Gerry wrote on Sat, 9 Sep 2006 14:49:02 -0700:
Don't get me wrong, Windows Media Player has some great new updates and
it's >got some wonderful new features. But to me it's just gotten too big
and
clunky. I've found an old friend in Media Player Classic, which is like WMP
6.4 but better. It is simple, easy to use, easy to resize. Plus it plays
MP4s!
My only problem is I don't know how to change the default media player.
It >seems that WMP rules the desktop (but not my heart).
Thanks, Gerry.
Hi Gerry ...
yeah, there seems to be a lot of that in this group -- people offering
criticism instead of help.
I've used this method to use MPC (and MetaPad) as default XP programs.
Actually, I believe the basic instructions are somewhere on the MPC site in
a FAQ or readme.
Search your PC for every occurrence of the original mplayer2.exe file.
Then find the directory where XP stores the files it uses to replace "alien"
files from replacing the originals. It may differ from PC to PC but is
usually in \windows\servicepack files\i386. It should appear as blue on
your screen.
Go into My Computer/Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options; on the View
tab, un-check the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" box.
This will allow you to see XP's sacred cache of files.
Here's part of the instructions (re-written in slightly better English) from
the MPC site:
Delete "mplayer2.exe" from these directories:
\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache
\Program Files\Windows Media Player
NOTE: You may need to temporarily rename C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles
directory to delete the new mplayer2.exe files; otherwise, Windows XP will
replace it with the original mplayer2.exe file.
In the \ServicePackFiles\i386 directory, rename the original mplayer2.exe
file and copy in the new file.
Rename the \ServicePackFiles directory to its original name, and re-check
the "Hide protected..." box.
That should do it. Remember to put everything back the way it was when
you're done.
Somewhere along the way, XP might baulk and tell you that the original files
are being replaced. Just cancel the window and accept the new files. HTH.