Thanks for the help. Sadly the older restore points was deleted by the system .

Too bad, you check marked the "Show restore points older than 5 days" as well I assume.

yep,nothing :(

I hate XP! It doesn't register the stupid updates that it gets from Windows Update and still brags about needing to be updated.
Formatted again, will see how it goes.

If this is a new install, you will have to update again and again . . . until there are no updates listed. Problem being, especially with an old disk, the updates need updates. I reinstalled XP a couple of years ago and had to install 88 updates followed by three more updates of 10 to 20 updates that the updates required . . . =)
Edit: BTW, the new updates won't show up until you update, reboot and check for updates again. Eventually, you will not need any more updates. SP2 XP installs are no longer supported so . . . you have to install SP3 if you want security updates available after July 13, 2010 . . . until XP support is ended completely.

Isn't it obvious? Valve takes a cut of all sales through Steam, but not through retail. If a game is exclusive to Steam for the first 3 months, it's more money in Valve's coffers.

This IS with integrated SP3. :) The problem is, sometimes the updates don't register. Even though I install .Net framework 1.1, its not registering as installed, and always shows up in the Windows Update section. Always! The fix? Reinstall Windows. I hate XP! :lol:

I assumed they got the cut anyway if it was Steamworks, but you're right, they don't come to think of it.

Nope. They still get paid for the SteamWorks license though. They are raking it in. I imagine Valve's HQ as resembling Scrooge McDuck's money bin.

It's one of the reasons why I fully expect Battle.net 2 to get licenced out, it's such an obvious money making scheme for Activision. Mark my words, assuming Call of Duty doesn't go console-only, there will be a Call of Duty that uses Battle.net released by the end of 2011.

Brad Wardell about the retail release of Elemental
http://forums.elementalgame.com/389846

I'll put my 2 cents in and bash Steam for two straight days of them not accepting my CC, while GOG will. They keep blaming the CC company and the company continually says that they aren't receiving any requests. Same card that I've used effectively on Steam last month. Silly Valve.

Remember when he said Sins Trinity was only going to retail in the US? He lied: it's fairly easily available in the UK, at least. Dunno about the rest of Europe, but I expect the same will happen this time round.
Even if he stuck to his word (doubtful), that decision's probably going to make the European Elemental community very small indeed.

You contacted support and they told you that or are you just going by their poorly worded error messages at checkout? I had the same basic problem earlier this month and the cause was Valve's over protective fraud prevention system which shuts down your ability to pay the second there's an error during purchasing on their end.
It took 'em just under 24 hours to reset my account. The fastest I've ever had help from them. Which speaks volumes when you think about it...
As for Stardock, is that Brad whining again!? If he's got such a problem with EU pricing why doesn't he as the CEO of a publisher, do something about it? After all, Stardock is supposed to be huge right? It's number 2, right? </sarcasm>
And "One world. One price" that's just fucking classic coming from the only DD service to price gouge certain third party publisher games on their service. Does he really expect anyone (outside the US) to believe a word he says these days?

I've heard about that issue with their fraud prevention setup. I'm currently waiting for Valve to give me a phone number that can be used to conference with the CC company and solve things, but I should ask them once again if it's their security just to be extra sure. They did state that they cleared any payment records that might be interfering, however.