DirectX / graphics hosed in XP? How to fix?

I am wondering if various video problems I am having, with various video apps, especially video converters and video capture apps, may be the fault of DirectX, as these apps seem to have that in common.

I am also having serious problems with very slow performance with Flash graphics on websites.

Media Player seems to play all right.

There is nothing about the system or the graphics card which should cause this kind of dragging or horrible performance, so I wonder if it's a matter of XP and DirectX?

Any ideas to diagnose and fix?

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I will try them, but there are two questions related to what you have suggested:

1) How can I access any controls of DirectX?

2) Are there any controls available for Adobe Flash? I did already update it but it hadn't yet helped. I would like to access settings, if possible.

 

Flash Player Global Privacy Settings panel

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