# New IE update messing with Flash content!

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [March 4, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664 "2006-03-04T15:15:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KaiserSouze](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kaisersouze/32/307_2.png) [@KaiserSouze](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/KaiserSouze)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/1 "2006-03-04T15:15:52Z")

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> As a result of the company’s multimillion dollar patent dispute with Chicago firm Eolas Technologies, Inc, the new IE patch –released Feb. 28th—means that Internet Explorer won’t be able to directly interact with Microsoft ActiveX controls loaded by the APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT elements without first activating the user interface with an extra mouse click.

The change not only affects Flash, but other embedded content such as movies and Java applets.

[Full article here](http://www.adotas.com/2006/03/flash-ads-disabled-with-new-ie-update/)

**Fixes for all embeded content**  
[Microsoft’s fix here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/overview/activating_activex.asp)

**Flash Fixes**  
[Kirupa’s Fix](http://www.kirupa.com/developer/flash8/flash_fix.htm)

[Adobe/Macromedia’s Fix](http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html)

[FlashObject](http://blog.deconcept.com/flashobject/) Method

[Unobtrusive Flash Objects](http://www.bobbyvandersluis.com/ufo/) Method

**QuickTime Fixes**  
[Apple’s Fix](http://developer.apple.com/internet/ieembedprep.html)

[QTObject](http://blog.deconcept.com/2005/01/26/web-standards-compliant-javascript-quicktime-detect-and-embed/)

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**Author:** ![massive3215](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/massive3215/32/253_2.png) [@massive3215](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/massive3215)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/2 "2006-03-30T14:01:16Z")

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Anyone have an example of how they got this to work? I tried to create something with js based off the microsoft site and had no luck. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![photics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@photics](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/photics)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/3 "2006-03-30T17:32:18Z")

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It sounds like a lot of people here don’t realize how serious a problem this is. I downloaded the IE 7 beta to check it out. Every freakin Flash file I use has a “Click to activate and use this control” box around it. I now have a ton of files to update.

If I use a JavaScript to fix the code… and I don’t even know how to do that yet… what happens to my visitors with JavaScript turned off?! Using the \<embed\> tag was simple. Now I’m not sure WTF I’m going to do.

I now have dozens of pages to update.

Even if I said screw IE, 54% of my visitors still use IE.

Heh… and now something seems broken with the \<IFRAME\> tag (or something) in IE 7, as I can’t play [Gwen’s Quest](http://games.photics.com/games/Gwens-Quest) in IE 7.

Ugh! :!:

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**Author:** ![freddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a87d85/32.png) [@freddie](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/freddie)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/4 "2006-03-30T18:23:33Z")

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this was bound to happen …:cop: maybe if someone has a sample file with all the new updates/scripts on what exactly one has to do to get things to run right again (in one way or another) … it may be helpfull to some of us… i read the articles and i dont really get it myself yet… this blows! :hair:

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**Author:** ![photics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@photics](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/photics)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/5 "2006-03-30T19:07:04Z")

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OK… after freaking out for a while, I’m starting to figure out what I have to watch out for.

IFRAME is not a problem… calling a flash file directly with an IFRAME seems to be a problem. Using IE 7 Beta, I could not load a flash file directly. That’s a problem… as it kills Flash Paper Full Screen Mode…

[http://photics.com/2006/03/29/lost-in-ascalon-17/](http://photics.com/2006/03/29/lost-in-ascalon-17/)

There’s a little box on the right, which allows you to view the cartoon in full screen. That just doesn’t work with IE 7. In other words… no matter what I do, I can’t fix this.

Maybe Macromedia/Adobe will release a new plug-in that will resolve this problem. That would be ideal.

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**Author:** ![kritikal](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kritikal/32/1699_2.png) [@kritikal](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kritikal)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/6 "2006-03-30T20:55:58Z")

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Honestly I don’t see it as a huge problem, users that actually know their way around computers will see the alt text and will know they have to click whatever is embeded to be able to “control”.

People that really don’t know much about computers or just the average user will click twice anyways, they’ll click once and when they see that nothing happens they’ll click a second time so it’s really not a big deal.

It is annoying though but whatever, everyone got used to the added ie security in xp sp2 :sigh:

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Wheeler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@Jeff\_Wheeler](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Jeff_Wheeler)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/7 "2006-03-30T23:10:59Z")

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And since you’re using Flash, you obviously don’t care about those who aren’t. 😉

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**Author:** ![kritikal](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kritikal/32/1699_2.png) [@kritikal](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/kritikal)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/8 "2006-03-31T04:22:50Z")

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> [@nokrev](#):
>
> And since you’re using Flash, you obviously don’t care about those who aren’t. 😉

meaning?

I actually have the update installed, it was actually part of the automatic updates for some reason and at first I didn’t understand why I had to click twice until I read what the update actually does. It’s annoying but it’s something that really doesn’t take time to adapt to.

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**Author:** ![Jeff\_Wheeler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@Jeff\_Wheeler](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Jeff_Wheeler)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/9 "2006-03-31T05:32:37Z")

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Because you’re using Flash, you likely are not taking into consideration the users who are not computer-literate. 😉

Or those who are simply incapable of using the computer, no matter how brilliant they may be.

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**Author:** ![pyrophone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@pyrophone](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/pyrophone)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/10 "2006-03-31T15:01:34Z")

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[http://geekswithblogs.net/mwatson/archive/2006/03/22/73022.aspx](http://geekswithblogs.net/mwatson/archive/2006/03/22/73022.aspx)

A funny solution…

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**Author:** ![Jolly\_Fat\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@Jolly\_Fat\_Man](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Jolly_Fat_Man)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/11 "2006-03-31T17:33:02Z")

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Can anyone link to a site with a working solution?  
All I expect it to do is work as before. Am I thinking wrongly?  
Most I got it to do in my site is show the grey border around flash.  
One click to activate on each page load, and after it’s normal.

The workarounds make it worse.  
With the workarounds I’ve used, I get to use the yellow bar that bars ActiveX content, then I click there to activate, and only after that do I make the site normal.

Funny solution number one didn’t work for me, nor did the funny and uglier mentioned in it. [Apple](http://developer.apple.com/internet/ieembedprep.html) mentions a real explanation for the problem, and so far it’s been the only one to work, even if it only shows the dam yellow bar.

I’ve got no knowledge of javascript so doing this stuff is confusing.  
Can anyone show a site already using the fixes so I can adapt that to mine.

Since I’ve yet to see the expected result, I have doughts I’m even spending my time correctly.😑

[COLOR=“Silver”]Why can’t everyone use Firefox?[/COLOR]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pyrophone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@pyrophone](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/pyrophone)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/12 "2006-04-03T19:46:58Z")

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I am using FlashObject to fix my client’s sites. The browser change isn’t a big deal for most, but is a problem for some. One e-commerce site has it’s main nav in flash, and it reloads on everypage. That means the user has activate the plugin everytime they want to navigate - a major annoyance and sure to lose customers.

By the way, the “funny” fix I mentioned above didn’t work too well because it caused problems when a page was refreshed (my preloader got stuck). But I am using an even simpler (and yes, more ugly) one on my own site.

Hack: [http://www.hoeben.net/node/135](http://www.hoeben.net/node/135)

Implemented: [http://www.pyrophone.com](http://www.pyrophone.com)

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**Author:** ![rhamej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@rhamej](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/rhamej)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/13 "2006-04-05T00:37:39Z")

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Using flashObject is the best fix. Or you can use what I used, an external js file that writes the flash. And yes, the js file has to be external. Stupid, dumb, retarded I tell ya.

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**Author:** ![rhamej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@rhamej](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/rhamej)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/14 "2006-04-08T02:43:45Z")

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Adobe came out with some other solutions. One is the way I did it on my site =)  
[http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html](http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html)

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**Author:** ![photics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@photics](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/photics)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/15 "2006-04-09T03:19:42Z")

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I don’t think any of these fixes are good enough.

Macromedia/Adobe should write a new plug-in that fixes the problem.

JavaScript doesn’t fix the problem of opening a SWF in it’s own window… which is what Flash Paper does.

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**Author:** ![KaiserSouze](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kaisersouze/32/307_2.png) [@KaiserSouze](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/KaiserSouze)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/16 "2006-04-09T15:53:31Z")

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> [@rhamej](#):
>
> Adobe came out with some other solutions. One is the way I did it on my site =)  
> [http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html](http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/activecontent/articles/devletter.html)

That is the route Microsoft recommended, and seems to work properly.

> [@photics](#):
>
> I don’t think any of these fixes are good enough.
> 
> Macromedia/Adobe should write a new plug-in that fixes the problem.

I understand your frustration, but you don’t seem to understand the problem. The issue is the way in which Internet Explorer handles objects handled by the object, embed, or applet tags, and not the plugins themselves. It wouldn’t matter how Adobe, or even Sun, Apple, Real, and all the other companies whose plugins use those tags rewrite their programs, it’s how Internet Explorer handles them…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rhamej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@rhamej](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/rhamej)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/17 "2006-04-09T16:14:23Z")

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> [@KaiserSouze](#):
>
> The issue is the way in which Internet Explorer handles objects handled by the object, embed, or applet tags, and not the plugins themselves. It wouldn’t matter how Adobe, or even Sun, Apple, Real, and all the other companies whose plugins use those tags rewrite their programs, it’s how Internet Explorer handles them…

Perfectly said. =)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![photics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@photics](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/photics)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/18 "2006-04-09T17:44:51Z")

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> [@KaiserSouze](#):
>
> I understand your frustration, but you don’t seem to understand the problem. The issue is the way in which Internet Explorer handles objects handled by the object, embed, or applet tags, and not the plugins themselves. It wouldn’t matter how Adobe, or even Sun, Apple, Real, and all the other companies whose plugins use those tags rewrite their programs, it’s how Internet Explorer handles them…

Then Microsoft should implement a better fix. Why do I have to redo dozens of web pages, with extra code, when this is Microsoft’s problem? Look at the top of Kirupa’s page. It’s got issues with the “click to activate and use this control” problem too. This is a website to go for Flash information. If this site is not ready for the IE update, how can Microsoft expect novice users to understand the situation?

I do understand the situation perfectly. It doesn’t matter why the problem happens. I’m not interested in that. It’s up to Microsoft, Adobe, Macromedia and all the other software makers to FIX the problem. Do you think your average user is going to understand this JavaScript script? All they’re going to know is that their copy of DreamWeaver, Flash or whatever didn’t create the right code. Do you think they’re going to care who’s fault it is? All they’re going to know is that the software they bought just doesn’t work right anymore.

The JavaScript solution does not solve the problem with Flash Paper. :{

You know, I DO feel like recoding my pages… with a javascript that forces the user to download Firefox to continue. :thumb2:

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KaiserSouze](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/kaisersouze/32/307_2.png) [@KaiserSouze](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/KaiserSouze)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/19 "2006-04-09T20:20:49Z")

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Um, there isn’t a “better fix” short of lauching the Flash Player/QuickTime Player/Windows Media Player/Acrobat Reader/etc every time you wanted to view rich media…

Eolas’ patent is worded in such a way that Microsoft’s patch is one of the very few ways browsers can display embeded content as we want them to be displayed within the page. And this is one of the few times I’ll be cheering on Microsoft, because if they lose their appeal then Apple, Mozilla, Opera and every other browser maker on the planet are next in the firing line, because **all browsers** infringe Eolas’ patent…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![photics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@photics](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/photics)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664/20 "2006-04-10T04:14:54Z")

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> [@KaiserSouze](#):
>
> And this is one of the few times I’ll be cheering on Microsoft, because if they lose their appeal then Apple, Mozilla, Opera and every other browser maker on the planet are next in the firing line, because **all browsers** infringe Eolas’ patent…

So… if Microsoft wins the Appeal, do browsers go back to the way it was… and all the extra re-coding is for nothing? :h:

[Next page](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/new-ie-update-messing-with-flash-content/185664.md?page=2)
