Chrome’s Flash problems solved (again!)

Last month I wrote about a problem with Chrome 10 failing to display Flash content for some users. While I followed up with a workaround, there’s now something that may be a solution — for some at least!

To recap, the original problem was that since the upgrade to the 10th edition, many users were experiencing inconsistent problems with several features, most notably Flash content. While there didn’t seem to be a consistent explanation or solution, it turned out there were no such problems with Chrome Canary, a special preview edition of in-development editions of Chrome that can be installed alongside a user’s main copy.

The good news is that while Chrome 10 itself is still suffering the problem, Canary is continuing to hold up, which suggests future editions of Chrome should be Flash friendly.

In the meantime, though, a possible culprit has been found in the form of security tool Trusteer Rapport. It’s an application distributed by several major online banks worldwide that works a little like a far-less-annoying version of Windows’ User Account Control. The application works in conjunction with your browser and whenever you are logged into a registered site (such as your online bank) and interacting with a web form, it immediately locks down all other traffic in and out of your computer, including with other open web pages.

In my case, and in that of many others if help forum reports are to be believed, switching off the Rapport application (via the Windows start menu) fixed the problem. Even better — considering that giving up security for the sake of Flash convenience is a poor trade-off — it appears that simply switching off Rapport, restarting the browser and then immediately switching Rapport back on has proven a lasting solution. I only had to do this once and Flash is still working even after several Chrome restarts.

This isn’t the one and only solution, as the Flash problem has affected people who don’t have Rapport installed, but hopefully it’ll do the trick for many users.