Every computer geek has the same experience: A family member calls up with a computer problem, and regardless of your area of expertise, and you instantly become transformed into customer service.

So I knew when my dad called me last week saying that he started having problems with Windows Media Player having choppy audio playback, I started to mentally prepare for a world of trouble. The word ‘codec’ instantly began ringing in my head - I knew he must of installed something that screwed up the priority order or had some conflict with the default WMP codecs. Codec Hell. Great.

After using Remote Assistance to get into his machine, I quickly not only discovered that his old DVD Decoder had gone south, but the Sony Rootkit was also running. Whee!

Removed the rootkit. Installed a new decoder. Still choppy on MP3’s and WMV’s in Windows Media Player, but DVD’s work fine now. Uninstalled/Reinstalling WMP. No difference.

Anyone know how to "reset" WMP’s codecs? Interestingly enough, iTunes plays MP3’s without problem.