As a computer professional, I use a lot of software.  While I am developing websites, for example, I am often listening to music.  This can help with the creative juices during the design phase. My media player of choice is VLC Media Player.  It easily earns a spot on my top 10 applications list that all Windows users should own.  It can play just about anything you throw at it whether it be audio or video.  However, the one shortcoming for me was the fact that the default visual effects it displayed while playing music were weak.  There was nothing near as cool as what iTunes or WinAmp had to offer.  With a little help from the trusty ole search engine however, I found a solution.

Make sure you are using the latest version of the VLC Media Player.  You can grab it from their website and install it:

1) Browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC and create a new folder called visualizations

2) Download the latest version of ProjectM from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/projectm/files/

3) Extract the .tar and find the folder called “presets_milkdrop_200″.  In order to do this you will need winrar as Windows can’t open .tar files natively.

4) Copy presets_milkdrop_200 to your new visualizations folder

5) In VLC go to advanced preferences > Audio > Visualizations > projectM and set the “projectM preset path” to C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\visualizations\presets_milkdrop_200

6) Save your preferences, then activate the visualizations by going to the audio menu > visualizations > and select projectM

VLC will now begin using random visualizations from the preset folder that you specified. Not all of these visualizations are worth hanging on to.  I would suggest going through them and throwing out the ones you do not like.  This can be done by removing all milk files from the preset folder then moving them back one at a time to test them by playing a song.  Delete it if you do not like it.  As tedious as this can be, you will eventually whittle them down to only the ones you like.