alright thanks alot lord of the rings dude. i just made a user name thing today for problems with limewire and on most of my posts you have been a huge help.

I already have the free players you have mentioned, and still they will not play these avi files. I have never had any problems with other p2p programs before, but limewire seems to have lots of them.

If VLC won't play them then it sounds like those files might have a problem. Do they have an extension? eg: file name.avi

Can you do a test for me to see if there''s any interference in LW's incoming: Bug Report instructions & sample image IS this true/false?
Do you have firewalls? If so, have you allowed LW access thru them. There is a chance you're receiving damaged download packets due to a firewall or nat or something else.

Did you dwnld these files from T1 or T3 sources or cable/dsl or modem?

how do i set it to default avi files in vlc even for preview and stuff?

this is Spacoli: outside of LW, select an avi file. Now go to File>Properties>Open with... & select VLC. Choose always to open with VLC. VLC will now always open avi files & will open when you launch an avi file in LW. You could also do that for any other video files you have problems opening. Except there is the occasional wmv file VLC has difficulty opening.