WAV file headers not liked by Vista

Just joined the board. Looks like you guys know your Vista.

Toshiba Satellite X205 Intel Core Centrino Core Duo CPU x2 at 1.86 GHz, 2 GB RAM, RealTek HD Audio, Firefox 2.0.0.8

No matter what site I download from, this machine usually cannot play downloaded WAV files. The files are full size, but display a length of 0.00. I cannot play them in Winamp at all. Sometimes, I can play them in IrfanView. I cannot play them through the Sounds control panel extension (where one assigns WAVs to system events). The computer CAN play MP3s and MIDIs. It also CAN play its native WAV files or WAV files that I imported via a USB flash drive. It also plays videos and runs files that I download, so I know Firefox isn't mangling my downloaded files. It's just the WAVs.

I recently read on Larry Osterman's blog that Vista's PlaySound (whatever that is) is quite fussy about the file headers of WAVs and that if the file header isn't as Vista thinks it should be, it will see the WAV file as corrupt. This would explain why my downloaded WAVs won't work, as they are probably pre-Vista and therefore, Vista wants nothing to do with them. So the question is, is there any mapper I can use besides PlaySound or is there any way to edit the downloaded WAVs' file headers to make them Vista-friendly?

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any help.

I see no way to edit posts, so I'll have to double post. Sorry.

I ran the WAV file through WavePad and resaved it. It now plays properly. So my advice for anyone who runs into this problem is install a Vista specific codec pack and use a sound editor like WavePad to save any WAVs made in the 90s to a more Vista-friendly format.