I mistakenly installed one of those codec packs a few months ago.
To those who don’t know what a codec pack is, it is a program which installs in your computer the common audio and video codecs. These codecs enable you watch highly compressed videos from your computer.
I am very fond of my collection of videos. If others have their mp3s playing in the background, I have my videos. They are a necessary evil, and the only bearable thing which can shut down the noise in the office.
And so I installed one of ’em. I found it too inconvenient to search, download, and install all the codecs I needed one at a time (although come to think of it, I only needed 3 to 5, as compared to the 50+ that the codec pack actually installed).
Things worked well for a while. After a week or two, I noticed that although I can play my new videos perfectly, I cannot play any of my old ones without experiencing a drastic decrease in performance. My PC would either play choppy video/audio, or would simply show some registry reference error.
Things got nasty when I couldn’t even play my DVDs properly. I decided to go online to get the advice of the online codec gurus. They voiced out my greatest fear: "Do a clean reinstall of Windows 2000, earthling."
They were right, and yet I decided to put it off. I do a lot of reports from home, and couldn’t afford not to have my PC within ready access. After all, I can live without buying new DVDs, right? And who cares if I don’t have my videos. Silence might be a good thing.
Weeks turned to months, and even my "bitter half" was getting tired of the I-better-format-my-computer-soon remarks. I found myself spending a lot of time surfing, and, gracious, finally approving those Friendster requests. Working from home wasn’t just the same anymore.
Yesterday, I snapped. My bitted half got a new DVD, and innocently asked if I wanted to see it.
A:> FORMAT C: