Since installed Windows Media Player 11, I am unable to play avi files, which causes a big problem when they are inserted into PowerPoint. Clicking on "Web Help" in the error window in Media Player takes me here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/wi... I have reinstalled WMP, downloaded and installed the Direct X end-user runtime web from MS (dxwebsetup.exe). I've tried installed DivX, and other codecs, but nothing works. I've Googled and downloaded Avicodec and G-spot to try and identify which specific codecs I need, but these programs are confusing to me since I don't know this file format well. Can anyone offer a solution? Thanks much. Life's more painless for the brainless.

Just another note on this. I used Gspot to identify the codec which is IV32 on one particular avi. The software indicates that the codec is installed. Obviously, something isn't functioning properly. Life's more painless for the brainless.

The K-lite codec pack seems to be pretty popular, Jennifer. It might be worth a try. You can find it at the following web page: http://www.free-codecs.com/download...

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

A little more info. We found that if the files are local or on a thumb drive as opposed to a mapped drive location, they will play. However, they still don't play in the PowerPoint presentation. Thanks for the suggestions. Life's more painless for the brainless.