Installed Flashplayer 11, but Macromedia 8 defaults & doesn't work

Question

Please read this carefully as I'll try my best to explain my problem.  It's complicated!
I have IE 8 and Microsoft Windows XP (Home Edition)  32bit (-86)
First I deleted all prior versions of Flash Player on my computer.  This started out by me trying to watch a video on my computer that I downloaded and when Macromedia Flash Player 8(an older version) popped up, it didn't run the video, but instead just opened up and the window inside was blank.
From that I then downloaded the newest version of Flash Player 11.6.602.180
When I go and try to view the videos on my computer, only Macromedia Flash Player 8 comes up and tries to play the video.  When I tried to delete Macromedia FP 8, it's not even listed in the Add/Remove Programs in the control panel.  However, when I do look there I do see the newest version of FP 11 there.  What's odd though is that it says "Adobe Flash Player 11  Active X".  It shows the program installed, but there's no info there for it.  It doesn't show the file size of the program, etc.
When I download the program, it goes to the below destination file:
My Documents\Downloads\Programs\install_flashplayer11x32ax_gtbd_chrd_dn_aih.exe
I had it say a few times that the download was successful.
How come I can't find Macromedia Flash Player 8 to delete?  When I use the search feature Start>Search>For Files or Folders.... nothing comes up.  Can't find it.
Does anyone have any resolutions or ideas on how to solve this problem?  I did Google the situation and found similar and the author/poster fixed his problem by going into his registry... and also mentioned something about Active X.  I also did find another similar problem and went through the steps of enabling some scripting and Active X, but that was already set properly.
Your help would be very appreciated as I've had this problem for some time and am finally trying hard to fix it!
I appreciate your time.

Answer 1

Yes, when I say "on my computer", I mean videos that were downloaded onto my computer and not videos like on say... YouTube.  I see these videos I have on the computer are .flv.
Just curious, but why would I want to download the Projector?  Is that the solution?  Or is that another viewing option?  Because if it's another option, I can watch them with Realplayer and Adobe Media Player.
When I go to the actual video, I right click and see an option that says "Open With -> " and can see my options.  One of them says "Macromedia Flash Player 8.0 r22".  I wish someone would address this too because I can't find it on my computer to delete it!  I tried using the search feature on my computer and it comes up with no queries and I do not see it in the Add/Remove Programs folder.
Thanks for your help PW.
RisingStar