Mac, "Plug In,"

[Marty]

I'm new at this! I have a Mac OS 10.2, my browser is Explorer 5.2.1. Evertime I attempt to download video streams I get the following message.
"You do not have the proper plug in. It will then take me to a plug in page of which there is nothing to choose from that will work. Sometimes it takes me to a "Download center where I can download "Real Player for my system. This usually takes about 30 minutes. It then goes through a unstuffing process and once completed and now on desktop, nothing happens when I ''click" on it or when I click on the video to be viewed. I need help!

[kc0arf]

Hello Marty,

Microsoft abandoned IE on Mac OS X. You have the latest, and probably, the last version available.

You should consider working with Safari or Mozilla / Firefox / Netscape. I personally run with Firefox, as it is quick and "light". My guess would be that Safari would work best to get your video streams working properly.

Let us know how it works.

Christian

[Marty]

Thanks Christian, for the reply. A few questions. If I download Safari, should that solve my problems for movie downloads or will I still need "Real Player, Quick Time etc." Like I said I'm new to this and completely in the dark. Also is your system a Mac? If so why do you recommend Safari over the one you use? Just curious. Marty

[kc0arf]

Hello Marty,

My primary system is a Mac (OS X, 10.3.3), and have been an Apple farmer (pardon the pun) for over 10 years now. Started out with System 6.0.8 way back....

Anyways, take your time, and your system will grow with you. You should already have Safari, and it should be automatically patching itself with Software Update.

I went out and got the latest Real Player, and Quicktime (and also Adobe Reader, and a few other staples of computing, such as Stuffit Expander and updates to MSN and Yahoo IM programs). When you load Safari or your other web browsers, the plug in should be available if you check for helper applications. To be honest, I do a lot of this automatically, and should document it out for you.

I use Firefox because it is faster than Safari, and it also shares bookmarks with Mozilla and Netscape. Dani here is turning me onto Safari. Safari is not completely accepted yet -- it renders pages a bit differently than Mozilla/Netscape. Don't get me wrong -- Safari has a lot of good things going for it.

Firefox also has options for me to block pop-up windows. Every once in a blue moon, I run into a site that I need pop-ups to function properly, so it is a click away, and things are working better, but on the whole, I kill off the pop-up windows.

Mozilla is cool for me too because what I see on Mac Mozilla, I also see on Linux Mozilla, another platform I use almost daily. Mozilla also lets me choose where it is going to store my temp cache files, and I love sending those off to a RAM disk for quick retrieval and quick deletion. The little annoying cache files get cleared whenver I reboot my computer.

NOTE: OS 9's RAM disk was persistant, so you could survive a reboot and the files would still be there. How? It would save the data to the hard drive, and then re-plentish it upon reboot.

I have not run Opera all that much. Found that it would render pages rather funny. I also gave up on IE long time ago.

I suggest that you download Mozilla and Firefox, and give them a run. Compare them with Safari and your IE stuff. You may run into websites (banks!) that require a real IE session to work with, so unfortunately you cannot just kill off IE and delete it. Just like that weird wrench in your toolbox, sometimes you have to grab the obscure thing to make it work.

Give it a whirl, and let's talk tomorrow.

Christian

[kc0arf]

Hello Marty,

As an update this morning, I went out and got the latest Quicktime 6.5 and installed it on my computer. I then went out and played various movies from www.quicktime.com, such as the Spiderman and Shreik II movie trailers. They played fine. For whatever reason, however, Harry Potter 3 doesn't play completely for me. Dunno.

Christian

[Marty]

Christian, thanks again for the quick and extensive reply. I have been troubled with computer problems, locking up but it seem to be alright now. I plan on locating the downloads that you suggested and giving it a try.
Marty

[Marty]

Hello Christian,

I downloaded Safri 1.0 and then went to the following website to see if I could now view their movie: www.catsfastferry.com/index.asp. Once again, I get the following message: You do not have the proper plug in. It gives me the option to VIEW the plug in page and when I click on it I am then taken to a page that offers "Real Player," downloads which I have already downloaded previously. Can you help?

[kc0arf]

Hello Marty,

Using Safari, you can go to the Help --> installed plugins window, and see what you have installed in. Check to see if you have a Windows Media Player section

video/x-ms-wm
Windows Media
wm

application/x-mplayer2
Windows Media

video/x-ms-wmv
Windows Media
wmv

video/x-ms-asf
Windows Media
asx

application/asx
Windows Media

audio/x-ms-wax
Windows Media
wax

video/x-ms-asf-plugin
Windows Media

application/x-ms-wmd
Windows Media
wmd

video/x-ms-wmp
Windows Media
wmp

video/x-ms-wmx
Windows Media
wmx

audio/x-ms-wma
Windows Media
wma

video/x-ms-wvx
Windows Media
wvx

If you have this information, you are on the right path.

Now, I went and looked at the site. I could not get the movies to play directly either (I was in the virtual tour section). Not for Mozilla or Firefox either. My linux box tells me properly that there is Shockwave flash and windows media player on that website. Safari did not complain, but would not play the videos either.

In order for me to get the movie to play, I had to click on it, then let it open the box. It would not show anything. I then chose to View --> View Source, and I found the movie .asx in the Java Script code. I was able to cut and paste that into Windows Media Player, and then the movie worked.

There is a definate problem with the way Windows Media Player is failing to complete the movie playing action. I'll have to look further into this.

GRRR.

Christian

[Marty]

Hello Christion,

I don't understand what you mean when you say "Using Safari, you can go to the Help etc." It was downloaded and it is located in my "Download Manager Folder." I'm not sure what you mean by 'Using it" If I double click on it I get a window that gives me it's location with the option of launching a "Helper application."

I would appreciate it greatly if you could walk me through it step by step. I'm completly in the dark.

Marty

[ernest]

Hi,

Could somebody tell me if there is a way to set helper applications on Safari? The preferences menu seems pretty sparse compared to most other browsers. I'm using Safari 1.2.2 on OS 10.3.4

Thanks.

[brokenwarrior]

Alright... if u need a .asf extention to work its best to download a windows media player. Windows Media Player can play most extenions except maybe .ram from the Real Player extentions. Anyways, windows media player can downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9Series/download/download.asp you will notice that there are to links to download from depending on your system

[Marty]

Hello brokenwarrier,
I have already downloaded windows media player 9, for Macintosh. It appears on my desktop and when clicked upon nothing happens. When I click on "Play Movie," nothing happens. Am I supposed to place it in a particular folder or what? I just don't know!

Marty

[DIDI]

Hello brokenwarrier,
I have already downloaded windows media player 9, for Macintosh. It appears on my desktop and when clicked upon nothing happens. When I click on "Play Movie," nothing happens. Am I supposed to place it in a particular folder or what? I just don't know!

Marty

I'm a rank amateur here but don't you have need to drop it into your applications folder? Please don't take this as gospel.

[Kazza]

Hi Marty
I was having the exact same problem. Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=windowsmedia
dowload the Windows Media player, restart and you should be right!
Cheers