Hi all,

I just wanted to know...

I have windows Xp pro Sp2 (Retail)

How many times can i re-activate it because i usualy format & do a clean instal once in a while to keep my system going fast.

Is their a limit to how many times i can re-activate it or is it ok?

Btw,Yes i know i can only instal it one one machin and thats what im doing.

Thanks.

Automatic activation via the internet seems to be limited to about 4 or 5 times. There are also a number of rules regarding changes of hardware that could indicate that you're trying to use the key on more than one system at a time. These rules are linked to the presence of a network adaptor in a way I don't really understand.

If you have no network adaptor or you had one and since removed it, you can change 7 pieces of core hardware including CPU, RAM quantity, Graphics Adaptor, Hard Disk Drive and Optical Drive, plus a few deeper hardware controllers such as docking interface, IDE/SCSI/RAID controller etc. If you had a networking adaptor and haven't changed or removed it, you get 9 changes. If the system has a docking interface (generally meaning it's a notebook), you get between 4 and 6 changes.

However, once you can no longer automatically activate, it's a simple case of rining Microsoft on the toll-free number that is provided by the activation software based on your country, answering a few questions and punching in a confirmation number.

If you have authentic Windows and are using it within the license agreement, Microsoft are never going to refuse activation. With a boxed retail version, there are not many limitations on how you install it, as long as it is only installed on one machine at any given time.

"i usualy format & do a clean instal once in a while to keep my system going fast"

Sounds a bit of a painful way of doign it, well, depending on how often? how often do u do that?

Roz

__________________
"If it ain't broken, dont fix it" ;-)

If I've helped you, add to my reputation in the top right (the picture of scales).

It's a generally good practise. With Windows XP though, you can usually get away with about 4-6 months of heavy use before it starts to do funny things, especially if you muck around with codecs, drivers, change hardware, install and uninstall a lot of software, or use so called "tweaking" software.

On the other hand, if you run a tight ship and only install one software solution for each task, avoid poor quality, beta or trial software, avoid tweak software like the plague and never use system restore, a Windows XP installation could last years. That's assuming you never get a virus or spyware infection.

Is there a system counter in windows or sumthign where i can find a date as to when it was installed? i wanna keep track :P

__________________
"If it ain't broken, dont fix it" ;-)

If I've helped you, add to my reputation in the top right (the picture of scales).