Not bad advice (though I've had some problems with later versions of
DirectX: I think to some extent it depends on your graphics hardware, though
that may or may not be the reasons behind my problems). Read on ...

We were all novices once!

A bit more information would be helpful (I'm not getting at you): when you
say "click on a video from the Internet", it would be useful to us to know
what sort of file it was you were trying to play. I appreciate you may not
know! If it is a flash file, then the above advice about upgrading
Macromedia's player for such things is good. If it is a movie file of
another type, say a filename ending in .wmv, .avi, or .mov (to name but
three common types), then the version of your flash player won't be relevant
(though the DirectX bit may still help).

It would be instructive to find out if you have any such files on your hard
disc (Find - Windows key plus F - and then enter *.avi, for example, will
find any), and then activate (double-click or highlight one then enter), to
see what your system tries to open them with. (Probably Windows Media Player
for most types, and Quicktime for .mov files.) If you haven't got any,
download one (right-click on the link to one on a web page and select save
to disc).

If they appear (I don't know yahoo or hotmail very well) as a clickable
link, i. e. the cursor doesn't just change like any other link when you move
over them, but instead there is just a set of play controls, or something
else, then it probably _is_ a flash file.

It would be useful for us (to help you) to know which sort of "video" you're
having the problem with.