This sudden failure of the Netflix plugin to stream any shows was pretty annoying. The night before, everything was working fine, and then the next day, it was broken. I had not installed any updates nor changed anything (I was sleeping and at work).

In attempting to fix the "Navigation cancelled" message, I noted that Windows Update had a Silverlight patch. Hmm... I'll try installing that -- maybe it will help....

Nope...

So, I did some digging. I tried logging out of Netflix, deleting the computer from the list of authorized devices on the Netflix site, etc. Reports were emerging all over the web of people having similar problems, so at least I knew it wasn't something I messed-up on my end!

You're asking: OK, OK, yeah, my MCE is broken also -- just tell me how to fix it!

Here's the process I did which allowed my MCE to stream Netflix after the February 16, 2011 problem. This is based upon a Windows 7 64 bit install, but should work fine with Windows 7 32 bit also.

Click images for larger versions.

1 ) Close Windows 7 Media Center.

2 ) Open the 32 bit version of Internet Explorer 8. Note that on 64 bit Windows, there are TWO links for IE. You need the one that does NOT say 64 bit.

3 ) In the upper right of IE8, click the Tools button, and then Internet Options at the bottom.

4 ) UN-check "Enable Protected Mode" and click OK.

5 ) Close IE8. This is important!!!

6 ) Open IE8 again. Not the 64 bit version.

7 ) In the upper right of IE8, click the Safety button, and then Delete Browsing History at the top.

8 ) UN-check "Preserve favorites website data" at the top. Check the rest of the boxes to clear cache, cookies, etc. and hit Delete.

9 ) Go back into the Tools menu in the upper right and select Internet Options at the bottom.

10 ) Re-check the "Enable Protected Mode" and click OK.

11 ) Close IE8.

13 ) Go to www.netflix.com and login as you normally would.

14 ) Leave IE8 open with the Netflix page logged-in.

15 ) Open Media Center and go to the Netflix plugin. Try to play a movie. MCE may ask you if it's OK to send your login info again. Select Yes.

This procedure fixed my Windows 7 Media Center Netflix streaming. Hopefully it can help someone else out there too, as this issue is very frustrating and Netflix is doing very little to fix it at the time of this writing.

qliner is a free, open-source program which lets you graphically bind any Windows+key combination press to launch or focus any program. They have some really cool features, which are not even found on the paid programs, such as a graphic on-screen keyboard that you can just drag programs onto to create the bindings.

Also, in the interest of ergonomics, it will re-map the Caps-Lock key to the Windows key, thus allowing you to turn the relatively useless Caps-Lock into a pinky-friendly, easy-to-press combination key sequence.

This program is quite smooth and polished and serves to replace other programs such as WinKey, which are not quite as graphically interesting and have fewer features.

Read about and download qliner - you'll probably like it if you enjoy keyboard shortcuts, and what power-user doesn't?

Something tells me that when you spend all your money to upgrade to a "Vista-capable" machine, all you're going to be doing is giving the spyware/malware/virus/suckware/shovelware vendors even beefier hardware to run their trash on.

When is MS going to realize that most of us would trade EVERY new "feature" that will be in Vista for an OS that does not need to be re-installed annually (best case) and patched constantly? Put the effort from worthless new user interface geegaws into security instead -- and not the kind of BS security (DRM) that only serves to "protect" the "rights" of companies to make money. Learn the concepts of user based permissions (/cough like Unix or any other modern OS /cough) so that the OS areas are NOT writable all the time when they don't need to be. Learn that the average user does NOT need dozens of worthless services running by default which serve only to consume system resources and offer holes for malware to enter.

If Windows security was a boat, it would be like those things you see Cuban refugees floating on when they try to escape Cuba -- pieces of trash and old junk hastily and shoddily thrown together to form something somewhat functional but of entirely dubious reliability and quality. Wow, pretty good analogy to Windows "security" eh?

It's incredibly hard to find a good e-mail client. I read something at one time (perhaps from the mutt authors) that "all e-mail clients suck, ours just sucks less." That's very true IMO and it's even harder to find one that's decent and free (I do like mutt for text mail BTW ). Thunderbird aims to solve both issues.

I've been using the 1.5 beta for some time now and found it pretty good. It's not significantly changed from earlier versions, at least from my admittedly basic use, but it does appear to be stable and fully usable. The release version appears identically usable (so far).

For those who don't already know, TB is a non-nonsense, basic mail reader, which is what many people prefer. Mail readers that try to do everything, and end-up doing it poorly like Outlook (jeez, the Options settings alone in Outlook 2003 are hideously organized!) are a dime-a-dozen. TB just does mail and usenet, and does them well -- although with the built-in extension support, I'm sure you can force it to do other things if so desired.

Improvements in 1.5 include:

• Binary patching, like FireFox 1.5 does. Means smaller downloads and faster updates than before.
• Interactive spell checking, similar to the red underlining that MS Word does.
• Various security updates, both for the program itself and also helping to expose phishing scams.
• Other goodies listed here.

I have no reason not to suggest that you try it out if you use Outlook Express currently. It will import your Outlook Express settings, contacts and mail effortlessly while providing you with a significantly improved security framework that does not encourage spyware, suckware, and malware to enter your machine.

If you're an existing Thunderbird user, I also recommend upgrading to 1.5 based upon the experiences I've had. You will likely find it very comfortable to use if you liked earlier versions.