Every time I attempt to view an embedded Windows Media Player video within a web page a green hazy image appears instead of an actual video. Flash-based videos, such as those found on YouTube, work perfectly. How can I fix this problem? The computer is running Windows XP with Internet Explorer 6.

First, make sure that you are running the latest version of Windows Media Player. At the time of writing, Windows Media Player 11 is the latest version of the software which was released on 2 October 2008. This can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/downloads . Search for “Windows Media Player” and you should see the latest version of this software as the first hit in the search results. The reason you should upgrade is explained by a Microsoft Knowledge Base article (support.microsoft.com/kb/909554) which indicates that there is a known problem in Windows Media Player versions 9 and 10 that can cause this behaviour. The “Applies To” section at the bottom of the Knowledge Base article indicates that the workarounds are only relevant to Windows Media Player 9 and 10, presumably meaning that the problem has been fixed in Windows Media Player 11. However, should you continue to experience the same problem after upgrading you should attempt the procedures outlined in the Knowledge Base article to see whether these are still applicable solutions to the problem.

Doing additional research on the internet found several users who experienced the same problem as yourself and the upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 fixed the issue. That said, other users reported that the upgrade did not work but changing the settings, as outlined in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, did resolve the issue. So, between these two methods you should have a viable solution to fix the problem.