I like to check the Comcast Xfinity schedule on my computer before I make my evening plans, just in case a favorite show is on. Lately, however, it won’t load and complains my version of something called Flash is out of date on Chrome for Mac. How do I update it?
Of all the technologies that power the Internet, few are as controversial as Flash, a product from Adobe that’s available across all major computing platforms. In the early days, it was what powered all the cool animations and beautiful sites you visited, but more and more security problems were uncovered and developers created a sophisticated – and far safer – alternative called HTML 5.0. Nowadays when you use interactive pages like Google Maps it’s HTML 5.x under the hood that’s helping power its speedy interactivity within your browser.
A few sites are holdouts, however, and Xfinity is one of them with its interactive programming guide. Well, somewhat interactive as them losing a lawsuit against TiVO caused them to remove just about all the useful functionality from the guide, including the ability to remotely tune your TV to another channel and remotely set up recordings for your DVR. Whatever the reason, you’re learning that you need Adobe Flash installed and available for the Xfinity program guide to work, and if it gets out of date, Google Chrome itself will block things proceeding to help you stay secure. That’s good.
Except fixing it is a bit more complicated than it should be.
Let’s have a look. First off, here’s probably what you’re seeing in your Web browser:
Perhaps you are seeing this instead, however:
If it’s been working fine and suddenly you see either – or both – of the above, well, it’s time to fix it! Frustratingly, however, the “Learn more” link on the yellow Chrome error is about the most confusing help page I’ve ever seen from Google. I know what’s going on and I still don’t really understand what it’s showing and how it applies to my situation as shown above. So skip it.
Instead, in the address bar of Chrome enter this address: chrome://components
You’ll get to see all the technological bits and pieces that make up the Web browser’s full set of capabilities. It’ll look like this:
Ignore everything except “Adobe Flash Player“. Here’s where you’ll want to “Check for update” to see what happens. Note: If you have any tabs open that are trying to use Flash, that can prevent an update, so I recommend you close every other window in Google Chrome on your Mac before you check for the update.
Most likely you’ll see something like this:
Component updated = good! Double check, click “Check for update” again. If there aren’t any additional updates, you’ll see this:
Sometimes that means it couldn’t update, but in this context it means you’re already using the latest and greatest.
Great. Now quit, restart your browser, and give Xfinity another shot. Hopefully you’ll see this:
Problem solved!