I am an old point and click adventurer but new to this forum lark. Not very techie I'm afraid!
I have Windows 7 home premium 64 bit(?!?!)and am finding it difficult to find games that run on this os. Most seem to run on XP. I am worried about purchasing online downloads in case they don't work! The ones I'm interested in are Ankh 2 & 3, Dreamfall and Tales of Monkey Island as I loved the forerunners. Will they run on my system? I found an old version of XP (2002) could I install that with out compromising my laptop? Help (in laymans terms please - most of the stuff I've been reading is all Greek to me!)

If you look at the very first post here on Glitches,(Windows 7 and Games) you will find a list of games (32 & 64bit) which run on Windows 7. Some will need a little tweak, but very few. Have fun!!

I think you will be quite surprised at how many of our older games are running quite well on Windows 7. As Upsydaisy says, we have a Windows 7 and Games subject stickied at the top of the Glitches forum. Take a look around in there. If you don't see the games you are interested in, let us know!

And I recommend checking out what GOG has to offer as they are great about offering old games that will run on Vista and Windows 7. GOG

Welcome to GameBoomers lynthorpe!

Thanx guys, as I said i'm not too hot on techie stuff! Most of the games I want to play are new-ish. should I just throw caution to the wind and download em and see what happens? Maybe try and find a patch later if nec? (tho I'd need step by step instructions!) Also i see there is an upgrade to Win 7 Proffessional available which claims to run stuff in xp mode,tho it's pricey (£120) Has anyone tried this?

You said you have Windows 7 Home Premium in your first post and the XP Mode option is only for Professional and above. It is geared towards business applications and does not support 3D graphics which you need for most newer games.

You do not need XP to run most of these games. Windows 7 has a better than normal XP Compatibility mode if you need it. If an older game you are interested in is not listed in our Windows 7 and games thread, taking a chance is exactly what you will have to do! Especially if you download from GOG, I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

Although Windows 7 Home Premium doesn't support XP Mode, it does support Windows Virtual PC. Basically the only difference is that XP Mode integrates the applications with your desktop.

Installing Windows Virtual PC on Windows 7 Home Editions

Yup, another great option! You mentioned you found an old version of XP - make sure it's not one that is "tied" to a specific computer. Dell and some other OEM manufacturers do that.

Ok thanx I'll give it a go and see how I get on. I discovered a site called Steam which has some great games and really good prices. Has anyone tried it?
I'll probably be back with some other dumb-***ed question! Thanx for all the advice.

Hi Lynthorpe
I have used Steam, I have always found it to be good and have never had any problems with them.

There are other sites to Steam each with somewhat different ranges of adventure games so it is worth checking all out (also for price variance it ranges a lot between download sites)

direct2drive.co.uk
gamesplanet.com
gametap-shop.com
have all been used successfully by me.

Thanx I'll try those (already been to D2D)
Played Jolly Rover, Ankh 2 & 3 and half way thru Tales of MI. All worked fine! Now all I need is to find more 3rd person point n click games which are sadly my addiction. As well as the above I liked Syberia 1&2, Discworld, Secret Files etc. Any1 got any suggestiions?

lynthorpe, have you checked out GOG yet as Draclvr suggested? Their games are DRM free, you can download from your very own online shelf and play them, burn them to disk and keep them on your shelf at home if you want. And you often get extras with them like manuals, avatars and soundtracks.

They've got all the Gabriel Knight games, Revolution's Broken Sword, the Director's Cut (which also comes with the original game), Broken Sword 2, both the Syberias, five Tex Murphy games, Beneath a Steel Sky (free), The Longest Journey and a bunch of others. The only one I've had any trouble with was Dragonsphere and a minor fix cleared that right up.

One of these days, we're hoping they'll add Lucas Arts games but, sigh, no luck yet.

Oh, and they're cheap.

Gil.

Maybe I'm paranoid but prefer stuff I can pay for in GBP otherwise have no idea what I'm actually spending! I had some stuff from D2D but downloaded a trial of something and it didn't work so am a bit put off now.
I've been looking in blogs for inspiration and I've played pretty well everything! One of the repeated comments that come up is "point and click adventure is no longer in fashion"! There are loads of these kind of comments. Why don't the developers listen to us!