when i start a sample program or try to run python it comes up with an error message reading: failed to start b/c MSVCR71.dll was not found.
i have no idea what this means so plz help! 
Correct, that is indeed a known bug.
To fix it, just download a copy from here or any other place, and put it in your c:\windows\system32 (or the equivalent for your system) directory.
ok tyvm and whats that vikings thing?
Vikings is the game project I am currently working on. But, uhm, I don’t see any relation between this topic and Vikings?
Alernativly if you wan to make your game portable with packpanda copy the dll to the bin directory in panda, otherwise people that try to run the game and don’t have the dll will get the same error msg.
Robert