Computer video Player doesnt work??

“Okay, so my windows video player wont play videos directly anymore when i hit the link.It used to go and download directly on the windows player but now goes to something that says downloading files to whatever...This screw up happened after i downloaded the WinAmp player.I immediately dumped winamp but the problem persists.What in God's name have i done to my computer??I have Windows XP....Any ideas?”

“davexx....... You must have System Restore on there. Do it, to some point before you downloaded WinAmp. Should work, as long as your have some restore point to go to. You do not lose documents or photos. However, you will want to totally shut off your anti-virus while doing this, or you'll end up needing to get a patch for it or re-install it.

I did a system restore on my work PC the other day after it started having problems getting me into the network. Shut down the antivirus. Did it. VOILA!! Good as new!! Got antivirus set back up and all's well.

DISCLAIMER: And don't blame me if it doesn't work...... LOLOL!!”

“Okay, your problem...you have the files assosciated with another program. Simply right click on the file and choose "open with..." A dialogue box will pop up, choose Windows Media Player. There is also a checkbox that says "use this program everytime." Be sure to click it too otherwise it will just open with WMP one time. If you still have Winamp installed, you must go into the winamp settings and unslect "keep file assosciations" otherwise winamp will change the associations back. Hope that helps”

“thanx...
okay this is gonna sound brain dead(but consider the source-haha)but what file do i do the right click thing???”

“thanx...
okay this is gonna sound brain dead(but consider the source-haha)but what file do i do the right click thing???"”

“Wow, that is probably the furthest apart I've ever seen a repeated post.

Anyway, davexx, right click on one of the video files. Have you ever saved one of them to disk, or do you just always play them directly from the website? If you've never saved one, this may help you. Go to a website you have played video files from before. Right click on the link to a file you've already viewed. One of the options in the little menu that appears should be "Save Target As". Select that option. It will display a dialog which allows you to choose a location for the file. "My Documents" is a good place to put stuff like this. Be sure and write down what the filename is! Allow the file to download, then, using Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), go to your My Documents directory, right click on that file, and select the "Open With" option on that menu. Select the "Choose Program" option, then select Windows Media Player from the next dialog, and be sure and check the box that says "Always use this program to open these files" That should fix the problem.”

“Thanx bit,
i dont have a windows explorer- i think.Im using XP.
Anyway i just went to the my document and chose windows player but i dont get a dialog box that says"always use...open files"...”

“Let me take a look at our XP machine here and see if I can figure it out, davexx...”

“ok, davexx, I looked at our XP machine here, and the instructions I gave you will pretty much work. The Windows Player icon you're trying to use won't do what you want to do, you have to right click on the file you want to open, not the program you want to open it with, which is what you're doing.

You do have a Windows Explorer, but it's buried in My Programs >> Accessories >> Windows Explorer.”

“all i have is my document,my music,my pictures-when i click the start tab.
Anyway,i did find the "always...open files" box BUT the file opens up on a download window and then i can play it on the player but it wont directly dl on the player.”

“Yes, you have to follow the instructions I gave you after you download the file, then perform them on the file you downloaded.”

“okay,thanx...im gonna figure this out...”

“Windows can be very confusing, just try and be patient and keep trying...”