Abormal CPU increases...

[Link101]

I recently reformatted my computer (back to XP from Vista... What a joke of an OS that turned out to be.) but ever since i reinstalled Winamp, I've been getting some very strange behaviour.

As I play videos, Winamp's CPU (which generally starts around 20-30%) gradually increases over the course of about 5 minutes to about 60%. Once it hits this, the video begins to stutter to an extent where it become unwatchable and the sound becomes distorted. My overall CPU usage peaks at a consistent 100% and if left for long enough, my computer will simply overheat and shut down.

I've checked to see if there was a problem with any of the videos or the codecs but found that all the videos I had problems with in Winamp worked fine in WMP.

I've tried tweaking the DirectSound plug-in (enable CPU usage control, create primary buffer, etc.) but to no avail.

PLEASE someone out there help me... I've been putting up with this for a few months now and I can't stand having to keep my default video player as... *shudders*... Windows Media Player.

Very grateful for any advice out there