It took me a while to figure out what caused the problem, so I thought I’d post it here incase anyone else has had similar problems.

A few things I tried to fix the problem included…

• Updated the browser and plugins
• Updated Flash to the latest version
• Used various 32bit browsers (FireFox, IE, Chrome, Opera)
• Closed any unneeded applications

… But the problem persisted.

I knew it wasn’t Windows 7 causing the flash freeze as it was a clean install and I had uninstalled and disabled everything I could think of.
All the articles I had read simply suggested using a 32bit browser, which I had obviously tried… Several ways.
It was starting to get annoying as even small flash adverts found on nearly every website were causing a complete browser crash!

I finally decided to completely remove everything that wasn’t a default part of Windows 7 to work backwards to try and find out what was causing flash to hang.

My Dell Inspiron 1545 came with a years McAfee subscription, which I have never liked or used. After uninstalling the software I noticed some files and registry keys were left behind, so I searched for a complete McAfee removal tool.
The tool did its job and removed the clutter left by McAfee and after a reboot all seemed to work fine!

It’s worth repeating that this flash error seemed to make FireFox, Chrome, IE (32 bit and 64 bit) and Opera all crash, hang or stop responding.

Fix Inspiron 1545 Flash Crashing Bug

The helpfull morons at McAfee have included a tool to help remove the crap they leave behind, a video test / tutorial and step-by-step instructions for the mentally challenged.
Just ignore step3!

http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

Download the tool provided in the article above called “MCPR.exe“.
Close any open applications then run the tool.
Restart your laptop and your done.

You should no longer have problems while viewing flash video or playing flash games!

I recommend using ESET’s Nod32 Smart security. It’s a far superior product using less system resources, is more secure, has more granular controls, better program to firewall associations and a lot more… No I don’t get any kickbacks from ESET, it’s just the best AV / Firewall I’ve used

On a side note:
In 2003 AMD introduced the very first 64 bit processors (Opteron and Athlon 64).
It’s now been 7 years and Adobe are still “developing” Flash to work on, let alone utilize, 64 bit Operating Systems which are now as standard with most new computers…
WTF Adobe?!
Do you want Flash to be more hated than it is now?
Have you planned for HTML 5 to kick your ass?
7 years to develop a work around seems a little long to me.

You will obviously need an original Windows 7 DVD or image file.
If using an image file it will need to be mounted on a virtual drive so you can access the files inside.
There are many free tools available for this, but I use Daemon Tools.
You will also need a Vista or Windows 7 PC as Windows XP doesn’t have the “diskpart” or “bootsect” tools.

I just downloaded Windows 7 and wanted to install it on a notebook.
There were two main problems with this:

1. The downloaded Windows 7 disc image was 2.23Gb
2. The notebook I intended to install windows 7 on doesn’t have a disc dirve!

I have a few spare USB drives laying around, so my 4Gb pen drive was the ideal candidate to install Windows 7 from.
Here’s what I did…

1. Insert the USB Flash Drive

2. Open the command prompt as
(Start-> All Programs-> Accesories, right click on the “Command Prompt” and select “Run as …”

3. To find out what number corresponds to the USB Flash Drive you should type the following in the “Command Prompt” window:

The number corresponding to your USB will be appear in the list (see the USB and the capacity of)
This number will need in the next step. The USB Flash Drive is usually disk 1.

5. Format the USB drive by typing the following commands in the same window. Attention, replace the number “1″ on disk 1 to the number of your drive as emerged from the above list.

When you enter this, you will have a USB Flash Drive formatted to be bootable.

6. So, let’s make the USB bootable
The application called “bootsect” is on every Vista and Windows 7 disc and will help here. Using the same command prompt window from Step 2:

1. Put the Windows 7 disc in the drive of your computer or mount the image.
2. Change the drive in the command prompt to that of your drive. Suppose that the DVD drive is E:

3. We will use the bootsect to define the USB as a bootable NTFS drive.
Suppose that the USB Flash Drive is G: \, your position in G: \ put the letter of your USB.
Enter:

4. You can close the command prompt,now the USB is bootable.

7. Copy all Windows 7 files to USB flash device.
Copy all files from DVD and paste it in the USB flash drive. Just copy all the files, you’re ready.

Now just set your BIOS to boot from your new USB version of Windows 7!