I'll try and get you started here. See link for DEMO, says Vista, ok for Win 7 too. All the music on the PC should work on the Laptop without issue. To transfer / move the music from PC to Laptop, it's the same as moving any file. Several ways to go about it. Move it to a flash drive, burn it to a cd, or move it to a USB external drive. The music on the PC is in a folder on the hard drive usually in the My Music folder. That's the folder you would move to the flash drive, or external drive, hook the flash drive or external drive to the new computer and copy / drag the files / folder to the Laptop My Music folder. The demo should cover getting what music into Movie Maker using the import function or dragging. When you listen to music on the PC, what program plays it, Itunes, Windows Media Player, other? Here is a link that might be useful: music-in-Windows-Movie-Maker

There is a basic sound recorder in windows 7 if that's all you need. Start > All Programs > Accessories > Sound Recorder. If you need more than that follow da's advice or let us know more about what you need and maybe someone will recommend something.

If she wants a desktop program, it will depend on the operating system she has. If XP, then she can use Outlook Express and configure her Yahoo, Gmail, or whatever to download into that without going to the web site. If she has Windows 7, MS has a program called Windows Live Mail which she must install on her computer. Again, her mail can be configured to download to her desktop program. And there's Thunderbird which has been mentioned.

Most likely the people you've talked to, like myself, can't stand the thought of a halfassed system. You're installing two speakers in each of eight rooms. That's sixteen speakers. But you're whining about two more? Geez. WAAH. At least let them run the wires and leave some blank cover plates where the surround speakers SHOULD (yes, I said should, not could. Should. Installing a large fancy system but intentionally crippling it is a dumb idea.) be so that a future homeowner with more sense can have them hooked up... Surround (at least prologic, the very very very basic version) works well for most music too, btw. Not sure about that there kumquat computer of yours... "Simple". Yes, you can have simple, but I can add basic surround sound to your "simple" system for the cost of two speakers and a transformer. Less if, as I predict, you've already purchased a receiver that has a "true" surround sound decoder built-in. My cost to add surround to your simple system would be far less than sixteen speakers. Of course, if you're really looking for cheap, find a school building being torn down or remodeled, that was, built in the 70s or early 80s, and salvage their old Dukane paging system. Your music will sound like a phone receiver duct-taped to a megaphone, but it'll be simple, and you'll be rid of that pesky surround sound you're so deeply opposed to. You'll also have a really nifty PRIVACY button so your mac can't listen to you swearing back at it about the inferior noise you've chosen to subject yourself to.