The default response for the last 10+ years has been to burn a CD of those funny video clips, and either put the CD in the mail or hand deliver it.  What a pain.

Here is a much faster, easier alternative, and yes it’s FREE.

• Broadband Internet Connection.  Still using Dial-up?  I understand DSL/Cable isn’t available everywhere, but there are Wireless vendors out there who can do it for around the same price.  Just do it already.  I’m going to take a bold stance and declare that YOU NEED IT.
• Purchase more RAM for your computer.  This is surprisingly cheap nowadays.  Go to www.crucial.com and input your computer model.  If your PC takes SDRAM, it’s not worth it, it’s time for a new computer.  If it is DDR or DDR2, you’re in business.  Purchase your RAM right from them, it’s usually the best price.
• XP Service Pack 3.  Get it here right from Microsoft.  This is a pretty big installation, give yourself about an hour.
• Adobe updates.  Get the latest Reader, currently it’s 9.  Get the latest Flash.  Don’t worry about the Media Player.  Get them here:  www.adobe.com
• Windows Media Player.  Get the latest version, currently 11.  In your player window, go to Help, and Check for Updates.  Or, you can just download it here.
• Java updates.  If this is not automatic for you, go to www.java.com
• Microsoft Office 2007 to 2003 Converter.  If you don’t have Office 2007, you’ll get an email from somebody who does, trust me.  If you have it, you’ll email to somebody who doesn’t.  Get it here.
• Anti Virus.  You need a current version, since new viruses are created and distributed every day.  If you get McAfee or Norton, prepare to dedicate a large portion of your life to them, these are HUGE programs that I find are unnecessary.  Go with Trend Micro, Defender, or even a free one called Avast.  Download it at www.avast.com .  Be sure to get more RAM for your anti virus.
• Disk Cleanup.  Go to your Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and select Disk Cleanup.  This gets rid of a bunch of your temporary junk lying around, slowing down your computer.
• DIsk Defragmenter.  Defrag your hard drive.  If you’ve got two hard drives, it’s the bigger one, the C Drive usually.  Go to Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Disk Defragmenter.

OPTIONAL

Here are some things that are nice to have for that random task:

• Open Office.org.  If you do not want to pay hundreds of dollars just to write a document or create a spreadsheet, OpenOffice.org is great.  It emulates MS Office pretty well, and converts back and forth.  This is at least useful for opening email documents from somebody else who created them in MS Office.  Even if you have MS Office, this is a good tool to have lying around.  Get it here: www.openoffice.org.  Suggestion: disable the “quickstarter” in your task bar, so this doesn’t constantly run for you.
• VLC Media Player.  Ever run into those strange movie formats that won’t play in Windows Media Player?  Use this as an alternate.  Get it here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html
• Mozilla Firefox internet browser, because when you use something other than the Microsoft default, you somehow think you’re smarter.  ha ha.  Get it here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
• XP Image Resizer.  Quickly and easily resize your images for emailing or blogging.  Get it here.

OK, if we make the list any larger, we’ll lose track of what we really need.

Suggestions?  Please leave your comment!