Shockwave Player FAQ

• What is Adobe Shockwave Player?
• How do I get Adobe Shockwave Player?
• What is this difference between the Adobe Shockwave and Flash Players
• What are the Shockwave players system requirements?

Q: What is Adobe Shockwave Player?

A: Shockwave Player is the web standard for powerful multimedia playback. The Shockwave Player allows you to view interactive web content like games, business presentations, entertainment, and advertisements from your web browser. The Shockwave Player displays web content created with Adobe Director.

Q: How do I get Shockwave Player?

A: The Shockwave Player is free, easy to get, and available to everyone on the web. Download the latest version of the Shockwave Player.

Q: The difference between the Adobe Shockwave and Flash Players?

A: Shockwave Player displays content created with Adobe Director 11.5 software such as high-performance multiuser games, interactive 3D product simulations, online entertainment, and training applications. By using extensions, developers can extend the capabilities of Shockwave Player to play back custom-built applications. 

Flash Player displays content created with Flash Professional CS5. This content includes web applications, website user interfaces, interactive online advertising, and rich Internet applications (RIAs) created using Flex.

Q: What are the Shockwave Player's system requirements?

A: The Shockwave Player is supported on many operating systems and browsers. See the System Requirements for details about specific operating systems.

• How can I fix problems installing on Mac OS X?
• How can I fix problems installing on Windows XP?
• How can I fix an error message stating a restart is need?
• How can I fix almost all Adobe Shockwave Player issues?
• How can I improve the performance of Shockwave Player?
• How can I check if Shockwave Player is working?
• How can I get a version of Shockwave Player for my non-Netscape, non Internet Explorer web browser?
• How do I create Shockwave content?
• I need help with Director. Where can I get it?

Q: How can I fix problems installing on Mac OS X?

A: To install Shockwave player, sign in with administrator rights. An error can occur when you try to install the Shockwave Player without administrator privileges. A previous installer incorrectly resetting privileges to the root folder sometimes causes permissions issues. Read detailed information to resolve this issue in The Shockwave Player cannot be installed on Mac OS X.

Q: How do I fix problems with a Windows XP installation?

A: See Troubleshoot Shockwave Player Installation on Windows.

Q: How can I fix an error message stating a restart is needed?

A: To resolve this issue, follow the steps in Computer must be restarted error message after installing Shockwave.

Q: How to fix almost all Shockwave issues?

A: A version of Shockwave Player is preinstalled with some Internet browsers. Sometimes, damage to the Shockwave Player that's installed can prevent your upgrading to the latest Shockwave Player. You can resolve almost all difficulties encountered with the Adobe Shockwave Players by doing the following:

1. Make sure that you have the latest version of your Internet browser. Download the latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox from their websites. If there is a more recent version, download its installer to your desktop. Don't run this installer yet.
2. Use the Add/Remove programs feature in the Control Panel to remove Shockwave.
3. If you downloaded the installer for a more recent version of your browser, launch that installer now and follow the instructions to install it.
4. Reinstall the Shockwave Player.

Q: How can I improve the performance of Shockwave Player?

A: In most cases, a faster computer plays Shockwave content faster. A fast modem, ISDN, or T1 connection to the Internet enables Shockwave content to be downloaded more quickly. Run only your web browser while viewing Shockwave content. Increase the amount of cache allocated to your browser to 10 MB.

Q: How can I check if Shockwave Player is working?

A: Test your Shockwave Player here. The two movies show how to determine if you have Flash and Shockwave Players installed. The version numbers of both Players are displayed in the test movie. To find out what the current version of the Shockwave Player is, check the Shockwave download page.

Q: How can I get a version of Shockwave Player for my web browser?

Browsers that Adobe officially supports are listed in Shockwave System Requirements.Although support for functionality depends on the browser, you can successfully install Adobe Shockwave Player directly from Adobe's Shockwave Player Download Center. See your browser manufacturer's website for details or assistance.

Q: How to create Shockwave content?

A: Shockwave content is created with Adobe Director. See the Director product page for details about using Director to create rich multimedia applications and web content.

Q: I need help with Director. Where can I get it?

A: For support options, see the following sites:

Director Support Center: http://www.adobe.com/support/director

Adobe Support Programs: http://www.adobe.com/support/programs/

Adobe Online Forums: http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/

• How secure is Adobe Shockwave? 
• Does Adobe Shockwave Player protect my privacy?

Q: How secure is Adobe Shockwave?

A: Security is one of Adobe's highest priorities. Refer to Adobe's Security Zone for security bulletins and information regarding security and Adobe products, including Shockwave Player.

 Q: Does Adobe Shockwave Player protect my privacy?

A:  See Adobe's Shockwave Player Privacy Frequently Asked Questions.

• What are the license terms for Shockwave Player?

 Q: What are the license terms for Shockwave Player?

A: Read the software license agreement for full license terms.

• My computer is running slow, how can I fix this issue?

 Q: My computer is running slow, how can I fix this issue?
A: Adobe Shockwave is not known to cause issues like this one. If your computer is running slow, a good resource to try is Registry Mechanic.