Note that this article is for current Netflix subscribers. It won't be useful if you don't subscribe to the movie-rental service there.

The array of movies available today is huge. Netflix provides some built-in information to help you find movies you'll probably like, based on what you've liked in the past. How the Netflix recommendations are determined, I haven't a clue, but I like the results.

First, after you've watched and thought about a movie, respond to the email you get from Netflix that asks you to rate the film. You'll be sent to a window on the Netflix website that asks you to rate a certain movie, say, "Water," or indicate that you haven't seen it. (We all get movies we never get around to watching.)

Rate the movie on the standard Netflix scale of one star to five stars. One star means "don't bother"; five stars show that you think this is one of the best movies around and you loved it.

Now, after rating the movie, click the Movies You'll ♥ tab. Netflix takes you to a selection of three movies that its computations suggest you'll like. Netflix even tells you why it "thinks" you'll like a movie, under a line that says "Because you liked "X Movie."

For example, in my Movies You'll ♥ window, Netflix suggests I'll like "Black Book," because I liked "Merry Christmas," "Mrs. Henderson Presents," and "Water." What these movies have in common I cannot tell you, but from past experience I can guess there will be some common theme, or situation, or acting ensemble, or just a thread, that will tie the four movies together.

Choose a genre, or type of movie, from the Suggestions in pop-up menu. If you choose Action & Adventure, for example, Netflix finds all the action movies it thinks you may like. Again, the ratings you've given other movies drive the selection of movie titles.

Today, when I chose Comedy from the Suggestions in pop-up menu, I got a list of seventeen movies, all selected based on things I liked previously. Most of them I'd never heard of. I have considerable confidence, though, that I'll like the movies listed, because I know they have some quality in common that the Netflix algorithm sorts out for me.

Mouse over a movie title to open the pop-up window that briefly describes the movie and shows the cast principals. Toward the bottom you'll see the rating others have given the movie (Member Average) and the rating Netflix projects for you (Our best guess for YourName). These ratings are followed by a list of the movies that are, again, shown based on your previous likes.

You're set now to choose whatever you like from the listings. I've discovered some very interesting and diverting movies by following the Netflix lead. It's a mystery to me how the system works, but as some of the old PC gurus used to say, unable to explain their work in any other way, "Just think of it as magic."