Windows 7 - Flash player crash causes Windows hang.

HI,
i have been using Google chrome for months now and only recently it started having the notorious shockwave flash crashes. but the problem is that the whole application hangs as well as the rest of windows. any application i try to open does not and after a few seconds of doing so i get the error "the service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion". not even task manager comes up. oh and when i try to shut down it halts at a black screen with a movable cursor and i have to restart using the button on the tower. when it restarts all is well until i run the browser and play a video or chat in face-book. this occurs with Firefox as well. please i need ur help. any solutions?