Flash auto updates break Flash until browser restart

[Badger200]

I run SRWare Iron on Windows with hundreds of tabs for months at a time and I generally never restart it unless necessary.

However, whenever Flash does one of its silent background auto updates to NPSWF32.DLL, I'll know because all of a sudden all my webpages start saying I need to install Flash Player and I can't get Flash to work in SRware Iron at all. I search my NPSWF32.DLL and it's always been updated in the last few hours when this happens. So I know the Adobe auto update triggered this issue.

How can I prevent SRWare Iron from losing its flash when this happens? Or, how can I re-add it without having to restart the browser? Basically I don't mind flash auto updating, but I cannot have it breaking my browser's flash and forcing a restart (which is an arduous and breakneck process with hundreds of tabs needing to be opened on a browser restart).

Right now my flash just broke (obviously the impetus for this post) and if I go to chrome://plugins, there isn't even anything for Flash showing in there whatsoever. (Normally it does show as Enabled and works fine.)

Is there anybody who knows more about this? I'm handy and willing to implement any and all necessary measures to make this happen, no matter how unorthodox they may be.

Thanks in advance.

[Badger200]

3 updates since I originally wrote this post:

1. Now on SRWare iron 39. Much more stable than 37 and 38!

2. Now using 1200-1300 Tabs. I know that seems crazy and in some ways it may be, but that's my use case nevertheless.

3. Since disabling Flash auto update a few weeks ago, this issue has been halted, but this is just a workaround - I need my flash to be able to update somehow... Preferably without requiring a browser restart.

[arflech]

I recommend managing your tabs with extensions like FreshStart (which makes use of the Bookmarks system) and The Great Suspender so that your session won't use so much RAM; also, you should be restarting at least once per month when Microsoft releases its Patch Tuesday updates.

With that said, it's also helpful to use the PPAPI installer for Flash and disable the NPAPI version pre-emptively, before a Chromium update in September forces your hand: https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

I don't know whether PPAPI plugins can be hot-swapped in a way that NPAPI cannot, but at the very least the PPAPI version will work better.

[A.Fenris]

Badger200:

i'm not sure you can... the easy way would be to make a copy in the same directory - NPSWF32(2).DLL - and simply replace the newer with the re-renamed original, but after searching on my machine, i found the same file in 3 different locations.. one was for Adobe Reader, one for Adobe Air, and yet another for X:\doc and settings\all users...

the copy - recopy method might result in an out of sync installation.

personally, i keep the uninstall_flash_player.exe in a convenient place, remove the unwanted version, and do a fresh install when needed.

good luck,

~daniel~

[greener]

Suffering, frustration is not terrible. That's just life on the road to a stumbling block, as long as you have the courage to cross it, show in your road ahead will be sunny.