Hey all,
I recently purchased a new computer that included Vista Home Basic standard.
I've been a Windows user since Windows 3.0, so I've experienced just about every headache that Microsoft has thrown at us over the years.
I've been very happy with the overall stability of XP over the past 5+ years, and it wasn't until recently that mine began to show signs of age (or conflicts / errors stemming possibly from Microsoft-based update packs)
So, when I experienced this hiccup in Vista with Media Player 11, I couldn't find any definitive answers, so, hopefully somebody will be able to help here.
Now, if this was XP, I'd simply uninstall media player and re-install it, but, since that's not possible in Vista, here's what's going on ... if it rings a bell for anybody or anybody has a quick solution please give me a shout at Lupin003 aol.com
Windows Media Player 11 would "open" MPEG files directly from the web and "buffer" them / stream them from what I assume was the IE7 temp file cache.
That is, UNTIL I installed Nero Ultra Edition 7 (which is supposedly 100% vista ready), after I installed it (I think it installed a variety of video codecs for it's video conversion software which came with) Media Player 11 would no longer open MPEG files directly into Media Player (it wanted to download them instead, and had a red-shield warning message that the file types were "incorrect")
Now, when I DID download them (Instead of opening them in a buffered mode in Media Player) , I COULD open and play them fine in Media Player ...
Since Media Player 11 no longer has an "associate file types" tab in options, I went into the control panel and attempted to re-associate mpegs with media player (though it showed that they WERE still associated with that application) I found that even as administrator, I couldn't really check/uncheck any file types anyway.
SO, what I did was right click on a downloaded MPEG file and associated it to always open with Media Player 11.
(SORR THIS IS LONG, but I figure the more detail the better)
Now, Media Player 11 will open mpegs from the web, but instead of directly opening the file and "buffering it" ... it shows the Windows download progress and reads that it's downloading it to a temp folder before opening it.
I KNOW that the end effect is that I do get working MPEGs in Media Player ..... but something isn't right. The process has changed, and I'm afraid (from years of experience with Windows systems) that this will cause further issues down the line.
I no longer get buffered MPEGs from Internet Explorer, but I STILL get that process for WMV files ....
....so, what the heck happened? How can I fix this?
Here's what I've tried doing to no avail -
- I un-installed Nero, that didn't fix the issue. - I made Media Player my "default" media player under Control Panel > Programs (and I'm the only user and I have my options set to administrative control) - I right-clicked on a downloaded MPEG file and told it to ALWAYS open with Media Player ... but it won't open the same as it used to.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I promise I won't make my responses as lengthy as this post.
THANKS!!!

You should also be able to use the Set Program Access and Defaults control panel to set WMP back as the default.
What are the registry values for the default values under: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, .mpg and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, CLSID\{CD3AFA89-B84F-48F0-9393-7EDC34128127}\ProgID ?
Speaking for myself only. See zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. "Frankie Viturello" <Frankie Viturello discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

Frankie/Zachd
I have 100% exactly the same problem - which again started after installing Nero Ultra 7. Setting defaults back to WMP via makes no difference; there appears to be no way via the control panel of reverting the behaviour to pre-Nero. Interestingly (?) the problem is not specific to Vista, I tried installing Nero Ultra 7 on XP with exactly the same result. I also tried uninstalling Nero, but buffered playing has stopped which is an absolute pain, for a large MP3 buffered playing is exactly what you need. I've emailed Nero support, but not too hopeful.
My default .mp3 registry values under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT are WMP11.AssocFile.MP3. Same again for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, CLSID\{CD3AFA89-B84F-48F0-9393-7EDC34128127}\ProgID.


"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:

.... I should also say that if the link to the MP3 is changed from to mms://, the file does play in buffering mode; but this doesn't address the problem - with an mms:// link, it's not possible to right-click and select 'save target as'. Just need to undo the damage Nero did (to my computer not Rome).
"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:

It has never been possible to right-click on a mms:// link and select "Save Target As", so that is not a new change/issue. =)
Speaking for myself only. See zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Richard B"

hi Zachd - I know that :) - wish I hadn't added that bit now- all I was saying is left-clicking an mms:// link still causes buffered playback.
The issue is that buffered playback is no longer possible after installing Nero 7. Can you help with that?
"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:

hi Zachd - I know that :) - wish I hadn't added that bit now- all I was saying is left-clicking an mms:// link still causes buffered playback.
The issue is that buffered playback is no longer possible on an link to an MP3 file after installing Nero 7. Seems like some registry change has been made my Nero. Can you help with that?
"zachd [MSFT]" wrote:

Frankie - not sure if you're still being notified of responses - but I finally got this fixed thanks to Zachd who is single handedly fixing window problems on a global scale - what a star - they should pay him more.
You have to do the following; nothing else seems to work.
Under Control Panel, I went into Associate a file type or protocol with a program ... and changed the .mp3 association to Winamp (you can download winamp for free)
Then went into Set program access and computer defaults ... selected the Microsoft Windows option, and clicked OK. Before I was just changing the associations back and forth, and using the two options under Set your default programs - which doesn't work.
"Frankie Viturello" wrote: