I have two issues which seems to be related.

I noticed that win 7 hangs while playing videos through WMP12. Now, I only play wmv files through wmp and it does not hang.... at least for now.

Secondly, yahoo msngr does not load but throws this error message :
Yahoo msngr failed to start because its side by side configuration is incorrect. Pls see the application event log or use command line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.

Furthermore, this is what I see in the event log :
Activation context generation failed for "D:\Program Files (x86)\Yahoo!\Messenger\YahooMessenger.exe". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="8.0.50727.5592" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

Any insight pls ?!
thanks !