To avoid installing VTK by configuring and compiling source (which is complex and takes a long time) manually, do the following:

0) Python must be installed

1) download (thanks to Charl P. Botha) the binaries from
http://cpbotha.net/2009/08/13/python-2-6-enabled-vtk-5-4-windows-binaries/
or search for VTK-5-4-2-Py26-VS9sp1-win32-cpbotha.net.zip in
http://cpbotha.net/software/latest-vtk-windows-binaries/
(if none of the above is available, try here: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/)

1.1) Most people may skip this step, but it has been reported that some needed to install "Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)"
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5582

2) extract the files to C:\VTK

3) add C:\VTK\bin to your path (PATH environment variable, do not confuse it with PYTHONPATH)
	(if you don't know how to do it use google or visit http://geekswithblogs.net/renso/archive/2009/10/21/how-to-set-the-windows-path-in-windows-7.aspx)

4) 


Edit vtk_sphere_windows.py
	Change 'base_dir' to the folder where you unzipped VTK. REMEMBER to use a double slash for each regular slash, and to end with a double slash.
Open a command line window.
Execute the following:
	C:\Python26\python.exe path\to\vtk_sphere_windows.py
