Vista - Corrupted Product Activation Key

Today is July 21, 2008. I downloaded and installed an update from Microsoft
today, which proceeded to make my computer unusable because the product key
has suddenly become invalid. This is only the second time this summer a
downloaded "update" has crashed my machine, but for a computer that was brand
new in November, I'm a little concerned. Can anyone help me recover my
computer without doing a full re-installation from scratch? Can anyone from
Microsoft help me via remote assist? (It would appear that function might
still work, though I don't know for sure.)
If I ever get my machine working again I will turn off automatic updates for
Windows because they cause more problems than they solve. Thanks in advance
for all your help.

Microsoft patches have impaired or killed my PC several times under Windows
98 and XP, so why not a similar problem under Vista?

I finally decided that the only real protection against a bad install or
uninstall, including those offered by Microsoft, is to have a full partition
image of the C:\ drive. I strive to save all personal files on a separate
partition (e.g., D:\), since they can be easily backed up via copy&paste or
an XCOPY from the command prompt. Incremental backups of personal files are
also fairly easy to do. This dramatically reduces the size of the partition
image for C:\, making backups and restores of C:\ faster. I usually backup
to an external USB drive, and maybe once a year to DVDs. The USB drive is
much faster than the DVDs, and is, of course re-writeable, not to mention
that USB drives come in very lareg sizes. I use Acronis True Image for
backups, but the latest version of Norton Ghost should also work. Other
options, some free, can be found at:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html

But, be careful, some backup programs assume that windows is working to run.
For the operating system and programs, be sure to choose a solution that can
run without windows, usually from a bootable CD. Also, be sure that the
program supports the target media (e.g., USB hard drive, DVD, etc) and the
file system to which you are writing (usually NTFS on hard drives).

"Mitch" <Mitch@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:674E66EF-8273-420E-9F19-21EE424CCC21@xxxxxx

You can reset your Windows Vista activation by performing the following:

1. Click on the Start button and in the Start Search box type in: slui.exe 4

2. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.

3. Select your Country.

4. Follow the instructions for phone activation (no charge).

5. Once completed, restart your computer.

6. Then visit: http://www.microsoft.com/Genuine/ and click on "Validate Windows".


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Mitch" <Mitch@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:674E66EF-8273-420E-9F19-21EE424CCC21@xxxxxx
Today is July 21, 2008. I downloaded and installed an update from Microsoft
today, which proceeded to make my computer unusable because the product key
has suddenly become invalid. This is only the second time this summer a
downloaded "update" has crashed my machine, but for a computer that was brand
new in November, I'm a little concerned. Can anyone help me recover my
computer without doing a full re-installation from scratch? Can anyone from
Microsoft help me via remote assist? (It would appear that function might
still work, though I don't know for sure.)
If I ever get my machine working again I will turn off automatic updates for
Windows because they cause more problems than they solve. Thanks in advance
for all your help.