50 ways to an easier life with Windows Vista – take a holiday

Going on holiday can be a stressful time for anyone, and it’s doubly so if that holiday is something you have to plan. Windows Vista and your computer can help you take the edge of the planning though, so take a look at these tips and make planning a vacation something easy.

39. Research holidays online online

Put together your holiday online. Services such as Expedia and Lastminute.com have access to the same discounts as your travel agent. Try booking hotels separately for the best deals – and use Skyscanner to find cheap flights.

40. Access email

If you have a Windows Live Hotmail account, you can access your email from anywhere on any machine – whether it’s your Windows Vista laptop from the comfort of your Wi-Fi enabled hotel room or an internet café down a Parisian side street.

41. Translation tools

Take your Windows Vista laptop away with you and speak the local lingo. Natively Translator handles words and phrases entered in six source languages or 10 destination languages. There’s a 30-day trial, but the full software only costs $64 (£32).

42. Map and plan

It’s always nice to know where you are – and Live Maps (maps.live.com) can help you out. Whether you use it to plan routes or get street-level maps of your locality, you need never get lost again.

43. Packing list

The Universal Packing List (upl.codeq.info) is an online app that generates a bespoke list of essential travel items for you to pack according to the type of holiday, climate, accommodation and transport details you enter. There’s a desktop version, too.

44. Love life

Don’t say it too loud, but normal people use online dating web sites, too. Try Match.com.

45. Make friends

Recent research suggests that people who make and maintain friendships live longer. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can help you do both.

46. Office yoga

Don’t have time to get away from your PC? Then try Offi ce Yoga from SoundTells. This multimedia application takes you through a series of seated exercises using video clips. Targeting the wrists, neck and shoulders, the application’s a freeware download. The company produces other health software, too – from meditation guides to blood pressure trackers.

47. Windows dancer

Windows Dancer adds news friends in the form of dancing people to your desktop. It originally shipped with the Media Centre edition of Windows XP, but you can get a limited edition versions for free from here.

Go turbo – Turbo Lister enables you to save templates so you can quickly create new auctions for similar items

48. Second love

Second Life is a 3D virtual world where you can do most things you can in the real world, and many others you can’t. The software’s free, but it costs real money to buy ‘land’.

49. Join a band

If you’re a lapsed musician, why not try eJamming AUDiiO? Currently in its testing phase, the desktop software lets you connect with and play along with other musicians in real time over the internet. You can join a virtual band, write with other people or just jam. Be aware, though, that the software is in the development stage and still has some issues.

Nick Clayton contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine and is a freelance journalist.