Connect ipod touch to wireless PC network

In a common scenarios, your WiFi network should be working fine.

First of all, forget Vista: if you have a router, this is you access point and your Vista PC is just a Pc connected to your router.
Then, try reading deeply your router manual/user guide: this is usually the first place where you can solve your torubles 😉

- Check if you have a password set for the WiFi connection.
- If so, use this password to connect your iPod or, if you don't mind, remove this password and set your WiFi network as a free (unprotected) network.
- If you don't have any password set ony our WLAN and you're still unable connecting, check if you have any other constraint (for instance, in many routers you can select which MAC addresses can connect to the ethernet or WLAN).

This is what I would do. But usually I don't have troubles connecting to a WLAN, once I know how it's set.

I wouldn't suggest having an open network. Maybe just for testing, but otherwise it's not a good idea.

I haven't heard that anywhere. I've connected to atleast 10 different networks, some with passwords, some without. A window pops up to enter the WEP key, and thats it. All the DHCP crap is related to your router and the computers on it, it should not affect your ipod unless you intentionally changed the router settings. (like manually assigning IP addresses)