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Print directory folders, dump dopey Balloon Tips, save ornery files. Plus: I debunk a bogus performance trick.

Had enough of Windows' shenanigans? I'll show you how to print elegant folder lists, dispatch Balloon Tips and annoying icon wizards, and copy files that won't copy. Plus, I debunk a performance hoax that's making the rounds on the Net.

Disable customize notifications

The Hassle: In your last column, you explained how to hide and restore the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the System Tray. Easy for you to say -- the Customize option in the Taskbar tab of the Properties menu on my PC is grayed out.

The Fix: Leave it to Microsoft to make things confusing. Right-click the Taskbar and choose Properties -- "Hide Inactive Icons" is checked, right? Clear that check box, click Apply, and you're in business. And if you ever trash your system tray, grab a copy of the Taskbar Repair Tool: It's a miraculous freebie ($5 for the Pro version) that fixes dozens (36 to be exact) of taskbar, quick-launch and system-tray problems.

Battle balloons and icons

The Hassle: I bought a laptop with Windows Vista (I know, silly me). The OS keeps asking to remove desktop icons, and the Balloon Tips are driving me nuts. Have a solution?

The Fix: I agree -- Windows' Desktop Cleanup Wizard is ever so annoying. (Hey, Microsoft, I like my old, unused shortcuts!) In XP, you can disable the wizard with a VB script from Kelly Theriot. Grab the freebie from our Downloads library. It's safe, so ignore any security warnings. The process is easier in Vista: Right-click on the Desktop, choose Properties, Desktop, Customize Desktop, and clear the Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard Every 60 Days check box. You can ditch Balloon Tips in XP with Doug Knox's VB script; in Vista this script can be a killer, so you'll want to read the instructions on the gHacks page about it.

Print any folder list

The Hassle: My friend asked for a printed list of all my MP3s. I spent an hour and still couldn't figure out how to do it.

The Fix: There's an easy way to do this, and a hard way. Me, I'm lazy (it's the genes), so I use Karen's Directory Printer. The free utility generates folder and subfolder listings in every way imaginable, including (or excluding) the file size, creation date and attributes. For you purists avoiding extra programs, Microsoft has a weekend project to print folders from your context menu in XP or Vista. Be aware, though, that it involves batch files, folder mods and Registry hacks.

Beware this speedup hoax

Not everything you read on the Internet is true. I spotted a tweak -- a modification of the Quality of Service (QoS) Packet Scheduler's settings -- that purportedly gives both XP Professional and Vista a 20 percent bandwidth boost. I wish. I tried it, as did a few buddies. Though some of us didn't see a thing, others, me included, perceived improved performance. Unfortunately, it was merely the power of suggestion -- Microsoft's experts say the tip is bogus, and I believe them. However, if you use Wi-Fi, tuning your router's QoS settings can help with some applications. Check out Becky Waring's "Optimize Wi-Fi for VoIP, Video and Gaming" and then read Preston Gralla's "Internet Boosters."

Tool of the Month

Copy stubborn files with HoboCopy: I watched a neat Flash streaming video on a Web site and wanted to keep it to view offline. I found the file sitting in the temp folder and tried copying it to another folder. No luck -- the error message "File in use" was the only thing I saw. None of my copying tricks worked; and when I closed the browser tab that was playing the video, the file was automatically deleted. But now I've outsmarted Windows with the help of HoboCopy, an obscure, slick utility that uses Volume Shadow Service to copy files (and folders) that are in use. Once you get the hang of this command-line tool, it's easy to work with. For help, read the How-To Geek's tutorial.

A growing number of good Web sites, like Prosper and Bankrate, are popping up, offering useful tools to help you manage and conserve your money.

You’ll found numerous sites that are full of good advice on how to save money and protect your financial interests. In a sour economy, sites like these are getting more attention (and site traffic) than ever before.


GasBuddy: GasBuddy is actually a network of local sites (such as sanfrangasprices.com for the San Francisco area), each of which allows consumers to find and report high or low gas prices around town.

Fuelly: Fuelly is a cool little Web tool that lets you track and keep a history of your vehicle's gas mileage and compare your results with those of other drivers.

RetailMeNot: Find coupons (about 85,000, the site says) for thousands of stores nationwide. Many of them are sent in by site users, for others to use. It's not the only online coupon community, but it's the biggest and probably the best.

BillShrink: A big chunk of your money probably goes to your wireless carrier every month. BillShrink asks you for your locale, wireless usage habits and current plan, then recommends other plans in your area that might be better deals for you. It's a small way to trim the fat, but every little bit counts.

Prosper: Prosper is like a dating site that brings people who want to borrow money together with people who want to lend it. Borrowers post their borrowing re­­quests, and prospective lenders bid on the interest rate at which they're willing to loan part or all of the money.

Kiva: Kiva follows roughly the same business model as Prosper, but adds a philanthropy aspect. The site allows you to extend a loan to a person in the Third World who needs the money to get a small business off the ground, for example.

Bankrate: This is the largest and most complete aggregator of financial rate information that we've seen on the Web. The site constantly surveys 4,800 financial institutions in all 50 states to provide real-time rates on around 300 financial instruments -- mortgages, credit cards, car loans, money market accounts and certificates of deposit -- so you can find the best rates and save money.

Pageonce: You've accumulated numerous online accounts -- everything from banking sites to Netflix to shopping sites to social networking -- and they all have separate logins. PageOnce brings all of your accounts together in one dashboard where they're easy to access. But it does much more than store passwords: Once the site is linked to the accounts, it notifies you of any changes at them -- from payment alerts to new-friend requests on Facebook.

AnnualCreditReport: Since 2003, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act has made it possible for individuals to obtain one free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies per year. AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site that provides them without strings attached.

Finding great sites on the Web is easy. But it takes hard work and dedication to find the truly annoying and dazzlingly useless ones. Of course we didn't shrink from the task.

While locating the most useful sites on the Web, we felt it only fair to call out the some of the most useless, too. We found no shortage of sites that are poorly designed or boring, but we list here some of the sites that go that extra mile -- the dazzlingly ugly, the patently offensive and the mind-bogglingly pointless.


AOL AIM Dashboard: I'll admit that Dashboard already has two strikes against it just because it immediately gets right into my face every time AIM starts up, which means every time I fire up my PC. Once this lame site has your eyeballs, the site seems willing to do anything to keep them, if just for a few seconds, using eye-candy graphics and tabloidy headlines like "High School Love Triangle" and "My Nasty Texts Went to my Dad!" Strike Three.


HavenWorks: If a Web-design program got sick and threw up, it might look something like this site. My uncle from Santa Cruz says the first time he saw it he had an acid flashback.


Juicy Campus: Juicy Campus provides a public place where college kids can engage in gossipy smear-fests against fellow students, teachers or anybody else, with complete anonymity. The tenor and intelligence level of the posts are, well, what you might expect from people who spend most of their time pulling bong hits, playing "Madden 2000," beer-sliding and vomiting up Night Train.


Zombo: A Web site? Concept art? A prank gone horribly wrong? I honestly don't know. Open the page and you will hear: "This is Zombo.com. You can do anything at Zombo.com. The only limit is yourself. Anything can happen at Zombo.com." Well, in fact, nothing happens at Zombo.com.


Brill Publications: It's virtual! It's like being in the real world, except, uh, it's on the Net! On the InterWeb! Walk through the front door of Brill Publications. See the secretary. Take the elevator. Talk to Bob on the fifth floor. Wait, why am I here?


City Optix: Sorry to pick on this little local optometry franchise, but sites that immediately launch and force you to watch ridiculously long, loud and inane flash presentations -- and there are many of them -- drive me nuts. This one is one of the worst examples of site design I've seen.


Digg: OK, Digg isn't a horrible site, but it is one of the most depressing when you compare it to what it once was. Digg's top stories (as voted on by Digg users) used to be interesting and tech-oriented. But since Digg has grown so immensely popular, the top 10 Diggs usually consist of "lowest common denominator" stories: funny photos and videos, for the most part. It's a site cursed by its own popularity.


Weekly World News: "The world's only reliable news" site is chock full of news you can't do without. A recent lead feature investigates whether James Carville or Britney Spears (bald) looks more like "Bat Boy." Why isn't CNN all over this?


Meet an Inmate: Life not creepy enough for you? Now you can befriend and correspond with a lonely ex-meth-addict doing hard time in Leavenworth for aggravated assault.


Bermuda Triangle: Stunningly bad graphics and site design are mixed with really pointless content. It's a double threat.

Microsoft is so often the behemoth everyone loves to hate that people overlook the stuff it does right. We tried its newer Web services and found five gems.

When you think of Web apps and services, Microsoft doesn't immediately come to mind. Lately, though, the company has been rolling out a slew of them, including several that match or beat competing offerings from Google, Yahoo and any number of startups you've never heard of.

Which of those Microsoft services are the best? We've tried them all, and we've selected five free hidden gems.

You'll notice that most of these services carry Microsoft's "Live" brand. If you're like most people, you're probably thoroughly confused by the Live lineup, and by what Live actually means -- especially since Microsoft has muddied the waters with the newer "Live Essentials" moniker. For the record, Windows Live is a central online location for accessing the Live services and applications. Windows Live Essentials is a subset of the Windows Live brand that houses downloadable applications, including Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Messenger and others.


Windows Live SkyDrive

How's this for a deal: Get 25GB of online storage, at no cost, with no strings attached. That's what Windows Live SkyDrive offers. Just create folders on the site and upload files to it. You can share any of your folders with colleagues, as well. The site's design is simple and straightforward.

That isn't to say SkyDrive is flawless. You can't use it as a virtual drive -- it won't appear on your PC as a drive, so you can't save files directly to it within a program like Microsoft Word. That's a minor point, though. You can't argue with 25GB of free storage, especially considering that neither Google nor Yahoo currently has this kind of service. While Google is rumored to be working on a similar service called GDrive, Yahoo's Briefcase provides only 25MB of space, and is shutting down at the end of March anyway. So right now Windows Live SkyDrive is as good as online storage gets.


Windows Live Sync

If you have more than one PC and you want to keep files and folders on them synchronized, you need this service. After you download and run a small piece of software on each PC, head to the Windows Live Sync Web site and tell it which folders on which PCs should stay in sync.

You can synchronize your personal folders as well as your shared ones. Whenever any of your PCs are connected to the Internet, they will automatically sync the specified folders with one another. In addition, you can connect to any synced computer from any other computer to browse through the remote system's entire hard disk and to download files.

Note that unlike some of the fee-based sync services we looked at last year, Live Sync does not keep copies of your files in the cloud: It merely serves as a conduit between PCs. Since it involves no online storage, however, it puts no limit on the amount of data you can sync. And, of course, it's free.

Live Mesh

Here's a free Microsoft service for people who do want to keep their files in the cloud. Though Live Mesh is more powerful than Windows Live Sync, it's also a bit more complicated.

Rather than synchronize files and folders from PC to PC, you create folders in Live Mesh and then have all of your PCs synchronize with those folders. With this arrangement, you can access the files and folders from any Internet-connected computer. You have an exceptional amount of control over the synchronization, too -- for example, you can choose to synchronize only the files modified in the last 30 days, or those under 500MB. Live Mesh supports remote control of any PC in your mesh, as well. So far, Microsoft has announced no plans to charge for storage -- or to limit the amount of data you can store.


Microsoft Office Live Workspace

Office Live Workspace will help anyone with a small business or in a work group who needs a simple way to collaborate on projects. With this service you can create and share documents, schedules, to-do lists and more.

You start by creating a shared "workspace." You can choose from 11 pre-built ones -- such as a Project Workspace, a Meeting Workspace or a Travel Workspace -- or you can create your own from scratch. Each workspace has templates already created for it, including PowerPoint presentations, Excel worksheets and Word documents. Group members can work on the documents and save them for colleagues to see and edit. To edit the Office documents, you'll need to install a free Office add-in, although anyone can view them without the add-in or Office.

Why use this rather than Google Docs or Zoho? One big, exclusive benefit is its direct integration with Microsoft Office -- right within the Office suite, you can save files to your workspace, and you can use the Office programs to edit files in your workspace. On top of that, the template-driven approach to creating documents and workspaces is superior to anything you'll find in Google Docs or Zoho.


Microsoft's Virtual Earth 3D

OK, this one isn't a Web service, strictly speaking -- it's a desktop app that works with a Web service. But it's a good one: Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D.

Because Google Earth is so predominant in this arena, not many people bother with Microsoft's product, and that's a shame. This downloadable application works in concert with Windows Live Maps to give you dramatic and compelling 3-D views of places around the world. Using simple controls, you can fly in and out of cities in full 3-D. You can also go on guided tours that other people create, and you can make tours of your own. You can save your tours for future visits, too, or share them with other users.

The views are richer and more compelling than what Google has to offer, so if you're looking for great 3-D mapping, this is the service to try.

To use Virtual Earth 3D in concert with Microsoft's Live Maps service, you must download the Virtual Earth 3D software, from either Windows Live Maps or Microsoft's general downloads site.

Microsoft says that the software will work with a 1GHz processor and 256MB of RAM, but recommends a 2.8GHz or faster CPU and 1GB of RAM. Go with the recommended specs or better, or else you'll find the app very slow going.

Is your PC healthy? Don't be too sure. Think back to when you heard a kerklunk sound coming from the hard drive. Or maybe you remember the last time your Internet connection was down (and I don't mean just a little depressed).

The best way to find out what's wrong is to take a proactive approach: Check under your PC's hood with the following mostly free diagnostic tools, and see if anything is amiss -- before disaster strikes.


Hard drive health
Hard drives are about as stable as the stock market. The more you know about your drive -- the brand-specific idiosyncrasies and the diagnostic sounds that drives produce -- the better prepared you are for the inevitable crash. Here are a couple of helpful services and programs.

Hard Drive Inspector: This utility is always on guard, monitoring all your drives for spin rate, seek time and almost 20 other potential problem spots. Hard Drive Inspector gives you technical data, including the drive model, firmware version and serial number, all things you'll need to know when calling for warranty support.

It displays the hard drive's temperature in the system tray. If the drive gets too toasty (I have mine set for 120 degrees Fahrenheit), the program can send you an e-mail alert -- or, better, automatically put the computer in Standby mode.

You can view a summary health report, which typically has enough information for most users; the S.M.A.R.T. report has the details. The program costs $30, but you can download a 15-day trial version of Hard Drive Inspector to get a feel for the tool.



DataCent's Hard Drive Sounds: You shouldn't hear more than a low hum from your hard drive. But drives don't know the rules, and they often make weird sounds, emitting thuds, screeches, knocks or whining. Determining whether one of the sounds means trouble can be, well, troublesome.

The data-recovery company DataCent has an extraordinarily helpful site that plays the actual sounds of bad or unstable drive heads, stuck spindles, wobbly bearings and media with bad spots, to name a few. You can hear your specific drive brand.

The company also offers another valuable tool that lists typical hard-drive failures by manufacturer.


Broadband speed tests
Does your broadband Internet connection feel more like a sluggish dial-up link? Put it to the test by recording your connection speed every 30 minutes or so for a couple of days. Keep a log, and if the speed is nowhere near advertised rates, send the results to your ISP -- and raise a ruckus

If you complain vigorously yet politely, chances are good that the provider will have you back at full speed ahead in short order. With all of the following tests, resist the temptation to check e-mail or browse the Web while testing, so as not to alter the results.

Quick tip: If any of these online tests don't work, give me a call for help. Just kidding -- instead, make sure you have the current version of the Flash Player; if not, download and install it.


DSLReports: The granddaddy of online testing, DSLReports gives you a stack of tests to try. The Speed Test has a cool interface that looks like a car dashboard and that watches your upload and download speeds. You can test your speed by using any of six servers in different locations. You'll obtain a good average by testing with two; try one close to home and another across the country.

If you're worried about your connection while gaming, use the site's Line Quality test to look for packet loss and excessive latency. Make sure to register and log in when testing -- that way you can compare results months apart.


Speedtest.net: You'll see pretty much the same results from broadband speed testing at Speedtest.net. But this site is quicker to get to than DSLReports, and it has an oh-so-nifty interface, the kind you want to show off when friends are in your office.


Internet connection quality
In addition to running overall speed tests, you can use other tools and tricks to improve your online experience.


VoIP Speed Test: If you're making phone calls over the Internet, make sure you have the bandwidth -- as well as the quality of service -- to get decent VoIP sound, using the VoIP Speed Test.

The bandwidth analysis tells you the percentage of VoIP service quality to expect from your connection, as well as the number of concurrent VoIP lines your connection can support.


Down for Everyone or Just Me: You head for a Web site, but you get an error. I know you've said it: "Is the site down, or is it my problem?"

Now there's a way to find out. Type a Web site's URL into Down for Everyone or Just Me? (a smartly named site, no?), and it will give you the scoop. Very handy -- using it keeps you from bothering co-workers or members of your buddy list.

Fixes for Wi-Fi woes: If you use Wi-Fi, turning your router's Quality of Service (QoS) settings on will definitely help with some applications. For more, see our story "Optimize Wi-Fi for VoIP, Video and Gaming," which has tips for tweaking the data transmission speeds of your wireless network.

More Internet advice: To give your Internet connection a goose, see "Internet Boosters." And to prepare for the times when your connection gives up the ghost, check out "5 Quick Fixes for Internet Connection Hang-Ups."

Inside your PC
Not everyone can recite the MAC address of their PC's network card or the driver version for their graphics board (not even me). If your computer is hiccuping, knowing exactly what hardware and system software you have inside your PC is invaluable.

For troubleshooting, being armed with such details is ideal: You can pass them along to tech support, to your computer guru (no, definitely not me), or to an online help forum.

PC Pitstop: If you want to visit just one site to test your PC, I'd recommend PC Pitstop's Full Test. This comprehensive tool not only gives you an unbeatable hardware report but also alerts you to various potential problems that could be harming performance.

After I used it recently on my machine, PC Pitstop recommended 11 fixes, gave me a 35-count list of system specs, provided an even longer list of installed hardware, told me what drivers I needed to upgrade, tallied almost 40 performance results, and -- get this -- compared my PC's ratings with those of all the other computers that PC Pitstop has tested.

If you create a free account, you can save the reports and refer to them. One warning: If you have a pop-up or ad blocker, disable it before starting the tests.

Belarc Advisor: You can put your PC on the couch and run the free Belarc Advisor to obtain an inventory of your system's hardware. But that alone is no big deal. Where Belarc shines is in its comprehensive analysis of the software installed on your PC, including the version numbers.

Equally useful is the report of Microsoft security hot fixes that are missing from your system, as well as the list of software licenses. After you run the scan, save the HTML page in a safe spot so that you can refer to it if the worst happens.


SIW -- System Information for Windows: You can ask the SIW tool anything about your PC -- it'll give you a list of regional settings or scheduled tasks, or which DLLs are loaded and which are shared. How about which video and audio codecs you have installed, or details about your network or open ports? SIW has everything, offering lists that you can easily access from toolbar shortcuts or from a panel with a hierarchy list.

By the way, because SIW is a stand-alone utility that you don't need to install, it'll run directly from a USB flash drive, a floppy (if you still have one), a burned rescue CD or a network drive.

Be careful: Unless you uncheck the Add Crawler Toolbar to IE and Firefox box during the installation, SIW will automatically install that toolbar and make it your default search provider. Not a cool thing for such a useful tool to do.

Greatest Entertainment Device

Enjoy your video and audio collections to the fullest with the help of these free and low-cost downloads.

Your PC has become the greatest entertainment device ever created, but you wouldn't know that judging by the software that ships with the machine. Bundled media players, and related software for playing and managing audio and video, tend to be underwhelming at best.

I've assembled 15 of our favorite video and audio applications, all of which can handle just about any job you can throw at them. The vast majority of these downloads are completely free, and the others offer no-cost trials.

They'll help you download YouTube videos to your PC, or convert videos to formats that you can view on handheld devices. They'll play any audio and video formats you can find. They'll make you into a DJ and allow you to create your own customized mixes, too. So if you want to get the most out of the entertainment device on your desk, read on -- and start downloading.

# 01. Video

Want to download YouTube videos to your computer, convert video files to formats that you can view on portable players, find the best videos online or watch TV from around the world? We have software that does all that and a lot more.

# 02. TubeMe

# 03. FLV Player

# 04. Any Video Converter free version

# 05. VLC Media Player

# 06. BearFlix Basic

# 07. GOM Media Player

# 08. DivX for Windows

# 09. Online TV Player Basic

# 10. Audio

Your PC's bundled audio player has plenty of limitations. For starters, it can't help you create your own music or turn you into a DJ, and it likely can't play a large variety of music formats. The following downloads will fill all of those gaps, and they can do more than a few other tricks, too.

# 11. Audacity

# 12. VirtualDJ


# 13. FoxyTunes

# 14. Zune Media Player

# 15. Foobar2000

# 16. WinAmp Full

# 17. Ashampoo Burning Studio 8

Sites like Drop.io and eSnips give you a neutral space to store, access and share your documents, while sites like Photosynth help you create and publish your own content.

With better broadband speeds and advances in server center technology, sites that are willing to host large amounts of your data are popping up everywhere, and some are free. Other sites take your photos or other content and help you turn them into something fun to watch and listen to. We rate these sites on how secure and inexpensive they are, how much data they will store for you, and the quality of the product that results from working with your content at the site.



Storing and sharing content

Drop.io: Here, you can dump up to 100MB of pictures, video, audio, doc­­uments or whatever into a personal folder, and then share the URL (it would look something like 'drop.io/yourname1') with family or friends. It's super easy to use, and my favorite hosting and sharing site.

eSnips: At this center for social file sharing, you can store cool content, from documents to music tracks, online, and then easily access your "snips" at a later date and share the content with other users. But what makes eSnips different is that it's really a social network that provides users ample opportunity to discuss the things they're storing and sharing.



Publish your stuff

But storing and sharing is just one piece of it. A new breed of sites is making available to users some powerful tools that allow you to transform your content into cool new forms, like multimedia presentations, and then provide a platform on which you can publish the stuff to your Facebook page or your own Web site.

Picasa Web Albums: Flickr is so 2007. Google's Picasa Web Albums does the same kind of stuff (that is, organizing and sharing your photos), with a smarter and friendlier interface.

Lulu: You're a genius, and your book is brilliant -- the world just doesn't know it yet. Go to Lulu, which will help you self-publish hard copies of your masterpiece at reasonable rates. Its services range from design to marketing.

Animoto: Animoto takes your still photos and stitches them to­­gether into a little animated film using cool effects, and then adds music. It's free and easy to use, and the result is well-worth the small effort.

Photosynth: If you really want someone to experience what it's like to visit a place you've been to (a foreign city, an art gallery, a local pub, whatever) this site -- developed by M­icro­soft's Live Labs research arm -- assembles your digital photos to create a high-resolution 3-D walk-through that people can enjoy via a Web browser.

Capzles: Here you can make digital slide shows on steroids. Capzles creates highly controllable and information-rich slide shows of your photos, complete with background images and music.

Vimeo: Vimeo is arguably the best video sharing and hosting site right now because of its generous file-size allowances, as well as its focus on professional-grade filmmaking from people who live and breathe it. Worth checking out.

Sprout: Sprout is the easiest way to assemble your own Flash-style widgets, which you can then embed in your site or blog.

Good Information


Learn to rumba at Ballroomdancers.com, find out what "fampooling" means at WordSpy, master thrilling guitar solos at Vanderbilly or write e-mail in Arabic with Babel Fish.

The Web is far too various to fit into neat categories. It's filled with sites, like the ones below, that provide good information on how to accomplish a specific tasks -- things you don't need to do every day. Keep them in mind for that special day you need to learn to foxtrot (ballroomdancers.com), or make a wallet out of duct tape (wikihow.com).

Your teen loves video games but won't touch a book. Solution: Find some great titles for young adults at this site: teensreadtoo.com

Tonight's the night you'll finally learn how to play the "Stairway to Heaven" guitar solo. http://www.vanderbilly.com/

Watch cheeky videos that help you discover the differences among dry German Riesling wines. tv.winelibrary.com

"I've seen people do it on TV, and I really want to photocopy my buttocks on the Xerox machine at work. Is this considered appropriate?" http://www.emilypost.com/

Darn it all, you want to learn to rumba. But not in public. From the foxtrot to the cha-cha, this site will teach you all the great dances in the privacy of your own home. http://www.ballroomdancers.com/

They all sound the same! Whom should you vote for in '08? ABC's and USA Today's Match-o-Matic can help.

What did eBay's home page look like on May 14, 1997? Hop in the Wayback Machine to find out. http://www.archive.org/

You'd like to donate to charities just by clicking around the Internet as you always do. GoodSearch is a search engine that splits its advertising revenues 50-50 with charities and schools. http://www.goodsearch.com/

Want clear instructions on how to throw a wicked curve with a Wiffle ball? What about steps to make a duct tape wallet? http://www.wikihow.com/

So you want to learn "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish. Babel Fish translates whole paragraphs of text into and out of English. babelfish.yahoo.com

You want to read James Joyce's notoriously difficult "Ulysses" or "Fin­negans Wake," but you're afraid, very afraid, and you need someone to help you through it. http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce

You want to hurl in­­sults just as the Bard did, as in “Thou mammering swag-bellied yard ape...” Zing! To learn, visit the Shakespearean Insulter .

Just want to turn on some Pink Floyd and gaze far out into the universe? See it though the lens of the Hubble Telescope (Pink Floyd not included). http://www.hubblesite.org/

"I need to get the real story on the mysterious Chupacabra (goat-sucker). And why are they still covering up what happened at Area 51? Homeland Security is not returning my calls." http://www.occultopedia.com/

You heard someone in the lunch room say "murketing." Then, just a couple of hours later, someone explained how he's started "fampooling." You need to know what these fresh entrants into the lexicon mean. http://www.wordspy.com/

TubeMe

How many times have you watched a YouTube video and wished that you could save it to your hard drive for future viewing? With this free software, you can save YouTube videos as .flv files; afterward, you can watch the videos in any multimedia software that supports the .flv format (such as FLV Player or VLC Media Player, both discussed below). Before downloading the videos, you get a full description of them, as well.

Be aware that using this program can be a bit confusing. Make sure to click the Download path button, at the bottom of the screen, to tell the program where to download your videos. And to download the video, you'll have to copy and paste the YouTube URL into the program. After that, click the icon with a small plus sign; it looks grayed-out, as if it were nonfunctional, but it does work. Once you've added the link, you can download the video. You can also put multiple videos in a list, and download them all at once.

Download TubeMe
Price: Free

FLV Player

If you've downloaded YouTube videos using TubeMe or another downloader, or if you've collected other files in the .flv format, you may run into a problem: Many media players, including Windows Media Player, can't handle them. FLV Player is a straightforward media player designed to play .flv files exclusively. To access a video, press Ctrl-O, browse to the file and open it, or else double-click the .flv file from inside Windows Explorer. You can also drag and drop files into the player. The software even handles multiple .flv files: Simply drag several files to the program, and the app plays each video in its own window.

You can control video playback through the usual controls, or with a variety of keyboard shortcuts. You can also toggle between full-screen mode and normal mode. Note that you may run into problems installing the software on Windows Vista. If that happens to you, right-click the installation file and choose Run as Administrator. That should solve the problem.

Download FLV Player
Price: Free

Any Video Converter free version

Playing video these days is no longer confined to your PC -- countless other devices can play video as well, including handheld devices and music players, mobile phones and the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The problem, though, is that if you've downloaded videos to your PC, they might not be in the formats your devices require.

This free application will convert files from and to many different formats, including just about any that you find online. It even handles .flv files, so you could, for example, download YouTube videos using TubeMe and then convert them to a format suitable for your portable device.

Converting files is simple: Just select the videos you want to convert (you can do it en masse), choose the format you want and then click the Encode button.

Download Any Video Converter Free Version
Price: Free

VLC Media Player

Looking for a media player that will take on every audio and video format you've ever encountered, and many you've probably never seen -- and that gives you plenty of extras as well? Then you'll want to grab this great free piece of open-source software. With some media players (such as Windows Media Player), if you want to play files in certain formats, you have to download a specific codec. In many other instances, you can't play particular formats at all. But VLC will handle just about any format you can throw at it.

It presents a simple, stripped-down interface, but offers advanced features if you dig deeply enough. When you're playing a video, for example, you can adjust the image in many ways. Similarly, a nice graphic equalizer lets you tweak audio effects. Even so, the extras don't interfere with the application's clean looks. And unlike many other multimedia players, VLC won't hog RAM or system resources.

Download VLC Media Player
Price: Free

BearFlix Basic

If you're fond of discovering videos online, downloading and playing them, and sharing them with others, you'll appreciate this simple-to-use file-sharing client that works on the Gnutella sharing network. It looks much like the popular BearShare, and with good reason -- they were created by the same company.

Searching for a video is simple. Type in your search term or terms, peruse the results and then decide which ones you want to download. You can manage and queue downloads, pause them, resume them and so on. The program looks and works much like many other file-sharing clients.

The Theater feature, which lets you view the downloaded videos, is convenient. However, you may want to use it primarily to preview your videos (to make sure you've downloaded the ones you want), and then use your favorite video player for the actual viewing.

If you're a parent, be careful with this program. As with all file-sharing software, the files you find may have adult content. Also, when you install the software, it will ask whether you want to make BearFlix your Web home page. Unless you agree to that, be sure to click the Decline button.

Download BearFlix Basic
Price: Free

GOM Media Player

This excellent, free media player is particularly well-suited for playing videos, because it supports a wide range of formats. It plays all the usual suspects, plus many other formats that media players often can't handle, such as DivX, .flv, XviD and others. In addition, it sports some nifty features for video viewing, including the ability to change the brightness, contrast and saturation. It has an audio equalizer for improving sound, too.

One particularly nice touch is that during installation the program asks you to indicate how you'll use it: for general-purpose viewing, for high-quality displays (if you own a powerful graphics card and a high-resolution monitor) or with TV output (if you plan to connect your PC to a television and use it there). Most people will choose the normal mode.

Note that the installation program will install the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer unless you instruct it not to, so during installation make sure to uncheck the box if you don't want that addition.

Download GOM Media Player
Price: Free

DivX for Windows

If you've downloaded videos from the Internet, you may have come across the DivX format, which has become popular because it can compress video a significant amount and reduce the size of the files, yet retain high visual quality. That format has one problem, though: Popular media players (such as Windows Media Player) don't support it, and as a result you may have difficulty playing DivX videos.

This free player handles DivX videos, and gives you all the controls you expect in a video player, including pause, resume, forward, back and full-screen toggle. You can also manage your video library and burn videos to disc. Included as well is a Web DivX player for running videos inside a browser.

Note that when the program installs, it asks whether to install the Yahoo Toolbar, so be sure to uncheck the box if you don't want that add-on. A for-pay version of the software offers extra capabilities, such as enhanced audio and video and the ability to convert other video formats to DivX.

Download DivX for Windows
Price: Free

Online TV Player Basic

Wonder what's playing on TV right now in Albania? How about in Indonesia, Italy, Peru or just about anywhere else? This great freebie lists hundreds of TV stations -- from Afghanistan to Vietnam -- that broadcast online, and it lets you watch them for free. Simply run the software, browse the list of TV stations around the world, double-click one and it starts playing. The application tunes in radio stations around the world as well.

Keep in mind that not all of the TV stations listed as available are actually live; on occasion you may come across one that isn't broadcasting. But that's a small quibble. This is a terrific program for connecting to TV stations almost everywhere.

Download Online TV Player Basic
Price: Free

Audacity

Tired of merely listening to music, and itching to create it as well? This free, open-source software is both a sound recorder and a sound editor, so you can record your music and then edit it.

The editing tools are exceedingly sophisticated -- in fact, they're probably more sophisticated than you need. You can add any of several dozen sound effects, use a powerful mixer and more. The app handles MP3, .wav, AIFF and Ogg Vorbis file formats; you can also use the software to convert files between formats.

Through the powerful editing features you can cut, copy, paste and delete portions of a recording; use fades; and mix an unlimited number of tracks. You can also generate special sounds and mix them, and create your own "soundscapes." Most people won't need all of Audacity's capabilities, but it's good to know that they're there.

Download Audacity
Price: Free

VirtualDJ

If you're looking to create your own music mixes, normal media players can't help. Instead, you need a program like VirtualDJ, which will let you mix and "scratch" audio files and create remixes. It offers numerous effects and music samples, and employs a turntable-like visual metaphor to do all of your work.

Near each virtual turntable you can see your samples, effects and other tools for assembling your mix. Since the interface has two turntables, you can easily combine and mix two pieces of music. The program will also rip music and burn your mixes to CDs. You can create your own customized video mixes, too.

This software comes in two versions, VirtualDJ HomeEdition and VirtualDJ Pro. Most people will want the less-expensive HomeEdition; it offers all the features of the Pro edition, except that it can't interface with external hardware such as a mixer or a turntable.

Download VirtualDJ
Price: $49 HomeEdition, $299 Pro; free demo

FoxyTunes

If you listen to music while you use your PC and browse the Web, and you're tired of switching between your browser and your music player, you'll want the free FoxyTunes. It lets you control your music player directly from your browser (whether Firefox or Internet Explorer) via a small, discreet toolbar at the lower-right part of your screen.

It has all the controls you'd expect, within easy reach. A nice touch is that if your music player clutters your screen, you can tell FoxyTunes to hide the player; you'll still be able to control it through FoxyTunes. The tool also displays the name of the currently playing song, along with album pictures from the Web, if available.

One nifty extra: The software works with the Web-based Yahoo Media Player to play music found on a Web page, as a playlist. In addition, it integrates with the FoxyTunes Planet site -- when you click an icon, you see a page that displays information about the song currently playing, including the lyrics.

Download FoxyTunes
Price: Free

Foobar2000

It won't take up much RAM or system resources, and it won't muck up your screen with frills. But it does a fantastic job of playing audio. For one thing, it handles a wide array of audio formats (including those that many other popular media players don't support), namely MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC/Ogg FLAC, WavPack, .wav, AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA and WMA. If you come across an audio file that Foobar2000 won't play, you can download components that will play additional file formats.

The application offers a lot more as well, including an equalizer and the ability to rip CDs. You can convert files between audio formats, too, and the app also does a nice job of handling tags for files.
Anyone who gets audio files from assorted sources will welcome one of its better features, ReplayGain. Files from different sources often have varying volume levels, which means you often have to adjust the volume whenever a new file starts playing. ReplayGain automatically normalizes them, playing them all back at a similar volume.

Downloads can give you even more advanced features, such as the ability to do a binary comparison between two files to see whether they are identical. Even so, Foobar2000 is missing one thing: the ability to burn CDs. So if you're hunting for disc-burning software, look elsewhere.

Download Foobar2000
Price: Free

WinAmp Full

Yes, we know, this software has been around from here to forever. But there's good reason for that -- it's a great audio player. Unlike some other jukebox software, it doesn't take up much hard-drive space, and it's simply designed and straightforward to use.

You get plenty of skins to customize its looks, plus a podcast directory for easily tracking and managing the podcasts you download. It plays videos as well as music, and users who like to be entertained while they listen to music can enjoy the visualizations. Also very useful is its ability to play AOL's Shoutcast radio stations.

The program is lacking some functionality, however. You can't rip CDs to MP3 files, for example, and you can burn audio CDs with it only eight times. You'll have to pay $20 for the pro version to get around those problems.

Be aware that when you install this software it will set WinAmp Search as your default search engine, and it will sign you up for a free trial in the eMusic music service, so make sure to uncheck the boxes next to those options if you don't want them.

Download WinAmp Full
Price: Free

Ashampoo Burning Studio 8

If you want to rip or burn music or videos, and you're willing to pay for powerful features, give this software a try. It'll do just about everything you need, including burning audio, data and video CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs; copying CDs and DVDs; and burning movies and photos. It will also create covers, labels and booklets, and it's great for creating data discs (including for backups).

If all you want to do is burn ordinary CDs and DVDs, you don't care about extras such as designing and printing disc labels and covers for jewel cases, and you don't need to create animated DVD slide shows with music, you don't need this software -- your bundled, free burning software will do just fine. But if you're seeking a program stuffed with extra features, this is a good one to get.

Download Ashampoo Burning Studio 8
Price: $50; free trial