I finally dumped WMP!
I used it for years, added CODECs, dealt with it's tempermental behavior, let it burn a few useless CDs, and wondered what it was communicating to MicroSoft. (I know some of you are laughing at me for being so slow, but I used DOS until 1996, and I still hate Windows.)

Enter VLC. My girlfriend wanted a movie that was available only in MKV format, and VLC was the only player I found that could handle it. I discovered VLC also allows variable speed play for video with audio. Much of what I watch is for information, and now I can speed-watch and not miss anything while saving a lot of time. (If WMP can do this, please don't tell me.)

And VLC uses fewer resources than WMP and Quicktime.