Can divx.dll crash Windows XP?

[Sondra]

My Windows XP Professional has been crashing a lot for a couple of weeks, due says Microsoft, to some driver.

After a recent crash I tried to open QuickTime player and got a message that mentioned divx.dll and said my 30 trial was up and I had to register at www.yourproduct.com.

I don't know if this file came with tmpgenc, or another such MPEG 2 conversion program that I downloaded and later uninstalled, but Windows says it was created on October 3, around the time I downloaded those programs and just before the problem started. I also have a file, divxdec.ax.

If the .dll file is causing the crashes, can I just delete it? Someone suggested renaming the extension .old. Should I delete or rename both files?

Or--if one of the downloaded programs was not completely uninstalled--do I have to find more pieces of it somehow, in the registry or elsewhere? How would I go about that?

The programs that seem most affected by the crashes are video programs. I'd really like to get my system back to normal.

[Enchanter]

I'm sure if Quicktime wanted you to register, they would send you over to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ or any related site, not this junk site. I suggest you run an antivirus program and also ad-aware to scan for any possible trojans and/or spywares these programs might have secretly installed into your system.

As for TMPGEnc, the only thing that will happen when your trial period expires is the program will no longer allow you to create SVCDs. That's all. Nothing damaging to your system.

As for any possible offensive DLL files, the logical thing to do would be to uninstall it and see how the system runs afterwards. Updating your system drivers to the latest AND stable version will most likely help as well.

Just curious, what sorts of computer activity (simple word typing, video encoding, video viewing, etc.) did you do to trigger the crashes?

[Sondra]

Thanks for replying. I didn't think QuickTime actually wanted me to register. I thought maybe the message had something to do with crashes I've been experiencing, since I'm trying to figure out what's been causing them.

I'm not sure how divx got on my system. I don't even know if TMPGenc has anything to do with divx. I had uninstalled TMPGenc when it didn't work with the kind of .avi I wanted to convert to MPEG2.

I guess I could just delete the divx.dll or rename it, as someone suggested. I thought if it's part of a larger program, that wouldn't be enough. I can't uninstall it through Add/Remove Programs, since there's no divx there.

When you say to update system drivers, what drivers do you mean?

I don't know what I did to trigger the crashes. The main thing I've been doing is editing video in Premiere. I've always had problems with crashes in Premiere, although Windows never crashed with it. Now I have problems with other programs, too, where everything suddenly shuts down and reboots.

[Danski0]

Let me say it like this "EVERYTHING CRASHES WINDOZE" =)
Not but honestly it looks like you got some spyware on your neck, listen to Sondra's suggestion.

[Enchanter]

looks like you got some spyware on your neck

And hence my initial suggestion for running ad-aware...

BTW, were you referring to my or the originator poster of the thread's suggestion?