I'm working on an XP/Pro/SP2 system that's been running about a year. This is not a brandded system, someone built it for the client about a year ago. I began doing network maintenance for this client about a month ago. At that time, I ran Windows update and it installed many updates including the Windows validation tool. Everything ran properly. Two weeks ago, my client bought a blackberry type phone and downloaded musinc to it through his PC. Today I went in to update his PC I found a ton of spyware on his system. The 1st think I did was install Spybot 1.4 and adaware SE. Together, they deleted about 200 spyware and ran clean. I tried running a Windows update and the Windows validation tool says it didn't pass the test. I'm sure it ran a month ago and I asked him for his Windows certificate so I could validate the Windows number didn't change, but he couldn't find it at that time, but I'm confident the system passed the test initialliy. Without waiting for him to find the Windows certificate, what else can I do to resolve this problem? And if he does produce the certificate, what do I do it it matches what Windows says? I never ran into this before. Thanks, TG Tony

Use magical jelly bean key finder to find the activation key. http://www.magicaljellybean.com/key... Then check with the owner whether it would be OK for you to ring MS and explain the situation. They will soon tell you whether the key is genuine or not. He might already know whether it is genuine or pirated. If it is genuine then MS will most probably give you a new key.