Direct x-to be or no to be.........

Can anyone tell me what exactly direct x is used for?
Some things need it and I also get the feeling its not welcome..
Lots of un installers for it etc..
Is it good to have or is it a neccessary evil??
N

 

It is used for graphics processing. And YES it is needed.

 

What DirectX Does and How

Simply put, DirectX is a Windows technology that enables higher performance in graphics and sound when you’re playing games or watching video on your PC.

At the core of DirectX are its application programming interfaces, or APIs. The APIs act as a kind of bridge for the hardware and the software to "talk" to each other. The DirectX APIs give multimedia applications access to the advanced features of high-performance hardware such as three-dimensional (3-D) graphics acceleration chips and sound cards. They control low-level functions, including two-dimensional (2-D) graphics acceleration; support for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice; and control of sound mixing and sound output. Because of DirectX, what you experience with your computer is better 3-D graphics and immersive music and audio effects.

From
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/di...dows/directx/productinfo/overview/default.htm

 

Hello.
Since we are on the topic of Direct X, can someone please tell me if there is a way to verify whether it is functioning properly? I have had occasional problems loading graphics-intensive pages, and have often wondered if there may be a problem with that.

 

Go to Start > Run and type 'dxdiag' (without the quotes), and that will allow you to run a Diagnostic on DirectX.

 

Hello brownizs,
I ran the test and everything tested functional. Thank you for directing me on how to test Direct X. Being that the problem may not be there, what does the problem I described sound like to you? I seem to have problems loading some pages on graphics-intensive sites such as MySpace.com, and on some sites, the images are completely absent. I should point out that regarding the sites where the images are missing, if I use FireFox to visit them instead of IE, I do not have the problem. I have cleared the IE browser cache and yet I still have the issue.

 

Just a suggestion. Maybe multimedia options are disabled in your IE?
You can check it in IE Tools - Internet Options - Advanced tab.

 

Hello.
I have just checked and all the appropriate multimedia options are enabled. Not to repeat myself, but the strange part of this is that it only happens on some sites, and if I visit those same sites using my other browser, or on another computer with an IE browser, I have no problem with the pictures appearing.

 

Maybe those sites just require special IE plugins or updates?