Microsoft Windows Media Center

If you've purchased a Windows computer (in the last few years) then you probably got Windows Media Center with it for free. It is included in most versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Gone are the days when you had to buy a special version of Windows XP to have it.

But what does it do? It:

• Lets you watch internet TV on your PC
• Plays DVDs
• Plays Music
• Shows Pictures
• Shows the TV listings in your area

And if you have a TV tuner card or external (USB) tuner then it lets you:

• Records, stores and plays broadcast/cable programs
• Watch and pause live TV

So, with an inexpensive TV tuner (mine is a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q) that can be had for $60-80, you can turn your (newer) computer into a high definition DVR (digital video recorder). It will even turn your computer on (if your computer's motherboard supports this) or wake it up from sleep mode to record a program you've scheduled. And, of course, when you play back the recordings you can quickly skip the commercials.

Watch Hulu without a Browser

Hulu.com has the most popular collection of current TV shows on the web. ABC, Fox and NBC have all contributed most of their content. Gone are the days when, if you missed a show when it first aired, you had to wait months and hope for a re-run. Now, just go to Hulu.com, find the show the next day and watch it. It kinda makes you mad that they didn't have this when you were growing up, huh?

But wait, there's more! While you can watch these shows inside your web browser, now there's a better way. Hulu's desktop application allows you to pull up a window and watch TV and movies in that window from Hulu.com. It is true that you don't need this application to watch this stuff, you can do it from a browser. But it is much nicer and cleaner this way. This is one of the top two or three coolest programs on my PC. After my web browser, that is. The desktop app lets you navigate more easily and allows you to instantly skip to any portion of the video. There is even a preview window that pops up to let you know what you're about to see while you continue to watch at your current position.

Free Movies and TV

I found out about this site, not from my computer but from my Blu-Ray player. This is one of the sites Sony gives you access to with my new Blu-Ray disk player. But you don't need any new gizmos to watch TV and movies there, you can use your computer.

Crackle.com has 105 TV series that you can watch including Seinfeld, Barney Miller (which was good for its time and seems better now) and Bewitched. In addition, there are 275 movies on Crackle. Now, you'll have to watch some commercials, usually about one every 10 minutes or so. And you're not going to see any recent stuff here. But, for that, you'd go to Hulu anyway. Crackle gives you more choices of vintage TV and movies.

See the Weather Graphically

We are wired visually. Things we see make so much more of an impression than things we hear. Weathersparck.com shows you the weather in the next week in a way no other site does, graphically. When I look at the graph of the future temperatures, cloud cover and rain (or snow), it makes a more lasting and meaningful impression. I instantly have more detail and yet it is presented in a way that is more memorable. This site also displays averages for the date, historical weather data and forecasts from four different sources.

http://weatherspark.com/

Cut Clutter from Sites You Browse

iReader is an add-on for the Firefox and Chrome browsers. If you use one of these browsers, you owe it to yourself to try this. I don't like add-ons for my browsers in general because they slow down loading and use memory. This one is a very worthy exception. It puts a little icon next to the web address in the address bar if it can work with a website (it doesn't work with all sites). Then if you click on the icon, a nicely formatted window overlays the site with the text of the site (and perhaps a picture or two). All the ads and clutter are removed. Download it here http://www.samabox.com/extensions/iReader/

Free online storage: SkyDrive

Why would you want to store your files online? Well, if your hard disk crashes or your laptop is stolen, your files could be lost forever. Plus, it is handy to share pictures, short videos and any other files with friends and family without emailing them. And once your files are online, you can access them from any computer on the 'net. View your pictures from the library, your friend's house or even your mobile device. (You don't have to download a picture to view it.)

The service that does this is called SkyDrive (a "hard drive" in the cloud, I guess).

So, slick as it sounds, what does it cost? Why, it's free, like all good things in life. So what are the limits, you ask. You are limited to 50 Mbytes per file and 25 Gbytes (gigabytes, that's 25,000 Mbytes). Since the average digital picture is somewhere between .5 and 2 Mbytes, that's room for at least 12,000 to 100,000 pictures.

So, who provides this free service and is it reliable? It's from Microsoft, so I think it should be around for quite a while. You begin by creating a Windows Live account. If you have a hotmail account, you're already set. From the Windows Live home page, (after you log in) click More and SkyDrive. I haven't tried this, but I don't see why you couldn't create as many accounts as you want and upload as much stuff as you want. Once it's uploaded, you can organize it and share with other people (or keep it private).

This isn't exactly a poor man's backup service, though. You have to upload each file by selecting it from a list. Nothing is automatic, so if you change your file on your PC, the change is not reflected on SkyDrive unless you upload it again. If you forget to upload, well, you forgot; nothing will cover you. And if you want to restore a file from SkyDrive, it's easy enough but SkyDrive doesn't know where your file came from originally, so you have to put your pictures back in your picture folder and your documents into your document folder, etc.

But these are nit-picky complaints. SkyDrive can be a godsend if you lose files or need to transfer files to or from another computer. Plus, it can help you to avoid storing personal files on your work computer while still giving you access to them any time.

Free Anti-virus Software

Don't tell me you're still paying for anti-virus software? If you're using Norton, I bet you've had trouble with it, too. But you're afraid to cut the cord, right? Avast is a totally free program with free updates that will save you money every year. You never pay a cent for anything with Avast. Another, similar, product is AVG (www.avg.com), but I haven't used it.

I've been using Avast for years now with no problems, and it has yet to cost me anything. Avast protects you from viruses in email, in programs or files you download, peer-to-peer and instant message viruses, rootkits and spyware. Free updates are automatic. Like other anti-virus software, Avast sits in your system tray (or "notification area " in the lower right corner of your screen) and shields you from viruses. It also can be used to scan your disks (including all hard drives) for viruses.

To get Avast, go to www.avast.com and click on "Free Software".

To switch from paid support to Avast, first: download (but do not install) Avast. You could save it on your desktop. Then click start, settings, control panel, add or remove programs. Then navigate to your antivirus software and remove it. This will probably require a reboot. Then install Avast (by double-clicking on it on your desktop). That's about it.