Strange... your processor and the amount of your RAM should be plenty enough to play divx and that kind of stuff... maybe the problem comes from somewhere else. Maybe you could try looking in the task manager what is using your processor's time? Or use VLC to read your films (I doubt it would change anything, but it uses its own codecs, so who knows). Same for you Maybe his computer suits him, or he doesn't have enough money to buy another one, or maybe he's too lazy to go buy one, or maybe he's some kind of masochist, or maybe he's tied to his computer with handcuffs, or maybe he had a holy vision telling him to keep his computer, or maybe... There can be many reasons