[gramble]

I'm working on a friend's computer with Windows XP and she's having trouble doing certain things.
Flash videos, like in youtube, are not loading. In yahoo messenger, which I fuond uses internet explorer to function, she cannot view the messages that she sends. The other person can see them but they're not visible on this system.
Flash videos work fine in Firefox.
Here's what I tried:
-uninstalling IE8 and installing IE7
-uninstalling IE7 and installing IE8
-uninstalling Flash and reinstalling
-uninstalling Java and reinstalling
-deleting temporary Java files
-changing internet security levels
-deleting add-ons, uninstalling all spyware protectors and similar programs (using revo uninstaller so that they're thoroughly uninstalled)
-running several registry repair programs

All this and it's still not working.
I went to this site and did the active x test:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/testax.asp
And all that shows up is an empty box. I was prompted to install the activex control and did approve it.

Help!