Have you tried reducing 'Hardware Acceleration' for the audio card, the video card, or both? Sometimes this can have an impact on video playback.

Yes Catweazle, i've just figured out how to reduce the hardware acceleration for sound & video cards & it made no difference at all.
I remember downloading a JAVA program about a month ago & it seems it's around that time we started having problems with the sound & vision, but not totally sure about this. No idea what this JAVA thing was, it was a download i did which said i would have to download this JAVA script thing. It placed "shut-down" & "recycle bin" & other major icons on the desktop. The application itself was just a load of shapes & colours! Not sure if i got rid of it all coz i was drunk!

I did a search for JAVA yesterday & it came up with tons & tons of stuff. Some of it was created when this puter was born. Could i delete everything to do with JAVA? Cos it says in "help" to get rid of all "JAVA APPLETS" (whatever that means). There is no conflict with drivers, & everything else is ok. Cheers.

Oh dear!

This new piece of information, together with the 100% CPU usage that you initially reported, strongly suggests to me that you've allowed 'nasties' to invade your PC which are badly affecting your machine's performance. You should head over to our 'Security' forum section and start off by following the relevent advice about cleaning things which is contained in the article:

Helping yourself: What to do first

I've no idea, really, exactly what the malware is which would be causing the behaviour, but you can be sure there's some in there! And a word of explanation:

JAVA is a scripting language - it's not a 'THING' in itself you've downloaded. JAVA is one of the languages used by Web applications in particular, and your Web Browser uses it often. It's most likely, I'd suspect, that the little 'nasty' that you've ended up with is a 'Dialler' which is trying to use your modem to generate income for itself with (possibly ISDN) 'pay per minute' phone calls. As most dial-up modems contain audio circuitry as well, this would explain why it's playing merry hell with your system's audio functions. (And if you haven't actually GOT an internal data/voice/fax modem in there, that'd be even MORE explanation why it's playing havoc.

You don't, ever HAVE to download and install things like this. In fact, when you click on something to try and download it, and get one of these messages, it's time to say "NO: I don't HAVE to have that download after all!"

Please clean your system of 'Net nasties' first, and then let us know if you have remaining problems afterwards.

You are correct Catweazle, it's a "nasty", it has to be. But when i search for "Java" on the puter it comes up with 148 results. Some are things i have downloaded, cos it's from April 2004. Although some of these files & folders which have the word "Java" were created in 2002, when the puter was manufactured so i dare not delete these. This Java program i did download in April seemed to embed itself in the machine & i was amazed with the icons it put onto the desktop. It was like i suddenly had a new program file menu which i did not need. It was as if i now had 2 puters. When i clicked on the actual application that i was prompted to download, all i got was triangles & purple squares! What a waste of time! Thought it was an educational thing.

I've run adaware & spyware & advanced uninstaller, along with PC medic & pro registry cleaner. Nortons 2004 & Nortons Internet security (which i have purchased & used constantly since Jan)........ find no problems.

Reg. the dialler. I got rid of preload2.oxc Dialer Holistyc 2 weeks ago, it is the most stubborn piece of tripe i've had to deal with so far. Could it be that the "baddies" i have had on the puter have caused damage to the puter permanently?

Forget the searching for 'Java' stuff. That exercise is a waste of time because as I said, Java is a scripting language - some Java stuff will be good and some bad.

As far as 'permanent damage' goes, the answer is a resounding "NO". You could have a Windows installation which is stuffed beyond any reasonable chance of repair, but the machine itself won't have been harmed. A format and reinstall fixes just about anything. (Except hardware issues such as physical damage or overheated/burnt out components, of course!)

The Java download took about 90 mins to download, then approx 3 mins to install. It was a free download & soundeed wonderful. Then all i got was purple shapes. Microsoft tells us to delete all Java applets! What are Java applets? Can i delete absolutely everything on me puter to do with Java? Does it mean that i can delete just java applets (please tell me what they are) or ANYTHING at all to do with Java.
someone tells me that Java is an old fashioned language from the 80's. Dunno what to do.

Stunned! how do you reply so quickly? CW?

heh heh......

Click on 'User CP' and then 'Edit options'

ensure that 'Default Thread subscription' is set to "Instant Email Notification" and an email will be sent to you as soon as someone posts in a thread you've created or a thread you've posted in.

I get the email notifications straight away, because my email program is running and checking for mail 24/7

A format is out of the question coz that always seems to be the solution! Had it done about 12 times since i bought the puter brand new last year, Jan 2003. My friend is a Guru on puters but still tends to wipe the lot clean & start again. I'm a novice & have fixed many problems on this puter with learning & listening to the likes of you, CW. Thanks for your suggestions.
Everything is lighteningly fast on this machine. Does not need a wipe clean. It's just when playing video or music & THEN clicking on ANY other link, whether it's a word doc or an internet link, or even clicking on the task bar for the calculator, or even if i open a help file, then the music or/and video crack up. It's only when i ask the puter to do ONE THING (anything) whilst playing video or music at the same time does it pause and stutter & go really slow. Soz 4 this but it's doing me head in.
#thanks Catweazle.