Hi, i just have a few questions and i would be very gratefull if somebody could help me. 1)i have been using norton ghost 2002 for a long time now on windows 98 and windows me,i have just installed windows xp professional and have made an image of my xp partition,my question is ,when i restore to my pc my hardware config will still be the same so will i have to re-activate? 2)i understand that registering xp is optional so i chose not to when i installed xp,i was just wondering what advantages (if any) there are to registering as i dont want to do it if it just means that microsoft are gonna send me loads of emails about "exiting" new products and updates and nothing else, if it is worth doing where can i find the option to do so? 3)i am going to download sp1 and not worry that it might screw my pc up as it seems that most of the people that have posted on this forum about the "perils" of sp1 either have a warez copy or have little or no knowledge about xp/sp1 (please note that i said most people not all people so if you are very computer litterate but still had problems with xp/sp1 please dont take offence as non was meant) But what i wanted to know was does xp "phone home" after the installation of sp1? as i have heard that it sends all kinds of info about your pc to microsoft without making you aware of it. sorry for all the text i did'nt mean to write an essay (honest) but any help would be gratefully accepted. Regards Dave

Reactivate what??? XP? hardware?? Well if your hardware is exactly the same and hasn't changed you should have absolutely no problems with restoring the image,, with having to reactivate XP after a re-image I dont know..NO IDEA never tried,, As for XP sending signals back and forth to microsoft that part is true.. I am still looking for a way to disable that feature in the registry.. As for the XP SP1,, it worked absolutely flawlessy for me... My system and all of its components are very current.. Warez versions XP and pretty much anything else that is warezed is all junk in my opinion they are all (RIPS) which is that your only getting a peice of whatever it is that is warezed never the full version so I would never 'expect' anything to work properly with a warezed OS..... FYI one of my freinds has retail copy of XP and installed the service pack and he claims that it seriously messed up his computer..

in Answer: #1) If you registered the system AFTER your GHOST image then no you will NOT have to re-register the system so long as it contains the same hardware #2) I never register with MS (don't they already have enough ways to track me?) and getting email updates is pointless when the Windows XP update site works as well as it does. #3) what it sends? Well I would assume that it is checking the the Product Key for ONE since I have had people inform me that they had a hacked copy of XP that worked find UNTIL they tried to get the SP1 and couldn't because they got the "Invalid Key Error". Warez software has this same issue... if you can't update the software then how can you expect SP1 to update it... One of the things that the SP1 also does is breaks up MS Office and Accessories from the XP OS (due to DOJ's ruling). If a warez copy of anything is not updated then it would be hard for SP1 to do it's job and keep it functional. *NOTE* DO GET THE SP1 if you don't have it!!!!! Windows XP has a security risk that would enable any malicious web site owner to create a hyperlink that would activate a Windows XP "help" file and delete any path it was set to. SOME HELP~! For example if you had a directory at "C:\test" with files in it and then called up the following link in a web browser: hcp://system/DFS/uplddrvinfo.htm?file://c:\test\* any files in that directory would be permanently deleted, imagine if that were the WINDOWS directory. If you have not done so already make sure you do a Windows Update and install XP Service Pack 1 For more information about this insecurity go here: http://www.theregus.com/content/4/26272.html

Dont register any software until you need to call up tech support. If you have an OEM PC with XP preinstalled.. never register. MS wont support it without a credit card number.

Say what SMUOD:)?? I thought I registered XP when I got my new Dell but I don't recall giving M$ any credit card. Lol - I do know better than that. But now I am wondering if I really registered it nor not. How can I tell if I did or didn't? I must have had a brain fart that day. :)

thanks for all the help guys