We simply side-stepped the VLC Player download (the connection speed was VERY SLOW that day) and I pushed her the .dmg files to install Perian and Flip4Mac.....and that resolved her inability to play Windows-based movie files by adding the needed CODECS to allow them to play properly in QuickTime Player.
...additionally, I had the Mac OS X 10.6.5 Combo Updater .dmg and the Delta .dmg for the 10.6.6 update, so we got her up-to-date system-wise as well.
