Skip to main content
September 24, 2011
Question

Best Version of Reader and Flash Player for XP

  • September 24, 2011
  • 1 reply
  • 6783 views

My computer currently has Adobe Reader 8.3.0 and Adobe Flash Player 10 Active X loaded.  Recently I upgraded to version 10 Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player.  Adobe AIR also installed.  I seemed to be having some graphics issues so I did a system restore to go back to what I was previously using.  Somehow I managed to end up with the version 8 reader and version 10 flash player.  Adobe AIR disappeared.  Seems I should synchronize the reader and flash player versions on my computer.  So, how to do this and what version is appropriate for my computer configuration?

I have a computer with a Pentium 4, 3.20 GHz processor, Windows XP, service pack 3, and 512 MB RAM.  My browser is Internet Explorer version 8.  I only have 64 MB of graphics RAM and I believe this may be a problem with the version 10 Flash Player.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    pwillener
    Legend
    September 25, 2011

    System Restore may do strange things to your system, as some things are restored (system files, registry), and some other things are not (Program Files).

    My suggestions: reinstall Flash Player 10.3.183.10 and Adobe Reader 8.3.1 or 9.4.6.

    If you again encounter graphics issues, try to disable Hardware Acceleration (Flash Player Settings), or post here what symptoms you experience.

    September 25, 2011

    Before trying the reinstall of Flash Player and Adobe Reader I decided to first disable Hardware Acceleration.  I did this and then restarted my computer.  I got the message "ATI Control Panel failed to intialize because no ATI driver is installed or is not working properly.  The ATI Control Panel will now quit."  I continued on with the start-up and went on the internet.  Things seemed to be working much faster and wasn't having any problems. 

    Decided to shut the computer down and reboot.  Got the same ATI driver message again.  Not sure what the ATI driver is supposed to do but I didn't think I should be getting this message and so I re-enabled the Hardware Acceleration and rebooted.  The ATI message is now gone.  Went back on the internet and things are slower again.

    Seems that disabling the Hardware Acceleration is a good idea, but what's going on with the ATI driver?

    Maybe I should just reinstall Flash Player and Adobe Reader.  Shouldn't the Adobe Reader and Flash Player be the same version?  Either both version 10 or 9?

    When I do a reinstall will the old installation be authomatically uninstalled so that?  Should I do some kind of uninstall of the Flash Player and Adobe Reader first?

    Sorry for so many questions but I'm sure you can tell I'm not a sophisticated computer user.  Only use the computer for e-mail and google searches.

    pwillener
    Legend
    September 26, 2011

    First: Flash Player and Adobe Reader are completely unrelated products.  You should concentrate on Flash Player only, and ignore Adobe Reader.

    Second: how did you disable Hardware Acceleration?  See http://forums.adobe.com/thread/891337

    Yes, if you reinstall Flash Player, previously installed versions should automatically be uninstalled.