I can provide a wide range of IT services, specialising in Web and Digital TV but also covering PC maintenance and troubleshooting, Broadband setup and troubleshooting, and Web Hosting services. Feel free to check out the site and also pass on the site if you know anyone who might need my services.

http://www.spodnet.net/

Read the full post here:

http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2007/01/25/519180.aspx

What you need is a copy of LegitCheckControl.DLL from any validated and activated copy of XP on a partition anywhere on your machine, then:

1.) create \windows\system32\ on any partition you want (even extended partitions)
2.) copy a validated LegitCheckControl.DLL file into the directory.
3.) you might need ntdetect.com and ntldr in the root, (try without)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17685487

Another method:

1. Boot with the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD.
2. Click “Install Now.”
3. Do not enter a Product Key When prompted.
4. When prompted, select the Vista product edition that you do have.
6. Install Vista normally.
7. Once the install is complete, restart the DVD-based Setup from within Windows Vista. Perform an in-place upgrade. 8. Enter your Product Key when prompted.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/mobile/pda/Article.cfm?ArticleID=95011&News=1

Before you rush in and upgrade, a few things you should do or note:

1. Run the Vista Upgrade Advisor, this will check your machine is capable of running vista and which version you can install.
2. Upgrade your machine, after running the program above you’ll probably find you don’t have enough ram, ideally you’ll want 1 Gigabytes or 2 Gigabytes
3. Performance of windows should in theory increase due to the way windows now uses the graphics card to provide 2D acceleration for explorer, however for games performance you’ll see a drop in performance so if you’re constantly after the fastest fps in your games it’s worth holding off for a bit either for Microsoft to solve the problems or game patches come out from the people who wrote you’re favourite game.
4. Drivers for some products are not quite at the level they are with XP
5. Some applications will have problems on XP
6. Running the 64bit version will cause more problems with drivers and apps than the 32bit version (which can run XP drivers)
7. Service Pack 1 should be out this year if reports are to be believed

(the above list subject to change)

Of course some of these things happened when XP was released, driver and application compatibility was just as bad or worse. However without people running Vista the problems won’t be fixed so some people have to run it. I’m not saying don’t install it right now, but be aware of what problems might exist. Personally I’m waiting till service pack 1 is released till I install Vista.

Vista Website: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/default.mspx

Upgrade Advisor: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

Slower games: http://techgage.com/article/windows_vista_gaming_performance_reports

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=354

I got mine from Ebuyer for 211.75 inc vat (once at ebuyer do a search for FP222WA), a great bagain.

Manufacturer’s site: Benq FP222WA

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

True Combat: Elite

Tremulous

Dink Smallwood

Nexuiz

Plasma Pong

And from wikipedia:

List of commerical games released as freeware

List of free first-person shooters

List of open source games

List of freeware games

(thanks to the slashdotters for this list)

1up have created a list of 101 PC games that are free to download although some are mods to existing games, there are still some great games worth looking at, I’ll be dedicating some time to them in the very near future

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3156339

I’ll post up some more info tomorrow when the parts have arrived and I’ve put them together.