Hundreds of FlashUtil processes not closing with IE8 on W7

My problem is that hundreds of instances of FlashUtil32_11_8_800_94_ActiveX.exe are opening and not closing.  They all consume about 4MB of memory. I am running IE8 on W7. 

I first noticed the problem with Flash 11.7, so I tried updating to 11.8, but this problem still remains.  I have never noticed these hundreds of instances in Task Manager/Processes until just a week ago.  I'm not sure what would have changed.

I do see that others have reported this problem as far back as Flash 10c - http://forums.adobe.com/message/2151836#2151836

I am able to display and use Flash content just fine from IE8, but these instances just keep loading every time I visit a page with Flash content.  Many days there will be nearly 1000 instances open - each consuming about 4 MB of memory.