Encountering same problem, with WMP 11 becoming red, after Avast Free update from version 5 to 6, on a laptop and two desktops running WinXPx86-SP3. However, all seems normal on a Win7Ux64-SP1 desktop with WMP 12 after the Avast update. Tried the couple of suggested 'fixes' in this thread but unsuccessful in reverting back to the original black.