Pc Lag when using messenger + WMP

Hey, everything has been workin fine up until yesterday, i got home from work and couldn't log into msn (using windows live messenger), so i restarted the computer and on reboot everytime messenger tried 2 load it would lag my computer, same goes for when trying to use windows media player. I have worked out that when changing the Video Acceleration from Full down to just below half way in the advanced ---> troubleshooting part of the graphics settings, windows live messenger and wmp both work fine, only prob is when ever i want to play a game i need to put the settings back up as having them down that low disables direct 3d and direct draw and thus direct x don't work properly either. Tried reupdating Direct X, tried reupdating both windows live messenger and WMP but still no luck can anyone help me please, would be much appreciated

Mainboard : AsRock 939Dual-VSTA
Chipset : ALI M1695
Processor : AMD Athlon 64 4000+ @ 2400 MHz
Physical Memory : 1024 MB
Video Card : Nvidia Corp GeForce 7600 GS
Hard Disk : ST3250823A (250 GB)
Hard Disk : ST360015A (60 GB)
CD-Rom Drive : SONY CD-RW CRX215E1
DVD-Rom Drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-107D
DVD-Rom Drive : WD7783O SFB454G SCSI CdRom Device
DVD-Rom Drive : WD7783O SFB454G SCSI CdRom Device
Network Card : Acer Labs Incorporated (ALi/ULi) ULi M5263 Fast Ethernet Controller
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professionnal 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2
DirectX : Version 9.0c (September 2006)

P.S messenger works fine when using 7.5, also when trying to log into certain accounts on windows live messenger (since the issue cropped up) it won't actually log in, but logs in fine on 7.5