Most PC’s nowadays can play movie DVDs. However, when playing region

specific DVDs on your PC, there is something you should know: you can

change the region setting 5 times, that is it. After that,

you are stuck with the setting that you used last, forever.

A friend of mine travels between US and Japan for business often. The

region setting on his laptop is now stuck in 2 for Japan. He can no

longer watch DVDs made for the US market.

You can check how many changes you have left from the Control Panel of

your PC. If you are using Windows XP, under Performace and Maitenance

you can find Administrative Tools. Double click on it, and then double

click Computer Management. Click on Device Manager in the left pane,

and then expand DVD,CD-ROM drivers. Right click on the DVD drive that

you want to check, and then select Properties. Click on the DVD Region

tab at the top, there it is: Changes remaining