Is there a decent procedure for exporting the recorded programs from WMC into a more 'friendly' format (say .MP4)? All the guides on the internet seem to either involve a long chain of command lines with esoteric parameters or invokve paying dodgy looking chinese software companies for software, which to my mind is never a wise move.

Anyone got any recommendations?

I decided to try Super-C. First of all the web page that hosts it looks like some sort of Chinese scam site. Then the installer repeatedly tried to install about six other bits of software that I didn't ask for, don't want and had nothing to do with the actual program itself, requiring me to decline the install of each one, often with a very small button or ambiguously worded text links . Then I ran it and the first thing it said was 'attempting to disable virus scanner heuristics'. Then it crashed.

When I went to uninstall it I found it had installed two other bits of software I didn't ask for that it never gave me a chance to tell it not to.

Hells no.

ZDNet's Ed Both was going on about this a couple of weeks ago. Most free software, delivered over cnet etc. are packaged up within an installer that tries to trick the user onto installing other crud. For each additional package they trick the user into installing, they earn a couple of cents.