WinWeather

WinWeather -- WinWeather brings weather reports and forecasts from all over the world to your PC. Two to ten cities per state and nearly one hundred cities from outside the United States can be referenced in the current version. Newer versions (2.0+) also include regional weather updates for Canada as well. Information available for each city or site includes temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed and direction, satellite images, WeatherCams (realtime images of scenery and weather around the U.S.), ski reports, general weather conditions, and weather forecasts (forecasts, however, are only available for cities in the United States). You can also configure WinWeather to automatically refresh its information periodically, giving you access to continual up-to-date weather stats. One of WinWeather's best features is that you only have to pay a one-time registration fee for the program ($19.95) -- after that you get all the free weather updates you could ever possibly want. The information provided by WinWeather is, without a doubt, essential for many users, but there are one or two negative aspects that keep WinWeather from being even better. WinWeather does rely on only two servers for its information (you can modify this information but there are not many other servers currently available); therefore, you're dependent on their status for your information. However, the folks at Insanely Great Software (makers of WinWeather) have recently added a dedicated feed for weather information, thereby eliminating the need for additional servers. WinWeather does lack extensive information on cities in Canada and other countries outside of the United States. Aside from this minor setback, WinWeather is definitely The Real Deal when it comes to the on-demand deliverance of weather reports to your computer. Pros: Finally, an app that delivers the weather to your computer; one time fee of $19.95 Cons: Relies on only two servers for information, infomation only for U.S. and Canada New: Satellite images, WeatherCams, ski reports, Canada weather info, and much more Version Reviewed: 2.01 Date of Review: 6/4/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud