Dial up works, if offered locally. ("Seattle area"? Kind-a sort-a.) Old computers are being thrown out, you should be able to find one not too far behind and install some form of low memory Linux (free). Several Linux user groups in that area. If you are stuck with MS, you still have a wide variety of freeware available.
I use this for the three day, Kitco charts:
http://www.kitco.com/images/live/silver.gifhttp://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gifIf I understand what they are saying, this is a list of free programs for both Windows and Ubuntu Linux:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ListO ... ceProgramsI think this is the site I used back before switching to Linux:
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/ Big hang up is the people writing and designing the web sites think everyone has a firehose feed. There are ways around that, but you have to resist the temptation to surf.