Known Issues On Microsoft Windows
- ActiveX Plugin
- Adobe Reader
- Macromedia Flash Player
- Macromedia Shockwave Player
- Windows Media Player
ActiveX Plugin
If you use Netscape, installing the version of the ActiveX plugin for Mozilla may cause problems. As Netscape 7.x and later ship with the ActiveX plugin, there should be no need to do this.
If you install the ActiveX plugin for older versions of Mozilla you will NOT be able to download and install ActiveX controls (This may or may not be a good thing).
Installing the ActiveX plugin is NOT recommended unless you have a specific requirement for it that can not be handled by browser plugins, which is blocking your use of Mozilla (such as Windows Media Player).
The ActiveX plugin may conflict with other browser plugins when installed.
Workaround: Remove the ActiveX Plugin.
Only use versions of the ActiveX plugin specifically intended to be used with your browser version. Other versions may crash or misbehave.
Adobe Reader
You may not be able to print PDF documents from Mozilla Firefox if you have Adobe Reader 6.0 installed (bug 207417).
If you are experiencing speed issues with Adobe Reader, see the Acrobat Reader FAQ for information about speeding it up. In addition, if you are using Adobe Reader 6.0.x, upgrading to 6.0.5 or 7.0.x should speed things up.
Old versions of Adobe Reader have known security issues. All users should update to the latest available release.
Macromedia Flash Player
The Macromedia Flash Player installer may not detect zipped builds of Mozilla or Firefox.
Workaround: Use the XPI package to install Macromedia Flash Player, rather than the standalone installer.
Macromedia Shockwave Player
The Macromedia Shockwave plugin will not install if it does not find a valid Netscape 4.x or Gecko based browser plugins directory. It also does not allow you to specify a plugins directory if it does not find one. This should only affect users who are using a zipped build of Mozilla or Firefox.
Workarounds: Using an installer build of Mozilla or Mozilla Firefox is the best option, otherwise you can use the Fake Netscape 4.x installation.
On some Windows XP systems, the Shockwave plugin may not work unless Mozilla is run in Windows NT or 2000 Compatibility mode. This appears to be a Shockwave issue, not a Mozilla one (bug 225894).
Macromedia Shockwave Player does not include support for Shockwave Flash (.swf) files. You will need to install Macromedia Flash Player seperately to support these files.
It has been reported that calling Webservices via Flash WebServiceConnector may not work using the Shockwave plugin with Mozilla.
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player 7.1 is not supported on Windows 95 or NT 4.0.
Workaround: It is possible to install Windows Media Player 7.1 on Windows 95 or NT 4.0, however, this is not a supported procedure. Installing Windows Media Player 7.1 on Windows 95 or NT 4.0.
When Windows Media Player 9.0 is installed, Mozilla still uses the Windows Media Player 6.4 control (bug 193883).
Workaround: Applying the Windows Media Player 9.0 registry patch will make Mozilla use the Windows Media Player 9.0 control. Alternatively, you can try using the Windows Media Player ActiveX Control.
Using the Windows Media Player 9.0 control may cause Mozilla to crash on exit on Windows 2000 systems. This is triggered by having an old version of the Java plugin installed. [Bug 244713]. Upgrading to Java Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 4 or later will fix this problem.
