I downloaded two different movies, and when I try to play both, I get the sound, but no visual. Instead I get the computer graphic visuals (like the swirling graphics). Am I doing someting wrong?

For XP this codec pac is very good
Download XP Codec Pack 2.0.8 - XP Codec Pack is one of the most complete codec pack

Or for Vista this pac
Vista Codec Package v4.4.7 Beta 4a (freeware)

You can also install the VLC media player, it has all the codecs pre-installed and can play just about all files...
VLC media player - Overview.

Hope this helps.

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YES it did help!!! Thank you so much!!!