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As there has been an informative conversation about keyboard settings for Estonian - English language, it is worth copying here for future reference. With thanks to Arvi for the information.
Urmas started us on this by saying that I could type T6nn as that looks nearly right, not having an Estonian keyboard!

... or use your mouse to select the õ, then copy-and-paste it into the name

... or simply add estonian keyboard (Start>My Computer>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Estonian. You'll have a Language icon on your taskbar, from where you can easily switch between your original keyboard layout and estonian one when typing.

Estonian keyboard layout is here (there are missing some foreigen characters, which are typed using AltGr key, but you'll hardly need them):

I had hopes of being able to find an Estonian keyboard layout on this computer. Sadly. my options are between US English and British English! Thanks for the suggestion, Arvi. Dell computers are not co-operating.

Producer doesn't affect which languages you can select - Operation System does!
Which OS do you have on your comp?

Windows XP Home

Maybe I could download another language from Microsoft

Hey, You are right Arvi.
I looked in languages, and it is in Regional

Regional Options is a wrong choice for you. You set number, currency, date, and time formats there.

I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, Arvi. Language offers me, as before, English or English!

OK! Let's try it last time - here is a point where new language is selected

On your screen shot, Arvi, you can choose between US English and Estonian. (Why no British English?)
In that same window I can choose US English or British English.
So I went to dig out the character map - unless I go to Estonia to buy a PC, it will be easier to use that!
thanks for trying so hard. My PC doesn't co-operate with you.

Now, which of these do I use for Tonn?
õ ó ö

I see bociany has already posted it õ

thanks for your help

No! I have set US English and Estonian as input languages (The bold one is default one, and default language is selected from combo above activated languages list. There you can select only from active languages - I guess it is where you tried to select language). Now I can switch between them from my desktop toolbar (in language icon is displayed EN or ET - depending which of them is active).

New languages are added in "Add Input Language" dialog window (the righmost one, activated from Add button - follow painted arrow). When you look at my last image file, then I can there select any language from this long dropdown list, then I can add 4th one, etc.

I did it - I did it!!!

Haven't tried it yet - but I will after dinner!!

Yes, Me Too

I can write Tõnn as well as any Estonian.
Thanks Arvi.

Wow, I was exhausted just be reading all that!! The Finnish/Scandinavian keyboard already has most of the characters used in Estonian, just a few have to be added on top, like õ.

Only two, in fact: Estonian's very much own, cherished & unique õ, as in Tõnn, and ü. There were endless discussions in the dim beginnings of Internet & mail about how to manage õ (ü was easy, just use y, looks wrong but is OK, no risk of misunderstandings). Even a spelling reform, replacing õ all over with ö, was talked of.

I am about to buy a new laptop - probably a Dell. But I dread having to deal with Vista - I heard so many bad things about it. Is it possible to get XP still, on a new computer, or to use an old disc with XP on it?

Opinions, please?

Jo, I have heard that if you insist, you can get XP. Have you checked the Dell website? A while ago they still offered a few models with XP. A couple of friends had to get Vista, but took the laptop into their local guru and had XP installed.

On the other hand, I have used Vista for the past year, on a desktop not a laptop. I have had no problems at all. Vista requires a huge amount of memory - which is what I think causes a lot of problems for people. My set up has 4 GB memory plus I increased the processor speed (I forget now what came standard and what I increased it too). So I would say that if you are forced to get Vista, add as much memory and speed as you can afford.

Something else to check out is when Windows 7 will be released - it is the version after Vista. It was in beta testing last year but I have no idea how close it is to release (might be too long for you to wait).

Thanks bociany. Then I will ask Dell about XP. I thought all the suppliers had gone to Vista as support for XP will vanish soon.

I have heard of Windows 7, but that is all! If it comes with an anti-spam device, I'll have two!

Eventually software manufacturers will not provide upgrades that work on XP, but I think that is still a bit in the future, especially since so many people do not like Vista. My "old" computer runs on Windows 2000 and I still get updates from Micrposoft. Some software upgrades stopped about ~2 years ago, now they are all for XP and Vista.