I just found this really nice site called Scan Tool and they have free OBDII software to check your codes and manage engine data. the download is free and all you need is an ELM327 connector you can find on eBay for like 25-100$. i just ordered the connector tonight so i'll let you know how it turns out.

Nice find. Keep us updated on this. Looks like we don't have to drive to autozone any more to scan our cars. Sucks I have an OBD-I car. I just love the ease of those OBD-II cars. You can just pop the scanner into the port and bam you got your readings. Us OBD-I guys gotta jump pins and count flashes, then have to look up the code.

That is a good find.

Plugging in a scanner for the code vs using a jumper wire is nothing.
The real advantage to OBDII is that you can monitor things in realtime, and check a whole bunch more info than is available for OBDI.