Odd browser problems (no flash player or java?)

Ok, so i’ve been having some odd problems with my browser (internet explorer). To start it off whenever I tried to play something on youtube sometimes my browser would come up saying that I couldn’t watch the video because I either don’t have flash player or java turned on. The oddest part is only some videos did this, and sometimes it was a video I had already watched. If I embed the video somewhere it works and I can view it.

Now even odder, yesterday I installed visual studio express edition 2005 then went to bed. I don’t think that had anything to do with todays problem, but today it seems no matter where I go I “don’t” have the latest flash player (which I do have) or java enabled (which I also have on).
… So I have no idea what’s wrong and set norton, mcAfee, AVG, and ad-aware all scanning when I left for work earlier. Got home and besides picking up a few cookies with low hazard rating nothing was detected. Any ideas?:-/