Further to my posting------I have found out the reason why the media player would not work------it's got something to do with video overlay---------Yes the player worked----that is until I remembered that after the factory reset and re installation, I had not set the computer to run 2 displays, I have 2 outputs from my video card. one to my main display, which user a a multi pin plug, and the other a HDMI cable which goes to our house flat screen TV.----- I set the 2 displays up. Turned the TV off and went back to my main computer monitor, ran media player and it didn't work---------put the TV back on and looked at both screens----worked on the house TV----- picture and audio-------- on the computer monito ---- audio but no picture.
Obviously I do all my work on the computer monitor, but stream movies to the house TV. So the work around is to unplug the HDMI cable from the TV which gives me a full working media player on the computer monitor.----------So the factory reset and re installation was a waste of time-------SOONER OR LATER SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE WILL HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AND WONDER WHAT HAS GONE WRONG, WELL I'VE JUST GIVEN YOU THE SOLUTION-----dibs.
P.S. windows media player streams to both screens, audio and picture present------------AVS4YOU if you are reading this, a tweak or a plugin may be needed.