With a minor investment in time and money, you can set it up to record and play TV shows. Don’t let your older hardware gather dust If you’ve been a Windows user for some time or you’ve become enchanted with your new tablet or smartphone, it’s likely you have a spare PC or two taking up space in the closet. Before you sell, give away, or recycle that old box, consider giving it a second life as a digital video recorder (DVR). All you need is a PC powerful enough to make full-screen Internet videos look decent and run Windows 7, Vista, or XP Media Center Edition. You’ll be able to record your favorite programs — whether they’re broadcast in high definition or old-fashioned standard definition — and watch them at your leisure.

A Windows DVR has several advantages over that TiVo or the digital video recorder provided by your cable company:

The choice between two leading note-taking apps — OneNote or Evernote — depends in large part on how well they integrate with the platforms and software you’re already using. Why you need a versatile tool for note-taking If you take notes by typing memos in Word docs or by sending yourself e-mail messages, you probably do so with the worry you might not find them later. Moreover, text notes are not the only, nor best, evocation of an idea: when you want to grab a couple of quick photos on your smartphone, or add a voice note, or sketch a new design, pasting them into disconnected documents just won’t do.

Note-taking apps let you quickly organize and connect many bits of information — and share them with others who might also need access to that data. Although there are many variations of the note-taking theme, two of the best for generalized use are Evernote and Microsoft’s OneNote.

For example, you can control the default two-second silence WMP adds between tracks — but only if you know where Microsoft buried the setting. Adjusting track-spacing in Windows Media Player Reader Sid Crisp is experiencing frustration with WMP.

“I am wondering if there is a way of stopping Windows Media Player from adding a two-second gap between tracks when ripping CDs. I have found that it sometimes does this even with mixed CDs, thus ruining the CD rip. Also, some CDs already have gaps; when WMP adds its own, the gap is extended even more. I don’t really want that excessive silence between tracks. Yes, you can stop it. But the method depends on several variables, such as the version of Windows Media Player you’re using. For example, in WMP 12 (included with Windows 7), you click the Burn tab’s Options pull-down menu (shown in Figure 1) and select More burn options.

If you’d like to download this free excerpt, simply visit your preferences page and save any changes; a download link will appear.

All subscribers: Set your preferences and download your bonus Info on the printed book: United States No doubt about it, Windows 7 is the most advanced Windows Microsoft has ever built. But for new Win7 users, discovering the operating system's many new capabilities is a challenge. David Pogue's opus, Windows 7: The Missing Manual, describes every aspect of Windows 7, from basics such as the Start Menu to advanced applications such as setting up Win7 on a network.

The haka war dance is traditional to both the Samoan and Maori cultures. Their mutual intentions are crystal clear to the warrior-players, but the ritual might startle viewers from other parts of the world. And it makes American-style football players look like wimps. Play the video

By Kathleen Atkins

The terms of Google’s new policy have provoked discussion in the Lounge’s Social Media forum. How much personal information must we surrender to allow desired services to function? Other thoughtful questions include: Do we mind that our service providers also use that data to market to us? Are service providers keeping our data secure so we’re safe from identity thieves? Check out various perspectives on what constitutes privacy and security. More»

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions to which you might be able to provide responses:

Whether it’s an iPad, Kindle, Nook, or a tablet based on Google’s Android OS, mobile devices are swirling across the computing landscape. Here’s how to pick the right one.

Don’t believe that mobile devices are taking over? Consider these eye-popping numbers.

I morbidly call this monthly search “looking for dead bodies.” At this time, I’m still waiting to see what happens with MS12-006. MS12-006 (2643584, 2585542) Seeking more information on MS12-006 issues January’s Patch Tuesday updates include MS12-006 (KB 2643584 and KB 2585542), which fixes an issue with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) implementation. Because we use SSL so often and don’t even think of it, I’ve been waiting to see whether any problems with the patch have floated up in security forums and listserves. Surprisingly, I’ve not seen many reports — and I think I know why. Even Microsoft is holding back on this update.

On the Patch Management listserve, Microsoft’s Doug Neal talks about how there are times when the company doesn’t push updates out through Microsoft or Windows Update. However, many Windows users might see this patch listed in Windows Update but not checked, as shown in Figure 1. (This was the case on my systems.) Why? I believe that Microsoft, too, is holding back a bit to make sure there are no major problems related to this update.

Here’s why you should make the split, plus step-by-step instructions for how to do it. Good reasons for segregating OS and data What would you do if something went horribly wrong with Windows and you couldn’t repair it? Or if performance deteriorated so badly you’d like to reinstall Windows from scratch? (And nothing in my April 7, 2011, story, “Fix that problem without reinstalling Windows,” helps?)

Are there any options besides devoting many hours to reinstalling the OS and applications, then more hours setting your system preferences — and then restoring your data?

Any of three different approaches, including careful use of Windows’ built-in selective startup, should get to the root of the problem. Experiencing Java failure at boot time Reader Owen Krist’s PC is experiencing a hard-to-identify error at startup.

“Whenever I boot up, the very first thing that shows up are four small windows, each with the message ‘Java virtual machine launching.’ Right below that it says, ‘Unable to access jarfile C:Documents,’ and below that is a small button that says, ‘OK.’