Thanks Graeme for the advice, I will be honest I probably wouldn't use Linux, it is just a case of 'what you haven't tried' So I think I will stick with my origianal XP.

Ian

Bloomin heck Roxy, you don't look old enough to have sons that old, how do you do it

Foxy Im older than I look as most people say (not including Annestaff who says Im old and haggard), Im 42 this year, my oldest son is 19, my son off to Uni is 18 and my youngest is 14. How do I do it well I eat everything see, drink any alcohol I see and dont exercise unless I take the dogs for a walk.

at first we had ME and went back to 98

thanks all i do like it but not had a great chance of having a good look around of it yet but will do soon

Since your talking about xp i got my OH to find this for you all

XP Hidden Programs:

Starts Program to create self extracting Zip file:
Start - Run, Type: iexpress


One of the most full featured Windows XP configuration tools available is hidden right there in your system, but most people don't even know it exists. It's called the Local Group Policy Editor, or gpedit for short. To invoke this editor, select Start and then Run, then type the following:

gpedit.msc

After you hit ENTER, you'll be greeted by gpedit, which lets you modify virtually every feature in Windows XP without having to resort to regedit.

WARNING YOU SHOULD ONLY MESS WITH THIS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING

Totally agree.My laptop came originally with ME,but it kept crashing so i installed Windoze 2000 Profesonal instead-with no problems (other than about 6,000 updates which needed putting on).I keep thinking about getting XP,but 2000 does everything i ask of it and cannot justify the expense.

I managed to get a legitimate key (supply your own cd ) for £40 but they are pretty rare. If I see any come up i'll post them here incase anyone is interested.

Graeme

If you want to know how to find your own cd key for xp this is how you do it

1)Open Run then type in regedit
2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ WindowsNT\ CurrentVersion.
3) Find ProductId. The CD Key is digits 6 thought 15.

Or do it the easy way right click my computer then go to properties and there it is.