How to apply patches (Win 95/98/NT/2000/XP)

        Download the Cygwin tool-set  
http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/

I will use Zangband as an example:
get ZAngband at
http://www.zangband.org

read the compile page at (you have Cygwin32 compiler)
http://www.zangband.org/compiling.html

compile ZAngband (type 'make -f makefile.cyg install'), be happy :-)

Down-load a patch somewhere, say from
http://www.cs.fsu.edu/~steele/zangband/Z262/Z262Options.html

Let us assume that the patch you got is named 'Z262Patch1_6'

put the patch into your ZAngband source directory. probably
C:\ZAngband\src

Open a command prompt window and change directory to the ZAngband source
directory 
cd C:\ZAngband\src

To apply a patch type (I am assuming that you read the Cygwin FAQ and 
made sure that your PATH starts with "C:\cygwin\bin" ) 

type:
patch < Z262Patch1_6 

That is it!  Just recompile ZAngband and you are done
(Type 'make -f makefile.cyg install')

If you have any quests post them to the newsgroup, and someone will
quickly answer them.