Problem undating to Flashplayer 17 on Firefox

Using latest ver. of Firefox on older WINXP machine.

I keep getting the message that the plugin is vulnerable and needs update.  I can download the Adobe flashplayer .exe file for ver. 17 just fine.

But when I click on the update installation file (flashplayer17_ha_install.exe) the installation always fails with a notice of "could not establish connection".

Something is blocking to updating of AP?

When I look in Firefox Tools\Add-ons\plug-in\shockwave  I find that the box "always activtate" is greyed out and my only choices are "ask to activate" and "never activate"

Any ideas on what is blocking the updating of flashplayer?  Thanks