Windows XP Home Licence...

[newtekie1]

I wonder what their threshold criteria is? lol

I'm sure that they look at the disparity of IP addresses too. Imagine if it gets activated in the UK, then 2 hours later in the USA and then 10 minutes later in Italy, that's a sure sign of a warezed key.

I'm sure only Microsoft knows, but generally I find it safe to activate it 4-5 times in a short period of time(meaning over a 2-3 months). I'm sure they build in the leeway just to save the money on the tech support calls from customers that swapped out some hardware and have to re-activate, probably cheaper to just let them re-activate then it is to have to deal with the tech support call. I've had an OEM license force me to re-activate just by swapping out the GPU, CPU, and HDD(cloning the old install over to the new HDD, not a fresh install). When I booted the PC after doing the upgrade after signing into Windows it asked me to re-activate. Which it happily did over the internet.

IMO, off all the activation systems I've seen in use, I like Microsoft's the best because of the built in leeway that makes it easy on the end user.

 

[stinger608]

@Newtekie1: Any time a person clones (images) a hard drive it will automatically need re-activated. Not sure why, but it seems to always happen. It has something to do with the activation I guess LOL. I did that with my Windows 7 Ultimate when I changed from a 640gb drive to a 1tb drive. I made an image using Acronis and once I put it on the 1tb drive I had to re-activate as well.

I have since changed video cards a few times as well as a couple of changes with CPU's and have not had that issue. I think it had to do with changing the hard drive.

 

[95Viper]

@Newtekie1: Any time a person clones (images) a hard drive it will automatically need re-activated. Not sure why, but it seems to always happen. It has something to do with the activation I guess LOL. I did that with my Windows 7 Ultimate when I changed from a 640gb drive to a 1tb drive. I made an image using Acronis and once I put it on the 1tb drive I had to re-activate as well.

I have since changed video cards a few times as well as a couple of changes with CPU's and have not had that issue. I think it had to do with changing the hard drive.

I did not and have not had to re-activate Windows when I restored my Windows from a clone or a back-up from an external drive. Just did a clone restore recently, like last week.

Now, these are recent cloned drives.
Before I test some things, I will clone the drives before testing.
So it could have something to do with the timestamps on certain files.

As far as hardware installs/swaps/changes go... it seems to be dependent on the hardware, how many pieces and/or the frequency.

Sometimes, it seems, there is a little MS guy in the O/S that makes random decisions. Nah, they would not do that. Placing Tin Foil Hat on head as I type.

Just my own observations.

 

[newtekie1]

@Newtekie1: Any time a person clones (images) a hard drive it will automatically need re-activated. Not sure why, but it seems to always happen. It has something to do with the activation I guess LOL. I did that with my Windows 7 Ultimate when I changed from a 640gb drive to a 1tb drive. I made an image using Acronis and once I put it on the 1tb drive I had to re-activate as well.

I have since changed video cards a few times as well as a couple of changes with CPU's and have not had that issue. I think it had to do with changing the hard drive.

Never had to re-activate after a clone, though I always do straight drive to drive clones, not using an image. Maybe something to do with the image creation process?