The other night I downloaded a video, pretty sure it was a wmv file, opened it with Windows Media Player on my Vista, and it doesn't start playing, but a pop up comes up and tells me I need to download a free codec (the codec's name was just a series of numbers like 2.36578 or something like that). Apparently I was stupid enough to go for the trap and attempt to download and install it. It wouldn't install, even after 3 times of trying. Nothing changed and nothing came up when I opened the .exe file.

So I decided to restart my computer, hoping that the change would take effect then. The computer loads Microsoft as usual when starting up, but no Vista start up login screen ever shows up after that anymore. It's just a black screen with a white cursor I can move around, waiting and waiting and waiting.

I need help. I may have to see an actual computer technician, but that would cost money, but mostly I'm afraid that in the process of solving the problem, I'd have to answer questions about the video I downloaded from where (not porn, just a torrent), and that I'd get in trouble.