Update Plugins For Firefox (for Idiots) ?

Hello all experts and not-so-experts patrolling the for a

I'm looking to solve a problem I have with Mozilla Firefox - no advanced explanations please !

I'd started using firefox recently in preference to IE11 because of the latter's propensity to hog memory until it froze.

I have now come across the need to "update plug-ins", principally Flash Player

I installed Firefox to get the latest version (presumably), found my to the plug-ins list, and saw that it reported Flash Player as in need of update/ vulnerable etc,etc, confirming the reports of a couple webpages with videos that I've tried to watch.

I'm presently "Checking Your plugins" but I'm now under the impression that that process will never finish - how long (about) should it take ? (there are about 20 plugins listed, none of which I remember 'installing')

If this isn't going to work, is there an (easy) way of updating plug-ins ? Will plodr's (10 month old) two programs in the sticky post still work ? (I am sorry I could not understand most of that thread)

Thank you in advance.

Dumb_Question
HP Pavilion dm4-1050ea - I5-430M, 8gb ram, Windows 7 Home Premium - Firefox 49.0.2 (with amongst other Shockwave Flash 23.0.r0)

10.November.2016

 

Some may not be needed. I installed the ones I have in the two attached screenshots. You can choose to deactivate any or all plug-ins.

 

First you must decide which add-ons you need or want. Disable or remove the others.
Then decide how you want the add-ons to update - manually or automatically. Click the gear icon and select either.

 

Thank you for your answers, Messrs mdonah and Eldon. While the are helpful, I'm afraid they do not go far enough.

I switched to auto update from 'manual' when I found the latter wasn't doing anything. The former doesn't do anything either.

Referring mdonah's right hand screen shot (plug-ins) my screen of course differs in that a few of the plug-ins have written at the top their box "[plug-in] is known to be vulnerable and should be updated" "Update Now".

What do I do then ?
{Given that when I click "Update Now" I get to a screen which mostly tells me only that plug-in has been blocked (which I knew) and the only possibility of proceeding a tiny link "Check Plug-ins". If I click that, I get to a screen where there are links to answers to several questions (none of which is 'How do I update a plug-in ?') and a button to 'check plug-ins'. When I click that button, a rotating wheel icon appears, indicating some activity; after leaving it for short times, (up to 60 minutes) it was still going, but one other time, firefox crashed, apparently before achieving anything (<10 hours)~}

What do I do to solve this issue now ?

Dumb_Question
11.November.2016

 

When you select 'Update Add-ons Automatically' they will update when there are updates available.
Add-ons that are disabled by Firefox cannot be used.
Have a look at "What can I do if Firefox disables an installed add-on?"
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firefox?as=u&utm_source=inproduct

 

Eldon,
Thank for your latest direction. Although the section talks about add-ons, I take it to mean that plug-ins are a subset of add-ons. In the relevant (detailed) section of the link which you posted it says:
"Themes, language packs and plugins do not need to be signed"

Moreover, this does not tell me how to update the (flash player) plug-in. As above, I have v23.0.0.162 and versions between v22.x and 23.0.0.185 are blocked. I take this to mean that there is a version higher than 23.0.0185 which I can't install. Please could you (or someone) let me know the most recent version of this plug-in ? to give me a target

When downloading Flash, firefox help (which I thank you, Eldon, for giving me a link to) tells you how to install Flash onto you computer, from the Adobe website, which I did a couple of days ago, and it works in IE11, but not Firefox (blocked for security, no mention of "signing"), as the test for Firefox on the Adobe page shows it's still blocked. I am unable to activate flash in the plug-ins lists (as displayed in mdonah's post) because anything other than 'Never Activate' is greyed out (under the 'Ask to Activate button)

Dumb_Question
11.November.2016

 

I suspect the latest version is 23.0.0.207

but I have this version of the active x and v23.0.0.162 of the NPAPI file, according to the Windows cp > programs

can't seem to update to the latest version of the plug-in

Dumb_Question
11.November.2016

 

Yes, the latest version is 23.0.0.207.
Flash Player ActiveX is for Internet Explorer.
Flash Player Plugin is for the rest - NPAPI for Mozilla Firefox.
Have you tried plodr's link in post # 57?
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/index.php?threads/adobe-flash-player.296156/page-2

 

Thank you Eldon. Flash Player now works in Firefox (I had not seen that post; it was labelled for v23.0.0.162 but it worked for the latest version, currently y23.0.0.207) The post was due to son13adyy. Shows as v23.0.0.207 in CP > programs also.

Thanks very much, apologies for any time wasted.

Dumb_Question
11.November.2016

 

You're welcome and when a problem is fixed, everyone is happy!