Windows 8.1 and adobe flash player

[ajb56]

I tried to listen to bbc iplayer as usual but this time it said I had to install adobe flash player. When folowing the links I then got the following message

"Flash Player is integrated with Internet Explorer in Windows 8.   You do not need to install Flash Player." 

I then found the following information

YOUR SYSTEM INFORMATION
Your Flash Version	flashversioninfo
Your browser name	browserInfo
Your Operating System (OS)	OSinfo

However I am still unable to listen to bbc iplayer as I continue to get the install/downlaod message.  Any help in plain simple English idiot guidelines please, that can help an old foggy enjoy "sounds of the 60s"

[C_F_McBlob]

BBC has acknowledged a problem with IE11. They're working on it, but the problem comes more from IE than the site.

"User-Agent Strings"

That doesn't mean a lot, I'm sure, but it's the root of your problems, and Flash Player has nothing to do with it.

Microsoft "rewrote" the User-Agent Strings for the abomination they call their latest and greatest browser (Read more here).

User-Agent Strings are what websites use to identify the browser you're using and provide the proper content for it's browser engine, like ActiveX stuff, and Flash or HTML5 video.

Thanks to the geniuses in Redmond, WA, the User-Agent Strings for IE11 (which has a Trident engine), ID it as either "Gecko" (Firefox) or "Webkit" (Chrome).

Trouble is: when the site the directs to the content for one of these two engines, the Trident engine in IE can't intepret it and the site then sees IE as an "unidentified" browser.

The problem with an unidentified browser is that the plug-ins in that browser aren't recognized either, so even though you're up to date, it says you need the latest Flash Player when you use IE11.

YouTube... has converted to HTML5 video so if it doesn't detect Flash Player, it can display HTML5 (MP4) video which requires no plug-in to play.

Facebook can't do that, because HTML5 doesn't apply to games... only video.

Microsoft has no plans to "fix" the mess they've created because they think it's a great idea to block you out of the websites you visit.

They recommend using "Compatibility View" and pretending that you're using an older verison of IE...

The Problem with THAT is that it's seen limited success, and you have to enable it for EVERY page that has problems... individually.

I'm not big on "pretending" so I recommend actually using another browser.

Firefox (from Mozilla)

Opera (from Opera)

Safari (from Apple)

Chrome (from Google)

ANY of those will work where IE11 won't, with the Flash Player Plug-in (For all other browsers), and Chrome doesn't even need that, because it has its own Flash Player plugin built in.

I've read several places that Opera works best with BBC, as long as it's in "turbo" (proxied) mode.