Windows media player not working???- computer experts if possible, please?

my windows media player has stopped working. when you click on the desktop icon, it does this weird cascade of some kind of error message for a microsecond, then nothing. the program doesn't open up or anything. from what i can see in the millisecond that the error message comes on the screen, it is one of those "visual c++ runtime error" messages. I've tried everything i could think of to fix the problem, and nothing works. I've repeatedly rolled back my media player 11 to the old version (10) and i've tried rolling back the windows media format 11 runtime to the old version that was first on my computer (version 10, i guess). also, i've redownloaded and tried to reinstall media player 10 from the website, and after you run the whole install, the same error thing happens. i've tried reinstalling media player 11, and the same thing happens- the same error thing comes up after you finish running the whole install program. i think this problem is hopeless- anyone have any advice?

Windows media player not working???- computer experts if possible, please?
Sometimes when you uninstall something, everything is not completely removed. When you uninstall it, go to your program files and make sure the windows media folder is gone. Are you familiar with the registry at all? If so, you should go in and remove the media player entries from that as well. This will give you a clean slate to reinstall and that should take care of the problem. If you are not familiar with the registry, DO NOT go in and delete anything. If you choose to take the chance, make a backup of the registry in case you delete something that you shouldn't. I will assume if you are familiar with the registry you will know where to go and what to delete without laying it out.