Tasha,

Check to see that you both have the same version of WMP.  It could be that your parents' version is out-of-date.  (Ask them to run "Windows Update" if they don't know what version of WMP they have ... that will scan their system and suggest the latest version, if needed)

Thanks a lot!  I'll try that.

Tasha

Hello

I thought I'd write again to say my problem has been resolved, and in case it can help someone else: basically this was a case of non-technical people trying to do something totally alien*:  My parents were trying to open the video file from within the email I sent them (from my AOL account).  It launched MediaPlayer but only played the audio.  I tried to email them the same file from my Excite account and the same thing happened, however this time, Excite downloaded the file automatically to their 'Videos' folder, which (when they found out about it by accident :smileyvery-happy:) worked fine. Phew...

We're now going to try and get to grips with Skype...

Thanks again for your help!

* in our defence,  I should say that my parents and I live in different countries and that our Dells speak different languages, which made things a little more complicated!

tasha