Vista - Irritating items in this Vista OS

I have a bunch of old videos (in various different formats) that I have kept
on my computers down through the years. For the most part, all previous
Windows OS's have only had minor problems with some of them that were
eventually resolved. I have found, much to my dismay, that Windows Vista OS
has a problem with all of them. Now whenever I access any of the videos -
except the most recent that were added after the installation of Vista - I
get a error notice that "Windows Host Program Has Stopped Working" for each
and every one of the videos. It doesn't seem to matter which format, WMV,
AVI, MPEG (1 or 2), or wether it is from an old CD or new DVD. If it wasn't
an original input after the installation of Vista, I get the notice. Yet,
the videos will run once the notice is cleared (close program button). This
is just one of the very many irritating items that Bill Gates decided to
include in this latest version of "Let's give BG some more Billions!"

On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:01:38 -0700, paparowe wrote:

> I have a bunch of old videos (in various different formats) that I have kept
> on my computers down through the years. For the most part, all previous
> Windows OS's have only had minor problems with some of them that were
> eventually resolved. I have found, much to my dismay, that Windows Vista OS
> has a problem with all of them. Now whenever I access any of the videos -
> except the most recent that were added after the installation of Vista - I
> get a error notice that "Windows Host Program Has Stopped Working" for each
> and every one of the videos. It doesn't seem to matter which format, WMV,
> AVI, MPEG (1 or 2), or wether it is from an old CD or new DVD. If it wasn't
> an original input after the installation of Vista, I get the notice. Yet,
> the videos will run once the notice is cleared (close program button). This
> is just one of the very many irritating items that Bill Gates decided to
> include in this latest version of "Let's give BG some more Billions!"

There IS an alternative.

There is a Vista Codecs package floating around the intertubes
(Vista Codec Package 4.3.6)
definitely not Microsoft, but it seems to cover all the common codecs in
use, and solved all my problems with inherited videos. But, my video
collection is not particularly ancient, so ymmv.


"paparowe" <papannanarowe@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:3ED6AF4E-8EC9-46D7-BE3A-DF5E9563E0D7@microsoft.com...
>I have a bunch of old videos (in various different formats) that I have
>kept on my computers down through the years. For the most part, all
>previous Windows OS's have only had minor problems with some of them that
>were eventually resolved. I have found, much to my dismay, that Windows
>Vista OS has a problem with all of them. Now whenever I access any of the
>videos - except the most recent that were added after the installation of
>Vista - I get a error notice that "Windows Host Program Has Stopped
>Working" for each and every one of the videos. It doesn't seem to matter
>which format, WMV, AVI, MPEG (1 or 2), or wether it is from an old CD or
>new DVD. If it wasn't an original input after the installation of Vista, I
>get the notice. Yet, the videos will run once the notice is cleared (close
>program button). This is just one of the very many irritating items that
>Bill Gates decided to include in this latest version of "Let's give BG some
>more Billions!"

If the content still plays, the codecs are there--- in the Problem Reports
and Solutions center, what is the crash bucket number:
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#bucket
?

--
Speaking for myself only.
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--
"paparowe" <papannanarowe@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:3ED6AF4E-8EC9-46D7-BE3A-DF5E9563E0D7@microsoft.com...
>I have a bunch of old videos (in various different formats) that I have
>kept on my computers down through the years. For the most part, all
>previous Windows OS's have only had minor problems with some of them that
>were eventually resolved. I have found, much to my dismay, that Windows
>Vista OS has a problem with all of them. Now whenever I access any of the
>videos - except the most recent that were added after the installation of
>Vista - I get a error notice that "Windows Host Program Has Stopped
>Working" for each and every one of the videos. It doesn't seem to matter
>which format, WMV, AVI, MPEG (1 or 2), or wether it is from an old CD or
>new DVD. If it wasn't an original input after the installation of Vista, I
>get the notice. Yet, the videos will run once the notice is cleared (close
>program button). This is just one of the very many irritating items that
>Bill Gates decided to include in this latest version of "Let's give BG some
>more Billions!"