Just a quick tip before I forget...
If you have a very lengthy or resource intensive animation, especially if you are using PhotoWorks, you can split the project up into smaller bits starting with 2004.
Just record as a series of images (BMP or TGA) and stop the recording when you need to. Make sure to note the time on the Animator timeline bar.
To record where you left off, just slide the timeline to where you ended the last time (maybe a few seconds before as a safeguard) and begin recording again.
You can then use a freeware program to combine the images into an AVI. From there you can compress it with other free/shareware.
Mike Wilson