Is VLC the way to go???

I am unable to play .avi files and read somewhere in these forums that a VLC media player was the way to go. I don't want to go downloading anything that looks suspicious, has anyone used this and it worked? Please reply. Thank you.

[fabion]

It plays everything except for the really odd file. I have never had a problem with it. You can get it from this link. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/