Hi, my first time here and I really hope I can get some direction as I have already done an XP install to try and fix my existing OS and I really do NOT want to do a clean install.

The files that are corrupted are the ones that I copied to my hard drive, DVD movies. I had a trojan recently that may have caused the issue, not sure but when I did a registry check I did see that files had been corrupted as well as my "Open With" files.

Here is what hapened, I Downloaded and was using the free AVS DVD player, but couldn't get full screen so, I installed aPower DVD 5 since I had the disk already. I then set the files to "Open with" Power DVD and that where the problem started. The first 4 files of all my movies will not open with power DVD. The only way I can play them with PD is to click on one of the following files and watch a piece of the movie at a time. 2 of the first 4 files will open (evidently those first for are what plays the whole movie) with AVS so I can watch the movies.

The main problem is that from then on out, all movies I put on HD have the first 4 files corrupted or they can only be played with AVS. I cannot use Open With to get them to play with another player, nor will they play when I drag and drop them into anything but AVS. FWIW, here is a shot of how the files look now.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...lipboard01.jpg

Thanks for any help.

I think I might try uninstalling PowerDVD and AVS player to see if the file associations go away.

A better player than AVS would be VLC, which is free to download and use. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

You might have to edit out references to the AVS player in the registry after deleting it, which would be a pain, but manageable.

Thjanks for the fast reply, Kerry.

I've tried uninstalling both PD and AVS in the past, but I'll give it another shot, now that I "think" windows is repaired. Editing anything AVS from the registry sounds like a good plan, but I'd need some direction for that as I'm probably not near as advanced a user as most of y'all.

Thanks for the advice on the Player, I was going to ask for that as well as some good free burner software. I'll go get it now and I doubt I'll be so lucky, but I'm hoping another player will take the associations away from AVS and put things back to normal.

Yeah, I know, I'm delusional to think that's going to happen, lol.

I don't think VLC will take the association by itself. If you could right click and choose which program to use, it can be done that way. Otherwise you can open VLC, hit File, Open Directory and go to the Video_TS folder to start the movie.

To edit out entries for AVS, you hit Run, then type in regedit to get to the registry editor. Be careful not to delete anything else but the specific entries for that program, cause registry changes are immediate.

OK, got VLC, but no go. I've tried ll methods of opening those files with VLC and nothing.

I'll take a look in the registry and see if I can find the correct files.

Do not forget to backup your registry before doing anything, just in case. This might be a silly question, but can't you start this by uninstalling these 2 programs with Add/Remove in Control Panel?

Kerry/anyone, before I screw something up, what do I get rid of here? Do I simply uninstall AVS then delete any file left in the Registry that starts with AVS?

Barley, when you say "start this" are you meaning start the process of getting all the junk out of the registry? And if so, yes, I can do that or just use the uninstall that came with them.

What am I doing wrong here, I have to log in constantly?

Oh, and thanks for the reminder to back up my registry first, I had forgotton I need to.

When you go to your Control Panel & click Add or Remove programs, are these 2 programs on the list? I am jumping into this late & please correct me if I am wrong, but the first thing you want to do is Uninstall AVS & CyberLink PowerDvd, is that right?

Correct, that is what I want to do and the programs are in "add remove programs"

Before I do so, I just want to make sure that I know what to remove from the registry.

So, I just remove anything to do with AVS?

Remember what Kerry said, the first step is to remove the programs, then you do a search using the full program names as the keywords. The registry is the last step & you have to be careful as previously mentioned.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f116/corrup...-types-240341/

edit// ive submitted a merge request

Thanks, Troy and Barley, I'll do as you say, I just wanted to be sure not to mess anything up in the registry. What I will do when I do get to the registry part is just delete all left over files that have to do with AVS.

If that's wrong speak now, but I do know what I do is ultimately my choice and I'm to blame if I mess something up. Should be fine though with the copy of the registry.

I'm on the East coast so, I'll just stick to gathering info tonight and will get busy tomorrow. Thanks for all the help and I'm still open to suggestion. Be back tomorrow.

The registry is the last step & only if all else fails, so try the first steps & post back before diving into it.

OK, before I went to bed I figured I'd go ahead and uninstall all players and did. Now the files show just as we would expect since there is no program associated with them. Looks good so far,

Before I head off to bed I figured I'd better post for the best free registry check/repair tool so I can get it in the morning and use it before I install VLC. I just don't trust the one I have.
Thanks again.

Regseeker is the one lots of us here use, free very good app. lots a extra stuff it will do. look here:http://www.majorgeeks.com/RegSeeker_d2579.html
Just install, click clean registry, make sure "backup before delete" at bottom left of screen is checked, then delete everything it finds.

This is a crosspost , not to be merged. I am deleting the one in the Fab Forum, this forum is more applicable to the subject at hand. @Kenny7474 , please do not start 2 threads on the same topic in different forums, please search and see if your question has been asked , then if you need, start a thread in the correct forum. Thankyou.

Thanks Jethro, I used that and a couple of others, but still I have 2 files that will only open with AVS after I reinstalled it. Again, it wouldn't be so bothersome if it were not affecting all new files I put on the drive too.

As for the Xpost, I needed the names of files that were made with DVDFab so I asked for that in the DVD fab area, yet my actual problem does NOT have to do with DVDfab so, I posted over here where it would be seen by more people.

Thanks for the help guys, I do appreciate your time, but I'm outta here, can't stand power trippin' mods. This is a forum for goodness sakes, Alan, not boot camp, relax.

Goodbye.