Problem changing registry to kill Macromedia

[easytoremember123]

I've read how to disable Macromedia Flash Player in IE, it involves
changing the Windows registry, something which I've been doing since
Win 98.

But I can't understand the explanations given:

"Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}
then in the right-pane, create a REG_DWORD named "Compatibility Flags"
and set
it's value to 400."

The right-pane already has a key called "Compatibility Flags", of a
different type, REG_SZ, and with a value of 0. If I right-click on the
screen I can select to create a new DWORD, and this becomes a REG_DWORD
once it's created (the explanation says to create a REG_DWORD, so this
is good). But if I try to name it "Compatibility Flags", of course it
tells me the name is already taken and doesn't allow it.

Perhaps they want me to change the value of the existing key already
called "Compatibility Flags". But it's of a different type (REG_SZ).
And they didn't say anything about erasing it.

If it helps in any way, they also include this .REG file to automate
the process:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 (this line not included in the reg
file)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

I tried to run this on my Windows XP, regedit version 5.1 and it
rejected it saying something about regedit only accepting binary files
or something like that. But by analyzing this command, hopefully
someone will be able to tell me exactly what they are trying to get the
registry to change and how. And I do mean EXACTLY, obviously.

Thanks very much for your help.

 

[Alan Edwards]

Have you tried just changing the existing value to 400?
That is what the .reg file would do if you hadn't deleted the first
line for some strange reason. The line below should be the first line.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


....Alan

 

[Vanguard]

I've read how to disable Macromedia Flash Player in IE, it involves
changing the Windows registry, something which I've been doing since
Win 98.

But I can't understand the explanations given:

"Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}
then in the right-pane, create a REG_DWORD named "Compatibility Flags"
and set
it's value to 400."

The right-pane already has a key called "Compatibility Flags", of a
different type, REG_SZ, and with a value of 0. If I right-click on the
screen I can select to create a new DWORD, and this becomes a REG_DWORD
once it's created (the explanation says to create a REG_DWORD, so this
is good). But if I try to name it "Compatibility Flags", of course it
tells me the name is already taken and doesn't allow it.

Perhaps they want me to change the value of the existing key already
called "Compatibility Flags". But it's of a different type (REG_SZ).
And they didn't say anything about erasing it.

If it helps in any way, they also include this .REG file to automate
the process:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 (this line not included in the reg
file)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ActiveX
Compatibility\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}]
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400

I tried to run this on my Windows XP, regedit version 5.1 and it
rejected it saying something about regedit only accepting binary files
or something like that. But by analyzing this command, hopefully
someone will be able to tell me exactly what they are trying to get the
registry to change and how. And I do mean EXACTLY, obviously.

If you use SpywareBlaster to add the kill bits to the registry (same
location as you mentioned), you will see the data item "Compatibility Flags"
is of type REG_DWORD. REG_SIZE got used because the value is zero (0), and
a value of zero is the same as a string of bits all of which are zero. Zero
is zero. However, the kill bit is a particular bit in the string (masking
it used to see which bit is set) so you have to use a REG_DWORD value to
define a hexadecimal string so that the value of "00000400" hex sets the
12th bit in the string (0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1000 0000 0000). If it
were zero, it wouldn't matter if the value were REG_SIZE or REG_DWORD type.

So just delete the data item and add it back as a REG_DWORD type.