I hadn't got the "never dial a connection box checked". Can now access the router but still having difficulties. Will read the manual further and report back!

If I ask my husband to install an already registered copy of Windows XP Pro onto each of my children's PC's (they currently run NT 4.0), what will happen please?

Windows XP retail products contain software-based product activation technology.

More on 'piracy' here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/overviews/activation.asp

In other words Hilary, you can't!

Hohumm. Thanks guys. That's what I suspected, although I wasn't sure of how the actual mechanics of it would work.

It's a bit of a pain because some of their games need a late version of DirectX which doesn't seem to be supported on NT4.0 and so their operating system needs to be changed in order for them to play their games.

hilary, upgrade them to Windows 2000 Professional instead. Cheap on ebay (even the kosher versions), and no copy protection not that I would encourage that :-) XP is only Windows 2000 in a slightly different shell.

Thanks for the idea, K.

Having browsed E-Bay, many of the copies on sale seem to be OEM Dell versions (presumably the seller has upgraded his machine and is selling off his old bits of kit?) and they state that they might not work with different makes of machine (my children have Compaq P3's). Do you know if this happens to be the case?

Found this information, Hilary and I would think this is what they are talking about:

Minimum System Requirements for Windows 2000

New Computer

500MHz Pentium III processor
256MB RAM
10GB hard drive

Upgrading an Old Computer

300MHz Pentium processor
128MB RAM
at least 2GB free hard disk space
Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 already installed

Here's a page with some good Windows 2000 tips:

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windows2000_tips.htm

Hi I am not aware of any reason why a dell oem version would not work. Its probably just a standards oem version with Dell printed on the front.

You will need to do a fairly major Windows Update after installing it as the disk will probably be a older version. I agree with K this is a sensible cost effective way to go and w2k is in my opinion very much better than xp home.

Agree with Spaceman, I don't see why it wouldn't work but don't pay too much just in case it doesn't!

As he says you will have to spend a few hours on Windows Update downloading Service Pack 4, Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, and other bits and bobs. Do this as soon as possible since many viruses rely on bugs that have been fixed.

Many thanks for the help guys. I'm hoping that a relative will be able to let me have a copy of Windows 2000.

Well folks, the latest chapter in my router problems:

Can now get connected to the router but can't get past the country selection, then says "apply" and having clicked that nothing else happens :-(

Should I be doing something related to PPPoE, PPPoA, RFC 1483 bridging mode - haven't a clue what this all means but it mentions it in the instructions.

To cap it all I can't get in to 3com's website now.

SC, I dont remember the details of what you are doing but assuming you are using it to link to an ADSL link you need the logon details for your ISP ADSL link, these details will probably just be a userid and password. Which ISP are you with?

The router config may well not be very friendly but i doubt if you need to change much, if you can post the router model and your ISP I will see what I can work out.

SC, it should be set to PPPoA (PPP over ATM), IP and DNS addresses obtained automatically from ISP, NAT enabled, VC-based multiplexing, VPI 0 and VCI 38. However the country selection should be doing all that. Suggest you turn the router off for a minute or two and turn back on and hope for the best. You could also check whether there is updated firmware on the manufacturer's website.

On the subject of ADSL routers. If you connect a router to one of the cheaper packages that are supposedly for only one computer, can they (or do they) stop you using more that one machine on the connection?

O I cant see how they can but I might be wrong, its probably against their terms and if they caught you they would probably cancel the contract.

Unless of course they force you to use some osrt of crap IP statck like AOL???

afternoon campers,

have a trojan virus thingy in C:\windows\system32\config\services.exe

norton antivurus picked it up but cannot do any thing because access is denied :-( have tried renaming but still no joy has anyone any ideas please!!!!

do i delete the file if so how???

Rick...

MB, more details please. What virus is it, what Operating System. There is probably a stinger that will clean it and/or you might have to start in safe mode.

Tim i think i may have sorted it,if there are problems still will get back to you!!

Many thanks...

Mega...

Got a new XP jobbie here at work - and since the bank holiday weekend, something seems to have installed itself - no matter how many times I re-set the homepage and delete the porn sites which have also plonked themselves in my favs, they all just keep coming back..

When I log into IE I get Search Everything, but in the address bar a funny square (i.e. not explorer) and C:\WINDOWS\system32\hp.uti

Checked the gateway thingy and firewall and firewall monitor are both active.

Oh 'eck