Shockwave all messed up

I think Firefox just updated on my laptop which is using Windows 8.  When it updated (or whatever it just did), i couldn't view any videos anymore.  So then a window popped up saying Adobe wasn't allowed.  So then I went to the Adobe site to update Adobe.  I downloaded the upgrade, but then it said I needed to uninstall the previous version.  So I downloaded the uninstaller and proceeded to uninstall it.  Once that was done, I went to install the updated Adobe, but when the installer starts, it freezes and says, "Error has been encountered.  Close this window and try downloading again."  So I try closing that window, but then it freezes the window and says Not Responding.  So I try task manager to end task, but it does nothing.  I restart my laptop and try again to find the same result.  ITS DRIVING ME INSANE!!  Please, if anyone knows whats going on, or anything I can try to fix this FUBAR situation.  THANKS!!