Have you tried totally uninstalling both Java and Flash and then reinstalling them from scratch? I saw that you said you updated them, but that's not the same thing as totally uninstalling/reinstalling them, especially if something is bad in their current installs.
Java shouldn't be too hard, but Flash Player has to be uninstalled with the company's own uninstall program. You can download that
HERE. Just download the file for whichever operating system you're using (under step 1), run the uninstaller and it will take Flash totally off of your system. Before reinstalling, turn off any popup blockers that you've got running, and then go download the latest Flash Player
HERE. Don't ask me what the popup blocker has to do with letting it install, but Flash, as well as several other programs, don't seem to want to install nice with the blocker active. If it's a problem with your Flash install, that should get you back up and going again. If that doesn't help, then you've got something else wrong.
Oh yeah, don't forget to turn your popup blockers back on after you've finished installing Flash.
