Oh, what a year it has been for Microsoft in online videos. And not always in a good way. To kick off our first annual TechFlash Community Choice Awards -- better known as The Flashies -- our first category brings together some remarkable nominees, all of them competing for the honor of Top Microsoft Video of the Year.

Here's how the process will work for this Flashies category and others we'll be rolling out in the coming days: Continue reading to see the nominees, and then vote for one in our online poll. Or, if your favorite isn't represented, nominate it as a write-in candidate in the comments. Other readers will then be able to support your nominee by clicking the "like" button.

Read more about The Flashies in this post. And without further ado, here are the nominees in our first category: Microsoft videos that people just couldn't help but watch -- for better or worse.

Hosting Your Party: Awkward doesn't even begin to describe this video -- which, in Microsoft's defense, was produced by an outside company it had hired to organize launch parties for Windows 7. The video also inspired some very funny parodies.

Windows 7 'PlayTo' Demonstration: Putting Windows 7 in a much more positive light was Microsoft executive Brad Brooks, who gave this impressive demo at the launch of the operating system in New York City. As we noted at the time, this alone must have sold more than a few copies of the new OS.

Will's Windows 7 Rising: Will Smith, a fifth grader from Lakeway, Texas, and a big Microsoft fan, wrote and performed "Windows 7 Rising" for his elementary-school talent show -- after which, according to his mom, he was was mobbed by girls in the green room. Embedding has been disabled, but you can watch the video here.

Bing Goes the Internet: Maybe Microsoft actually does have momentum among a younger audience. A user-generated jingle for the company's Bing search engine apparently inspired students at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pa., to learn the dance themselves.

Bill Gates and the Mosquitoes: Speaking at the TED conference in February, the Microsoft chairman was discussing the problem of malaria when he opened up a jar of mosquitoes (scan ahead to the 5-minute mark below.) "We'll let those roam around the auditorium a bit," he said, as the crowd laughed. "There's no reason only poor people should have the experience. For the record, they were mosquitoes, but not carrying malaria, according to a spokeswoman.

Laptop Hunters: Lauren Microsoft used this widely viewed ad to kick off its "Laptop Hunters" campaign for Windows PCs, which succeeded in grabbing attention and highlighting the price differences between PCs and Macs. Despite subsequent revelations that Lauren is an actor, the company maintains that she wasn't acting in this particular case.

Microsoft Store Dance Back in the realm of awkward, here's a video of employees at Microsoft's new retail store in Mission Viejo, Calif., doing some sort of dance. Upon further review, we've decided that the customer slipping something into her purse at the 2:15 mark wasn't taking anything valuable, but in the midst of all those distracted employees, she certainly would have had the opportunity.