A. Windows XP ships with a bare-bones movie-editing package called Windows Movie Maker (WMM--an earlier version also shipped in Windows Me), but
Microsoft also has a couple of free add-ons that really make a difference. The first is the WMM 1.2 upgrade, available from Windows Update, which features a new, near DVD-quality movie resolution with excellent compression and support for the Windows Media Video 8 (WMV 8) format. The second is the Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP, which, among other things, includes the Windows Movie Maker Creativity Kit. This kit includes professional title slides, music files, and sound files, which you can use, royalty-free, in your own movies. The Windows Media Bonus Pack is available now from the Microsoft Web site.