You can start IE using its blue "e" icon. It can run side-by-side with Firefox.

Thank you for including your system information. I think the problem is that the Flash Player is not currently activated. This could happen if you have never installed the version used by Firefox (it is a separate download from the version used by IE) or if your version is so old that it's now on the security blocklist.

Could you check on the Add-on page, and see whether you have the "Shockwave Flash" plugin and if so, try to activate it? Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• orange Firefox button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Disabled plugins cluster at the bottom.

If you do not find Shockwave Flash there, try installing it from the following page. Adobe's site should automatically detect that you want the plugin version for non-IE browsers. If it doesn't, there should be a link to get the one you need.

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Any progress?

Hi, you wrote,

 for graphics I get a dumb message saying it need a plug in and a black blank for the graphic. The site it people say that active content must be enabled also active content from CD.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what the problem is. If you need a plugin for video or audio, it's likely the Flash plugin, since your system details doesn't list Flash as being installed. To install Flash, go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ or follow the instructions in the article, Install the Flash plugin to view videos, animations and games.

Does that help?

If installing Flash doesn't solve the problem, then could you post a screenshot of the message? If you need help to create a screenshot, please see How do I create a screenshot of my problem?

Once you've done this, attach the saved screenshot file to your forum post by clicking the Browse... button below the Post your reply box. This will help us to visualize the problem.

Also, if a secure page includes certain types of insecure content, Firefox blocks the insecure content and a shield icon will appear in the address bar. See this article for more information about the new mixed content blocker: Mixed content blocking in Firefox

To temporarily allow the mixed content to be displayed:

• Click the shield icon in the address bar and choose Disable Protection on This Page from the dropdown menu.

To allow insecure content to be displayed in all secure pages, enter about:config in the address bar and double-click on this preference, to toggle it from true to false:

security.mixed_content.block_active_content

You can also use this add-on instead, to toggle the preference:

• Toggle Mixed active content add-on

You may want to do this only for the current session, then reset the preference back to "true" and check back with the site to see whether it's been fixed, since this is a global setting that exposes you on all sites, not just the one you care about.

Let us know if this helps!

Three other notes:

(1) Mixed Content

Academic platforms based on Sakai and Desire2Learn had the problem mentioned by Alice, so if you see blank pages, that's a very likely problem.

(2) CDs and local files

Firefox has some security restrictions on local files that do not apply to websites. This might explain some of the issues with the CD. You may need to access the CD-based materials in Internet Explorer for now.

(3) Images

For possible future reference, this article discusses some other reasons that images might not appear in web pages: Fix problems that cause images to not show.