Adobe flash player or shockwave player?

I have been having trouble with flash player add-ons freezing up my computer. It is just a year old I shouldn't be having all this software trouble already. So I just uninstalled Adobe player, reader, shockwave etc.. I am going to start from scratch.. Now which should I put on my Dell Laptop?
I have Vista Home Premium.
Service pack 1(I had trouble with service pack 2 so I uninstalled it also)
I have 3GB 1.6GB. available
Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz.
What is the difference in shockwave and flash player anyway.? Do I need both? And what is Adobe Air? never heard of that one before. What version of Acrobat should I install? Do I just need reader of something else.. I am so confused. Please help....I read some blogs that Adobe has compatibility issues with Vista. I've had trouble for a long time but more in the last month that's what made me decide to uninstall it all. Please tell me which ones I need to download. Thank you for help...

Shrander2009-09-02T16:40:15Z

Favorite Answer

Flash player is a "must", you are likely to visit sites using Flash daily.

Shockwave is similar to Flash, it used to be a major thing on gaming sites, but Flash has been replacing it, no harm in getting it, but it won't llikely make any difference in your internet experience.

Reader, it is suggested to get to read PDF documents, but not likely to be used too often. Acrobat, I just suggest Reader unless you plan to be making PDF files.

Air, it is something new to the market, and currently used probably as much as Shockwave, but Air is a program that lets Adobe products kind of run between the level of a browser and a normal program, letting developers mix different applications. Probably not something to worry about for a while if ever, but something that wouldn't hurt to get.

The Adobe products are pretty much fully compatible with 32bit Vista now, just they are currently working to become more compatible with 64bit Vista.

Olav_the_Viking2009-09-02T16:44:27Z

Get both of them at these two places and save these 3 bookmarks in your new folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Favorites\Computer Software\Adobe

(Path will be different for Vista)

Flash:
Adobe - Install Latest Flash Player
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Shockwave:
Adobe - Install Latest Shockwave Player
http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/

Testing both players/display revision levels:
Adobe - Test Adobe Shockwave & Flash Players
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome/

You will invariably need them both at some time.

Anonymous2009-09-02T16:23:49Z

Flash player first, then whatever you are prompted to install when applications don't work or files can't be opened.

hack_life2009-09-02T16:26:37Z

you ({"MUST"}) have flash player to watch youtube and to see the big annoying ads on sites.