How can I get Adobe Shockplayer and Flashplayer to work?

Yesterday I had a problem with a program that I installed.  My pc wouldn't open Windows any longer.  So I chose F8 > Last known configuration that worked.  That fixed the problem but Adobe Flashplayer and Shockwave Player stopped working.  I get a black box but the file doesn't open.

Today, I uninstalled Flashplayer and Shockwave Player, downloaded the lastest updated versions and installed them.  I checked to make sure that they were installed in Add/Remove Programs.  In Firefix > Plugins, I checked that they were both "Always Activate."  In IE > Manage Add-Ons, neither are listed.  When I clicked on "Find More Toolbars and Extenstions" and chose Adobe Flashplayer, it only opened the page to download the Adobe Flashplayer again.

These are the programs that are installed in my pc now:

Adobe Shockwave Installer Slim 12.1.4.155

install_flash_player_17_plugin

install_flash_player_ax

Active-x for Windows

install_flash_player NPAPI

So I think I've installed all the programs that I need and I checked for updates.

Can someone help?