"Cool, now if they would just relent on VB6 support, I would be a happy camper!" I definitely second the vote for VB.Com. OK, sound is the main issue but games work fine? Don't some (most--have no idea) games use DirectSound? Have you actually run DXDiag and checked the status of all the DirectX drivers? I don't know if it's even possible to go back to an earlier version of DirectX. You should be able to find something on MSDN or elsewhere about the XP no install issue--don't know if that is relevant to the other problems though.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken