Alright so i've upgraded to Windows Vista x86 and ive installed flash player and everything, even tried firefox also but youtube.com and abc.com keep telling me that flash player is not installed, even though i know it is. Does anybody know why this might be happening?

Firefox gives users the option of downloading the plug-ins when a site needing them opens. Have you tried doing that. I'm using the x64 version of Vista and have no probs with YouTube.

Yes. DJB is correct. You should really get a thin panel under the menu bar if you go on a page requiring Flash. The panel asks if you wish to install the Activex control. You only need to do it once and then you are home and dry for all other pages visited.

I was just cussed out by a customer the other day because I told him "It's not Vista's fault that Shockwave isn't compatible - it's Shockwave's fault".

I'd try the various "Run as XP" and "Run as Administrator options when installing it - Flash works fine on both my IE7 and FF installations on Vista. Perhaps there's another player type program that's interfering?

Check your Disk Cleanup in Windows. If you have run that recently, the Shockwave Flash Object will be removed if the Downloaded Program Files option is checked. Some AV programs (e.g., MS Onecare) will clean this automatically when Tune-Up is run unless the DPF option is unchecked. If you don't have WLOC (Windows Live Onecare), uncheck this option anyway, as the WLOC Tune-Up "Remove Unneccessary Files" option is simply based on the Windows Disk Cleanup. Unchecking the DPF box will keep Flash intact after a cleanup.

If you have unchecked it already, go to adobe.com, Flash Player section, search "uninstall Flash" and run the Windows Uninstall Technote. Then reboot, and re-install flash.