I have a duly registered and activated Windows XP Pro installed. Out of the blue the system tells me hardware has changed and I must re-register and activate again.

That's fine, - no problem - it is a legit purchase, except, what happens when Microsoft decides to pull product support on XP Pro which must happen sometime.

However, on registration, the system tells me again I must re-register and activate again so clearly someting is amiss. I wonder if there is a virus at work. The computer actually seems to be working better. Tabs now work sometimes in Explorer so something beneficent must have come back down the drain.

I have the dreadsense of the likelyhood of being left stranded in the not too distant future like one of Vlad The Impaler's victims, shafted like a dinkumdog on a big stick.

Whoever was the competitor who bought out then shut down Sophocles screenwriting software without providing ongoing registration support for the compulsory install codes, needs a ratbait.

If ever I find out who did it, "embargo on" for all future products from that competitor or its vendors.

I hope Microsoft don't pull on something similar to force slowmovers with old software into an upgrade path. That might get them into trouble in Australia under the Trade Practices Act if they do.

I had a look at their website. My computer is too slow and it is too complicated for a dumb like me to find a place there to seek re-assurance.

If anybody has re-assuring advice this will be appreciated.

Not sure how reassuring I can be, given your circumstance.

Much as I'm not a great admirer of MS's way of doing things, they haven't resorted to cyber - terrorism quite yet.

We had a "spoof" attempt a couple of months ago, exactly the same thing. Told it to "sod off" and that was the end of that. There's some pretty clever programmers out there.

I'd say you have been virused, just can it and ignore, run your anti virus software and DO NOT respond to any further requests to do anything in regard to XP.

MS will NEVER tell you to re - register, only a spammer who's managed to "piggy back" on something you've downloaded.

Keep your anti virus and firewall up to date and you should be good.


CS

no your obsolete, i am obsolete, and everything we once imagined about corporations who sold us $$$$ software With evil activations, will walk away and leave us hanging.

i own so many actual licences of Microsoft they never give me any trouble, even when i am fuming and spitting nails when i make the call. now i just get a recording :-) wonder why.

they say you have to change 7 things 7 hashed items , 1 hash for this 2 hashes for that, and every freaking time i reconfigure my system, I gotta reset the licence.
because of NORMAL stuff, like testing the slightly altered computer with the Boards out of it (temporarily) or shifting data from RAID drives to normal, or changing up the video card, while simeltaneously having something else out.

I did learn a few things through all that. if i have a CLONE of my operating system, and i get FALSE trigger of having changed my system to much, if i bring back in the clone i can still change a few things and it doesnt go belly up on me.

you got 3 days to live, and then you gonna DIE anyfreakingways :-) the clone has saved me more than once. its the same freaking computer, i would show them if they had a descent Video phone :-)

. . . All i wanted was a cookie.

This is the weird thing. If it is virus related then it has done Windows some good as Explorer 8 is working better.

What I am anxious about is PP2 cannot be re-installed as the disk was not right from go, thought it was my mismanagement at the time but discovered later it has delamination and bitrot.

I thought companies were supposed to sell you something of fair and merchantable quality however they won't replace PP2 with the same but want me to fork over for CS4 which I don't want.

If Windows goes down for the count, I can clean re-install and should have done so ages ago, however PP2 is another matter and is why I have kept this machine staggering on.

same thing here, it wouldnt be so bad if it was the operating system ONLY, but now it takes DAYS on end to reinstall and re-set up and re-test and activate , perfect way to sell software, make sure nobody wants to change it :-)
Is it working? yup barley. well see if you can get it to hold on for just one more round.

This may or may not be too techy for the average video guy, but the next time you are re-installing Windows, consider first installing VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/)

This enables Windows to run in its own "virtual computer" and allows you to make a separate clean install while continuing to use your day-to-day Windows computer. Much better than having to stop work entirely until the reinstall is complete.

Also, once you have got your "good computer" version, you can keep this as a clone copy just in case something goes wrong.

This is the beauty of having a virtual platform on top of your physical hardware. Another bonus is that Windows will be much more stable as it is VirtualBox that handles the "Hardware Abstraction Layer" instead of Windows doing it by default.

Hope this helps.

Andrew