How to Fix the Dreaded YouTube Black Screen

Some of you may have encountered this problem. It's quite rampant on the internet, and of course Youtube Inc. has nothing public to say. Not to mention their "help forums" are pretty worthless. So what's the problem? A number of internet users, both Mac and PC, both Firefox and IE, have found that occasionally Youtube videos do not display. Instead of displaying, only a black screen remains. The audio works fine, there's just no picture at all, and oftentimes not even a tool bar at the bottom. Firefox users have sometimes found they can at least manipulate pause, volume, and view the timeline of the video, but that's all. What's the issue?

Well, since Youtube's not going to tell us and don't seem to really care, let me explain. This has nothing to do with cookies. This has nothing to do with your internet history. This has nothing to do with your "trusted" sites. Don't bother right-clicking on the video to bring up the Adobe Flash Player settings, because you'll just be taken to their site and a bunch of nonsense that explains little. Ignore all that bullshit because the problem can be corrected quite easily. Now, on a side note, it seems that a number of people have noticed that the problem arose for them after updating their Adobe Player. I can personally verify this is what happened to me, but I'm not sure exactly what the connection is in terms of the nitty gritty code that makes everything work. I'm good, but not that good, or actually I just don't care. Most have also found the problem went away in a few weeks, but who wants to wait? Here's how to fix it.

Now, first off, allow me to apologize to Mac users. I have no idea how it works on a Mac, so if you do or can figure it out based on my instructions here, please post in the comments below so I can update the blog for others. Anyway, here it is, real simple. ONLY FOR PC USERS. Click on "Start" at the bottom left on your computer screen. Next click on "Control Panel". Now you need to find "Display" and click on it. There are two ways to do this. 1. You can first click on "Switch to Classic View" on the left. Then click on "Display". 2. Or, if you prefer using the category mode, click on "Appearance and Themes". At the bottom you will see "Display". Click it.

Now that you've done that a little screen comes up that says "Display Properties". Click on the "Settings" tab. A picture with your computer screen and such will appear. Near the bottom right you'll see you can click on a button labeled "Advanced". Do it. A new screen with information about your computer and tech stuff will appear. At the top, click on the tab that says "Troubleshoot". Here you will be on the screen that enables you to manipulate your hardware acceleration. THIS is the problem. Switch it to NO ACCELERATION by moving the tab all the way to the left. Now click "Apply" and then click "OK" to exit the display boxes. That's it. You will now be able to view Youtube videos again with no problem. As a bonus, this also allows you to play older PC games that were built on Windows 92 and even earlier, so if you ever tried and found the sound was screwed up, as well as the graphics, adjust this same thing and you'll be able to play the classics. Any questions or problems, post here, but there's your answer!

MYSPACE Takes a Leap Off a FUCKING Cliff

I apologize for this rant, but it needs to be said. Perhaps the bigwigs out there will come across this little blog and think for a second. The new MySpace sucks. It sucks. Being a little older, I've seen a lot of changes to things I like. Usually, it can be a good thing, but perhaps just as often it ends up being a total fucking disaster. Enter MySpace.

MySpace, or should I say My______ now (seriously), has been known as a trashy site over the past couple of years, with good reason. Just look at any number of "models" who post animated GIFs of themselves dancing over chairs and humping shit while their page's background involves a series of sparkling cartoon animals. You'll get the idea pretty quick. But that's what I loved about it. The thing about MySpace is it let users do what they wanted. Recently, however, in an effort to appeal to a younger audience and compete with Facebook, they created a new system.

Holy shit does it suck. I've used MySpace for years to check out bands, but fat chance I'm going to do that much anymore since I can do it on Facebook, which is now much, much more user friendly. Whereas bands previously could create their page in their image with whatever pictures and silly things they wanted, now MySpace is forcing users to upgrade to a system where you have limited control. You can create banners and things, but not nearly to the extent that you could previously. Everything you do is run through THEIR editor using a handful of options. Now, this is understandable in a way, because it can help to clean up the clutter people create by clogging the site with thousands of pictures, videos, etc. However, at the same time, it eliminates the freeness that made MySpace so great and fun to come to in the first place. Add to this the insult that the company just announced ALL users will be forced to upgrade by November 29th 2010, and you have a recipe for disaster. I've only mentioned design elements so far, but there are SO many more problems.

First, the site is a fucking cluttered mess. They're removing users' ability to paste shit all over the place, but now MySpace has taken the reins for you, except they're cluttering their site and YOUR page with damn annoying advertisements. Where used to be your music player is now a fucking ad, and the player has been moved down so you have to scroll. There goes ease of use for that aspect. Second, load time has been SIGNIFICANTLY increased. I can't figure out why, but somehow MySpace has managed to make loading time for even the most basic of pages about ten fucking times more than it needs to be. How did you manage this? Wasn't this supposed to save bandwidth? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? Finally (and definitely not the end of it, just search on the internet), I'm sick already of MySpace pretending like this change is a good thing with tons of "articles" claiming that people actually like it. Think so, think these reviews are really honest and not paid for? Just type stuff like "new MySpace sucks" or "new MySpace horrible" into a search engine and take a quick glance. EVEN ON THEIR OWN FUCKING FORUMS YOU'LL FIND THE TRUTH. You people don't listen, you just don't listen. This is probably the end.