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So here I am again, keeping cool in my air-conditioned home office. But don't worry, I'm not wasting a ton of money on cooling down the whole house. What's my secret? Read on for the scoop on portable air conditioners, plus a couple of cool tools that didn't make it into last week's newsletter.

Cool Down With a Hot APC

The office window in my tiny, 10-by-10-foot converted bedroom faces west and it gets wretchedly hot in the summer. How do I stay cool without burning a bunch of money? I use an APC NetworkAIR Portable air conditioning unit.

It looks like a large dehumidifier, and it's about 12 deep by 16 inches wide by 30 inches high. At almost 90 pounds, it's heavy--but it's on rollers, so I can move it anywhere. You can filter the hot air directly to your boss (or in my case, my editor) through the Internet by hooking the A/C up to your PC with a USB 2.0 connection; sorry, 1.0 isn't compatible.

Seriously, the device comes with a long, flexible hose that vents hot air through the window, a false ceiling, or if you want to be mean, into the office next door.

The AP7003, with a 0.5 ton capacity, is about $750 discounted. If that's not big enough for your office, you can spend about $3300 (also discounted) for the ACPA4000 with a 1.2-ton capacity.

Not sure what you need? You can compare the two at APC's site (you'll need to select the AP7003's info under "Product 2").

But wait, you say you don't want to spend that much? Try checking Froogle, or browsing Costco's assortment of Royal Sovereign portable air conditioners--they run about $350.

Dig This: StandRay is an annoying game. Your goal is to get all of the figures to stand at the same time. As Walt I., the reader who told me about StandRay said, plan to "pull some hair out!"

It's not easy, so I'll give you some hints:

1. If a RayRay blinks, it means nothing. (At least I don't think so.)
2. A RayRay will occasionally run across the screen. It, too, means nothing. (Once again--at least I don't think so.)
3. If you happen to get lucky and everyone stands (I did ... once and in only ten moves), you will learn nothing and have to rely on luck in the next game.

Cool Tool: AM-DeadLink

I was on the road last week with my rarely used notebook. I rummaged around for a favorite, found it, and discovered the link was AWOL. That's because I hadn't taken the time--all of a couple of minutes--to run AM-DeadLink. The program takes each of your favorites and tries it for you. If the link's dead, you have the option of removing it. The tool's a freebie and once you try it, my guess is it'll become a permanent resident on your PC.

Cool Tool: WinPatrol 10

WinPatrol is on the short list of utilities I recommend you buy. If nothing else, use the free version. I've had lots to say about WinPatrol; read "Clean House on a Junk-Filled System Tray" to see what.

The new version adds worthwhile features--wish-list things I sent to the author, in fact. For instance, when troubleshooting, I thought it'd be really handy to know when a program installed itself in my Startup group. Version 10 gives me the info. There are other new ways to protect yourself in the upgrade, and you can read about them in the WinPatrol blog.

Dig This: From the stacks of positive e-mails I received about the egg and potato videos (six messages at last count, not including the one from my mother), I decided to lead you to the "Cloth Folding Trick" video. It's a neat idea and even though I've tried it a dozen times, I still haven't succeeded. [Tip of the hat to Stephen C.]

Steve Bass writes PC World's monthly "Hassle-Free PC" column and is the author of PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer, available from O'Reilly. He also writes PC World's daily Tips & Tweaks blog. Sign up to have Steve's newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? Send Steve e-mail.