NT4, IE and Flash

[Robert Sullivan]

(crossposted to both lists on which the question appeared)

>error occurred copying swflash.ocx
>from c:\temp\ICD2.tmp\swflash.ocx
>to c:\winnt\system32\macromed\flash\swflash.ocx

I have seen this error with some other software.  Sometimes I had to grant
write access to C:\Winnt, hardly a suitable solution.

>We cannot understand why FLASH wants to copy the file as it already 
>exists in the destination directory!

Same here.

>Macromedia cannot tell us what the problem is.

Scary, but not surprising.  From my observations, I would say that some
software is not fully set up until you use it for the first time, and if you
install it and configure your accounts without actually starting it, it may
well try to do something which it no longer has rights to.  If you start it as
Administrator and copy those settings to your public profile, it may work.

Adobe Acrobat 4.05, for example, now asks you to accept a license agreement the
first time you run it.  If your account is secured, it might not be able to
write those settings.

We've never had this problem with Flash, but all of our installations are
complete wipes and reinstalls.  Cuts down on this kind of problem quite a bit.

>We have IE4 with service pack 2.  We are unable to use IE5 as it 
>opens up the RUN command to our users or alternatively blocks access 
>to address input in the address bar.

No problem.  Some list members may remember that I had contacted MS about this,
and they sent me a test fix.  Their Knowledge Base still says it hasn't been
fully tested <http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q250/9/15.asp>,
and that you have to contact them for it.  I did make it available on my own
site a month ago at <http://www.scpl.org/publicnt>.

I've been running it for almost 6 weeks (NT4/SP6a, IE 5.01) with no apparent
problems.  The MS support person was very helpful, but I suppose they have
their own procedures to follow to make sure it doesn't blow up some combination
of hardware and software.

Bob Sullivan                               scp_sulli at sals.edu
Schenectady County Public Library (NY)     http://www.scpl.org