Newbie Help pls

[Askival]

Can you help a DF2 newbie?

I picked up a copy of DF2 at a car boot sale and it appears to be a pukka copy but I was not prompted for a key when I installed it. My mate bought a bargain bin copy when he heard that I got one and he needs to enter a key - do I have a dodgy copy? the printing in the disc appears to be professional and I updated from the Novalogic site without any problem.

I got a battered box, disc and no manual, when I enter online games I always end up with a baretta sniper rifle, how can I change my starting weapon?

I played in a few online games and did not too bad (I'm a QII vet so it was easy to adjust). I went to one server where I am convinced that I was hitting some people and yet they either did not die or took between 2 and 5 sniper hits to kill them when I die with a single shot, also some people arrived with guns with a ridiculous fire rate - were these guys using cheats? If so how can I find cheat free servers?

Many Thanks Guys

Andy
I play under the name 'Fluffy Bunny' which shows how serious a gamer I am :-)