Well, a small part of the issue is taken care of. I can now VIEW my .AVI files using VideoLAN vlc. I downloaded it, installed the full version, and am now able to watch the videos.
However...
I am still being presented with these messages:
"SuperDVDCreator.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."
and
"PExpress.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."
and
"dvdSanta.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."
Still stumped.