Media players lock up PC when started

[nickster]

Windows Media Player always works fine, but any other player (VLC, Real, DivX), causes a lock up when it starts up. I have a feeling it has to do with associations for video, but I don't know.

What can I adjust, or change to fix this?

Thank you.

Nick

[Dencandy]

Many other media players, like Real & Quicktime, are well known for trying to take over all your media files, starting automatically, constantly using the internet connection for updates, etc, and generally messing things up. You can check your media options by opening Media Player, clicking on the arrow below either Now Playing or Library (if you have WP11) or clicking on Tools (if you have an earlier version), then select More Options, then File Types. It's worth also checking the other items to find out more about how Media Player works.

I believe there is an older version of MP called Media Player Classic that will play almost everything trouble free but doesn't have any fancy controls.

[nickster]

Many other media players, like Real & Quicktime, are well known for trying to take over all your media files, starting automatically, constantly using the internet connection for updates, etc, and generally messing things up. You can check your media options by opening Media Player, clicking on the arrow below either Now Playing or Library (if you have WP11) or clicking on Tools (if you have an earlier version), then select More Options, then File Types. It's worth also checking the other items to find out more about how Media Player works.

I believe there is an older version of MP called Media Player Classic that will play almost everything trouble free but doesn't have any fancy controls.

I downloaded updated codecs which included Media Player Classic. I'm not interested in the bells and whistles, so don't care about extra controls. thanks.