I was having the same problem til I figured this out.
1. Remove "swflash.inf" file under \winnt\inf
2. Remove the "Macromed" folder under \winnt\system32 (you have to close your browser to be able to do this).
3. Copy this web address into the address bar "http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/director/swdir8d196.cab#version=8,0,0,196"
4. Open or save the file from it's location. Make sure you have a prog that can read cab files like Winzip.
5. Extract the files to a temp directory.
6. There should be a file called "swdir.inf", right click on it and select install. It will install some files into \winnt\system32\macromed folder.
7. Go back to "http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/" and click "autoinstall now". It will bring you to the page where before you wouldn't get anything. A window will pop up and say it's up[censored] files. Once it's done you can view Shockwave\Flash material.
