Codec Errors! WMP wont play my videos

[theboar]

Hello, i'm having a problem with playing downloaded movies on my computer. I think the problem is codec related (though i could be wrong).
I've downloaded a few movies onto my computer, and when i try and play them with my WMP the videos and player freeze right away and give me an error message saying that the program needs to shut down.
The only player that i am able to play the videos on is the DivX Player (which i installed today along with the codec).
I have serveral codec packs installed on my computer, but i'm having troubles opening any of their folders. Every time i try and open their files i get error messages, i think its due to my antivirus program or my registry cleaner.
Also, there is no uninstall option for these codecs so i am unable to uninstall and reinstall them to fix the errors.
What should i do?? How do i get rid of these codec packs that are corrupt?? The only codec thats working for me right now is the DivX that i just downloaded today, but even that doesn't work on my WMP.

THANK U

[soup]

If you want a good player you should take a look at Media Player Classic. As fot the codec packs, do any of them show up on your control panel / add or remove programs?

[theboar]

I really like WMP, i would preffer to keep it if i can fix this problem.
As for the codecs, i seem to have fixed there errors by reinstalling the codec packs over the existing installation. That corrected the issue of not being able to open their files and now i can also see their uninstall folders.
My MMP however still freezes. And i receive an error message that says that Windows Explorer needs to close because of a problem. This makes me think that the problem is more than just codec, because i seemed to have fixed that part. Why is my Windows Explorer acting buggy, and how do i fix it??

[drfsupercenter]

Try downloading XviD, a lot of stuff is encoded as XviD now.

[soup]

The following is what a reliable source some time ago "Too many codecs is not good & totally unnecessary". You should search around the Forum & you will probably find some good informational posts on the subject.

Here is his list.

[anonymez]

the explorer problem IIRC was something related to divx. best solution is a format & clean install

but if that's out of the question, and you wish to use wmp, you could

1. do a system restore, or

2. download & install ffdshow and max the merit through decoder config

or you could ditch wmp and use VLC (i'd prefer mpc here but it may have the same problems since it still mostly relies on dshow)

[theboar]

how do I max out the merit in ffdshow config?

[anonymez]

start-->programs-->ffdshow-->video decoder config-->info & debug. there is a slider