CSCP - CLC - Technical Support

Main Entrance > CLC Home > Technical Support

ACL Session 26th June 2010
1. NA edition website: If you are in USA or Canada you may click here to see the North American version of the CLC area.
2. Sally: Click here.

Technical support for the online activities
The CLC Online Activities use Flash and Shockwave. You should already have them as they are usually installed as part of your browser.
If you are having any difficulty please read through the Questions & Answers:

1) Which versions of Flash and Shockwave do I need?

The CLC Online Activities use:
The Flash player (version 9 or later) and
The Shockwave player (version 10 or later)
[see also (8) Why do I need Shockwave 10 or later? below]

2) Which versions of Flash and Shockwave do I have installed?

You can find out which version of Flash you currently have here.
You can find out which version of Shockwave you currently have here.

3) I am having problems using some of the activities - is it a problem with Flash or Shockwave?

The following activities use Flash:
Explore the story, Test your Vocabulary and the Dictionary.
...and these activities use Shockwave:
Sorting words, Test your understanding and Word endings.

4) How do I download the latest versions?

Please note that if you already have Flash 9 and Shockwave 10 (see above) there is no need to upgrade further.
You can download the latest versions here:
Flash player
Shockwave player (but see "(5) The recommended way..." below).

5) The recommended way to upgrade to Shockwave 10 or 11.

We have had a few people report problems after upgrading to Shockwave 10 or 11.
Uninstalling Shockwave before installing version 10 or 11 is straightforward and has cured all reported problems (the process is slightly different on a Macintosh as the Uninstaller is included with the Installer):

For Windows users:

For Macintosh users:

Please try the printable walkthroughs for each process. They are produced using Internet Explorer 6 but should help all users.
1. Uninstall your existing version of Shockwave by going here (see our walkthrough).
2. To install the current version of Shockwave go here (see our walkthrough).
3. Your browser will be closed during installation but return here and visit the shockwave version page to complete and check the installation.

1. Download the installer here and run it (but choose "Uninstall" instead of "Easy install") [walkthrough].
2. Run the installer again with "Easy install".
3. Your browser will be closed during installation but return here and visit the shockwave version page to complete and check the installation.

6) I have upgraded to Shockwave 10 or 11 and the activities no longer work.

Please uninstall and reinstall Shockwave using the instructions in (5) above. This has cured all reported problems although it does appear that some browsers incorporate the Shockwave plugin better than others:
Note for Macintosh users with the current Intel machines (Mar 07): There is a known problem with Shockwave on the current Intel Apple Macs. This is easily fixed - full details.
Note for Windows users (June 05): Some users have experienced problems with the AOL browser - these have been resolved by switching to Internet Explorer.
Note for Macintosh users (Oct 05): There has just been a problem reported with the Safari browser not updating Shockwave correctly - this was resolved by adding step 3 to the installation process in section (5) above.

7) Shockwave activities don't work on my Intel Mac.

There is a known problem with Shockwave on the current Intel Apple Macs. This is easily fixed - full details.

8) I'm having a problem running the Flash activities.

We have had occasional reports of a problem with Flash. Please follow the instructions below:
1. Uninstall your existing version of Flash:
see the Flash Support page (4th point down the page).
2. Install the current version here.

9) Why do I need to upgrade to Shockwave 10 or 11?

During 2005/06 we added new activities and upgraded existing activities so that they all now require Shockwave Version 10 or later.
To upgrade to Shockwave 10 or 11 see (5) The recommended way... above.

10) The red "loading bar" gets to 100% and then nothing happens.

Please wait as the program (very occasionally) pauses at this point (no more than 30 seconds). If it still appears frozen follow the uninstall/reinstall instructions in (5) The recommended way... above. This has cured all reported problems.

11) Sometimes an extra window appears which says there's a newer version of Flash/Shockwave available - should I upgrade?

It is not necessary to upgrade. Macromedia regularly produce new versions of both Flash and Shockwave. If, in the future, a newer version is required we will alert you with a message in the main "Latin Companion" window which appears as soon as you click an activity.

12) I am still having problems with Shockwave 10 or 11

Please try the support page for Shockwave on the Macromedia site. On that page there's a very useful link called: How to fix almost all Macromedia Shockwave Player issues.

13) Can I discuss the problem with someone?

By all means. Please email Will Griffiths for Shockwave problems or email Tony Smith for Flash problems.