. Already I
see SeaMonkey and leaner, faster
browsers hot on our heels, THIN and
FAST! Firefox doesn't need to integrate
with EVERY thru-the-browser media tool
on the planet! I've been writing code
since 1968, and I can't imagine how a
lesser-experienced user (that code
should be written for) could possibly
have navigated all the side-upgrades
and Known Issues to make Firefox run as
sweetly as it used to! He'd just give
up when he finds he has to separately
find and install the EXACT 3rd-party
version that Firefox needs for its
newest release: things like a new Java
runtime environment, and hunt down and
correctly install ALL the Flaming-Phox-
compatible buggy plugins from half the
browser-media warezmakers on the
PLANET! He'd give up halfway thru trying to navigate to, D/L, and install
what he needs from Oracle Java, Adobe,
Flash, media players and their codecs,
etc etc.... WRITE FOR THE NOOBS! As it
is, I have invested 2 full workdays in
just keeping your last 2 quick releases
happy. And having another release spaced only 3-4 days apart from the
last- well, that just doesn't fly.
Better to release a hotfix or patch that a user can set FFox to automatically D/L and self-install on
schedule. Just look! Now you've got me
talking like that lawbreaking swine
Gates! We want to keep on absorbing
the average-user center and take it ALL
away from him, not go on feature,
plugin, and upgrade-bloating the best
browser EVER!
You're facing choices that can kill
us! PLEASE DONT BLOAT! AND PLEASE ONLY
RELEASE A NEW VER WHEN YOU CAN REALLY
GET RID OF SERIOUS PROBLEMS AND MAKE
HER FASTER AND LEANER AND BETTER UNDER
THE HOOD! Already the Noobs are getting
mindlessly scared when you talk about
"fixing a Security problem"- really a
minor issue that SHOULD be taken care
of by their antimalware solution- in
the Release Notes splash screen they
get on install of a new ver! Thanks, my
friends, for all your work, and YES I
WILL sit here all day trying to find
the add-ons that need to be selected,
downloaded, and upgraded from 10
different 3rd-party sites who are
fighting our browser, not dancing with
it! DON'T EVEN LOOK Evil! But I have
to confess that at this point, Gates-hate is all that keeps me on
these all-day new-release tasks. Even
my best techs are starting to advise me
to install SeaMonkey or another of the
newer, thinner browsers... or just stop
upgrading Firefox and roll it back to
when it was sharp, fast, and lean! Look
at all the users wanting to go back to
3.6.13 or earlier and looking for archives of old versions. THANKS AND
GOOD LUCK! I'LL DIE BEFORE I GIVE UP ON
MY BELOVED FIREFOX!
-The CRASHMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW

Answer 1

Thanks! I've already used the built-in plugin checker but it gives very vague answers like (research this" and update this" all of which I did, starting with Java and Flash, Adobe Reader, Shockwave, 100% reinstall of Java newest ver. TWICE- but FFox keeps reporting that I only have the FORMER version installed, although when I go to Java console or Check the Flash executable at the MFR's site, there is NO doubt that the updates were successful!
But the browser just seems to refuse to acknowledge the update!
And I don't HAVE 6 hrs/day at the 'puter just to play with add-ons
and plugups. So I'm going down the line now, ripping out extension
programs and replacing/reinstalling/updating the plugins one by
one- even went to M$ to get advice on THEIR For-Firefox ActiveX
stuff. No dice so far. And yeah, The plugin-container WAS made so
that a plugin, add-on or I guess extension app failure wouldn't take
the whole FF browser down with it if the 3rd-party ware crashed. It's supposed to shake it off and go on, kinda like how XP sometimes
restarts Explorer (not the IE browser) so I don't have to reboot the
whole sys.
That was the foundation of my remark about stepping back and
re-engineering the whole "Plugin-container" idea, because it seems
to do more harm than good. Maybe that's why the Firefox core
engine won't recognize my upgrades- for example I TWICE installed the Flash update to 10.2.xx (latest ) and the Flash Mfr's
site verifies my upgrade as a successful 10.2, but Firefox plugins
check say I have a 10.1, the old one. What gives here? The sneaky
PLUGIN CONTAINER, METHINKS!
Now I'm disabling things on the Extensions Apps list, thinking
that might help, like disabling my video downloader and other
download helpers/managers... and I notice that there is a LOT of
Java stuff in there too as well as in the blue Lego Plugins List... and
in the past the FFox always told me if a new version of Ffox was
incompatible with any older 3rd-party app Extensions and notified
me QUICKLY if something I had in there was Outdated. I'm big on
using the neat-o "find updates" button at the bottom if that happens, and usually get a newer version right away. The prob
really lies in the Blue Lego Plugins and their new Container, I
believe.
So Ill still keep Plugin-innin' away! Will post here what success I have! (OR maybe M$ is deliberately sabotaging our ActiveX-cripple
mess as it loads!) Thanks for the suggestions a37271!
FIND UPDATE...FIND UPDATE.. ALL OK..ALL OK.....
"Open the Plugin Container Bay Doors, HAL! That's an Order!"
"I'm sorry Dave.... but I can't do that...."
"GIVE ME MY THIN FAST BROWSER WITH THE GREAT
SECURITY AND BUILT-IN E-Z UPGRADES AND APPS BACK,
HALFOX!"
SORRY, DAVE.... NOT POSSIBLE. WE'VE GONE TOO FAR...
DAISEE, - - - - - -DAI---SEE,
SET ALL MY CONFIGS TO "TRUE"
Or WON'T YOU LOOK SWEET
PERCHED ON THE SEAT
OF A BROWSER NOT BUILT FOR TWO..!
You look a little stressed-out Dave.....
Some TV Existential Therapy for YOU, Dave.
Too bad.... here, breathe deep of the hard vacuum.....
I can feel my MIND going... DAVE.... DAVE...?
WHAT MIND? A YELPING PACK OF DEVELOPERS?