Q. I was one of those who used Windows Media Center not just for playing DVD movies, but also for watching and recording live, free broadcast TV on the computer. So what are my options now, should I ever decide to leave Windows 7 for Windows 10?

A. Microsoft’s retirement of the Windows Media Center software is one of the many things about the system that has caused some Windows 10 users aggravation. If you do not feel like searching the web for do-it-yourself solutions that may (or may not) restore the Windows Media Center program to working order on a Windows 10 machine, you can find a few alternative applications.

If you are keeping your existing PC and internal television tuner card when upgrading to Windows 10, the open-source MediaPortal program might be able to take over the TV viewing and recording functions formerly handled by Windows Media Center. The software works with most major brands of TV tuner cards. NextPVR is another program that can record live television from the TV tuner hardware connected to your PC. Both MediaPortal and NextPVR are free and supported by donations.

If you do not already have a TV tuner card in the computer or want hardware that connects to the PC externally, several companies make tuner boxes to pull in those over-the-air broadcast signals. The prices for some external tuner boxes may be higher than a standard internal TV tuner card, but many bring along their own apps so you can also stream live TV to your mobile devices. Many external tuners also work with Macs.