Hassle-Free PC

Revived 'Green Button' Site Helps Answer Your Windows Media Center Questions

Who says there are no second acts?

Last year, I reported with great remorse the demise of The Green Button, a six-year-old user community specializing in Windows Media Center.

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Improve Your Media Center PC's Power Management with Away Mode

Over the years I've remained a mostly steadfast fan of Windows Media Center, the baked-in software that turns your PC into an awesome companion for your TV.

I say "mostly" because of that whole you'll-have-to-pay-extra-for-Media-Center-in-Windows-8 kerfuffle earlier this summer.

Still, my Windows 7-powered HP mini-tower remains connected to my rec-room TV, where it continues to serve beautifully as a DVR. That's because I've paired it with a CableCard tuner. (Not familiar with them? Check out the tuner roundup I wrote last year.)

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Learn More About Your Laptop's Battery Status

Much as Windows' power-management capabilities have improved over the years, the OS still doesn't tell you much about your battery.

In fact, from what I can see of Windows 8, Microsoft hasn't changed anything about battery status reporting.

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Add a Snooze Button to Gmail with Snooze Your Email

Regular readers know of my mad love for services like Boomerang for Gmail and FollowUpThen, which let you "snooze" emails you receive so they appear at the top of your inbox at a later time.

Boomerang in particular offers nifty integration with Gmail proper, adding a button that allows you to delay messages for hours or days with just a few clicks. Just one problem: It costs $4.99 per month, or $50 annually.

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How to Send Web Content Straight to Your Kindle

Amazon has long offered the option of e-mailing documents to your Kindle, but this is the first time Send to Kindle has branched out to a browser.

Just add the Send to Kindle extension to Chrome, then navigate to any Web page you want to save. (You can also select text on a page if you don't need the whole thing.)

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Add AOL's 'You've Got Mail' Announcement to Gmail

Or maybe you're just a die-hard fan of the eponymous movie.

Either way, if you use Chrome to access your Gmail account, you'll appreciate this: The You've Got Gmail extension adds that familiar catchphrase to your inbox.

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Thunderbird Tip: Show Only Unread Messages

I'm increasingly of the opinion that Mozilla's Thunderbird is the best email client for Windows. It's fast, free, versatile, and reasonably easy to use.

I say "reasonably" because there are a few valuable features hiding in plain sight. Thunderbird has no instruction manual, per se, so you might overlook some or all of those features if you don't know where to look -- or even what to look for.

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