Vista - Is there a Microsoft 'recommended' approach to swap BOOT disk on VISTA?

Thank you John. That is what I must have read.

Now, I have to wonder if updating the SATA drivers presents a new hard drive
serial number to the O/S, or if something else is coming into play that we
don't know about.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"John Barnes" <jbarnes@email.net> wrote in message
news:eYHTo5$uHHA.4504@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Contained in the FAQ, Mary Jo discovered the following question and
> answer:
>
> Q. How do hardware changes impact system reactivation requirement?
>
> A. As long as the change is below 25 points you do not need to
> re-activate. Here is the table to determine total points. This applies to
> both Windows Vista client and Longhorn server for retail activation, MAK
> activation and KMS activation. [Emphasis added]
>
> Component Class Name Default Weight
> CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM 1
> IDE Adaptor 3
> Physical OS Hard Drive Serial # 11
> Display Adaptor 1
> SCSI Adaptor 2
> Audio Adaptor 2
> Network Adaptor MAC Address 2
> Processor 3
> RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-512mb, 512-1GB) 1
> BIOS ID ('0' always matches) 9
>
>
> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:OFdF7M3uHHA.3356@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Quite a while ago (many months actually) I read somewhere that the hard
>> drive constituted the largest point value against reactivation. If I can
>> find it again, I will post it here.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>
>>
>>
>> "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirkenews@nospam.mvps.org> wrote in
>> message news:0tod83dleae5ftkd3ovc4h6o6vbgrbi20i@4ax.com...
>>> On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:35:01 -0400, "AJR" <ajrjdr@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>BUT - keep in mind - most likely reactivation of the OS will be required
>>>>and
>>>>probalby necessary by phone.
>>>
>>> Could you explain this please?
>>>
>>> We're told:
>>> - Vista uses same activation system as XP
>>> - XP watches 10 items, 7 must "survive" (i.e. lose 4, die)
>>> - a new HD = 1 "life"
>>> - loss of volume serial number = 1 "life"
>>>
>>> If all of the above are true, then why should swapping HD - especially
>>> if cloning and thus preserving volume secrial number - trigger Vista's
>>> activation payload?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
>>> Tip Of The Day:
>>> To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
>>>>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
>>
>

On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 09:39:24 -0700, "John Barnes" <jbarnes@email.net>

Well spotted and linked, John Barnes !!

>Contained in the FAQ, Mary Jo discovered the following question and answer:

>Q. How do hardware changes impact system reactivation requirement?

>A. As long as the change is below 25 points you do not need to re-activate.
>Here is the table to determine total points. This applies to both Windows
>Vista client and Longhorn server for retail activation, MAK activation and
>KMS activation. [Emphasis added]

Already, that's a change...

>Component Class Name Default Weight
>CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM 1
>IDE Adaptor 3
>Physical OS Hard Drive Serial # 11
>Display Adaptor 1
>SCSI Adaptor 2
>Audio Adaptor 2
>Network Adaptor MAC Address 2
>Processor 3
>RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-512mb, 512-1GB) 1
>BIOS ID ('0' always matches) 9

OK - they've understandably dropped the obsolete PIII-only CPU serial
number, but they've added sound, which was never taken as a "core"
component before. That's prolly OK in that most mobos do have sound
built in by now, and changing sound cards would be rarer, and would
prolly not hide the integrated sound.

I don't see HD volume serial number anymore, which is good - it should
never have been an item in the first place.

The total point count is 35, assuming missing items are still weighed
in - if they aren't, then that's a problem, because the total count
could drop down to as low as 28 points, three points away from death.

We'd also want to know if the old XP policy of "if it's still there,
it's seen, even if no longer the main device" holds true, as would be
the case when retiring an old HD to act as the second HD, or an old
optical drive to a second drive, or switching from IDE to S-ATA on the
same motherboard. These details matter.

As it is, Vista is a trigger-happy vigilante, compared to XP, thanks
to the weightings and they way they can combine when a single change
is made. For example, if the process watches which IDE connector your
HD is on (as opposed to the presence of the parent IDE device) then
simply replacing a failed IDE HD with a new S-ATA HD will ring up 11+3
= 14 lost points, and 35 - 14 = 21, i.e. death.

In fact, any HD death is an immediate death sentence with this, which
is unaceptably aggressive. There are all sorts of scenarios where one
may swap physical HDs (upgrades, replacement of failed HD, courtesy HD
while doing data recovery on corrupted file systems, rebuilding an
"owned" PC on a new HD while old HD is held for forensics) and in all
of these contexts, things are sweaty enough as it is without your OS
vandor stabbing you in the back.

So this is not good news, and confirms what we suspected at the
outset, when XP's product activation was new and being debated for the
first time; as soon as we take our eyes off the ball, MS are going to
start breaking previous assurances and get more aggressive.

Nevertheless,. we need more messengers like you folks :-)



>------------ ----- --- -- - - - -
Drugs are usually safe. Inject? (Y/n)
>------------ ----- --- -- - - - -

Drivers certainly can present the drives differently. I have had some
drivers which report the SATA drives attached to the MOBO in the safely
remove hardware icon and other drivers don't. BIOS changes have done the
same.

"Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ue0CbHAvHHA.668@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Thank you John. That is what I must have read.
>
> Now, I have to wonder if updating the SATA drivers presents a new hard
> drive serial number to the O/S, or if something else is coming into play
> that we don't know about.
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
>
>
> "John Barnes" <jbarnes@email.net> wrote in message
> news:eYHTo5$uHHA.4504@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Contained in the FAQ, Mary Jo discovered the following question and
>> answer:
>>
>> Q. How do hardware changes impact system reactivation requirement?
>>
>> A. As long as the change is below 25 points you do not need to
>> re-activate. Here is the table to determine total points. This applies to
>> both Windows Vista client and Longhorn server for retail activation, MAK
>> activation and KMS activation. [Emphasis added]
>>
>> Component Class Name Default Weight
>> CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM 1
>> IDE Adaptor 3
>> Physical OS Hard Drive Serial # 11
>> Display Adaptor 1
>> SCSI Adaptor 2
>> Audio Adaptor 2
>> Network Adaptor MAC Address 2
>> Processor 3
>> RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-512mb, 512-1GB) 1
>> BIOS ID ('0' always matches) 9
>>
>>
>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:OFdF7M3uHHA.3356@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> Quite a while ago (many months actually) I read somewhere that the hard
>>> drive constituted the largest point value against reactivation. If I can
>>> find it again, I will post it here.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Richard Urban
>>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirkenews@nospam.mvps.org> wrote
>>> in message news:0tod83dleae5ftkd3ovc4h6o6vbgrbi20i@4ax.com...
>>>> On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:35:01 -0400, "AJR" <ajrjdr@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>BUT - keep in mind - most likely reactivation of the OS will be
>>>>>required and
>>>>>probalby necessary by phone.
>>>>
>>>> Could you explain this please?
>>>>
>>>> We're told:
>>>> - Vista uses same activation system as XP
>>>> - XP watches 10 items, 7 must "survive" (i.e. lose 4, die)
>>>> - a new HD = 1 "life"
>>>> - loss of volume serial number = 1 "life"
>>>>
>>>> If all of the above are true, then why should swapping HD - especially
>>>> if cloning and thus preserving volume secrial number - trigger Vista's
>>>> activation payload?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
>>>> Tip Of The Day:
>>>> To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
>>>>>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
>>>
>>
>

So, the bottom line for me (and a zillion others to come) finally
emerges. Swapping a HD yields an 11point drop. Using the silly MS
Vista point system to try and identify piracy, 35 - 11 = 24!!

A PERSON MUST REACTIVATE VISTA ANYTIME THEY CHANGE THE HD, EVEN USING
THE CLONE SOFTWARE THAT COMES WITH THE DRIVE!

Yikes, seems a little aggressive. (My previous attempts to re-activate
a PC that had motherboard swapped became an endurance test with me and
a whole bunch of operators who kept asking me "how many PCs did I have
this copy of Vista installed upon". They simply had very little
training about PC upgrades requiring re-activation, and they assumed I
was pirating the software. After 15 minutes I finally found one
operator that knew what buttons to push to give me the re-activation
code)

In my case, that is just an extra step, and I guess an OK price to pay
as long as I don't have to do a whole re-install of the OS from
scratch (and then ALSO re-activate by phone etc).

As long as you don't change out the hard drive (that in itself may cause a
need for reactivation) there is a way around this. Build up your system to
where you want it to be "before" you activate the system. Activate the
system. Then make an image of your system partition using Acronis TrueImage
HOME. Save the image in multiple places (on a 2nd hard drive + on an
external hard drive + on DVD's. As long as you are restoring the image to
the original hard drive, the system will just start up without having to
reactivate again.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



<markharris2000@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1183386663.650763.5640@z28g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
> So, the bottom line for me (and a zillion others to come) finally
> emerges. Swapping a HD yields an 11point drop. Using the silly MS
> Vista point system to try and identify piracy, 35 - 11 = 24!!
>
> A PERSON MUST REACTIVATE VISTA ANYTIME THEY CHANGE THE HD, EVEN USING
> THE CLONE SOFTWARE THAT COMES WITH THE DRIVE!
>
> Yikes, seems a little aggressive. (My previous attempts to re-activate
> a PC that had motherboard swapped became an endurance test with me and
> a whole bunch of operators who kept asking me "how many PCs did I have
> this copy of Vista installed upon". They simply had very little
> training about PC upgrades requiring re-activation, and they assumed I
> was pirating the software. After 15 minutes I finally found one
> operator that knew what buttons to push to give me the re-activation
> code)
>
> In my case, that is just an extra step, and I guess an OK price to pay
> as long as I don't have to do a whole re-install of the OS from
> scratch (and then ALSO re-activate by phone etc).
>

On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:29:50 -0400, "Richard Urban"

>As long as you don't change out the hard drive (that in itself may cause a
>need for reactivation) there is a way around this. Build up your system to
>where you want it to be "before" you activate the system. Activate the
>system. Then make an image of your system partition using Acronis TrueImage
>HOME. Save the image in multiple places (on a 2nd hard drive + on an
>external hard drive + on DVD's. As long as you are restoring the image to
>the original hard drive, the system will just start up without having to
>reactivate again.

And if the HD fails? I'm using HDs with as long as a warranty I can
get (Seagate, 5 years) because I find they are a fairly common (and
very significant) point of failure.

Instant death for a HD swap is ridiculous.

Before the "weighting" shell game, you'd have to have (on paper) 4
items change, which in reality could drop down to 2 due to conjoined
items (CPU type + serial number, physical HD + volume serial number)
so already, we have a "large print giveth, small print taketh away".

Then when weighting was added (only for LAN adapter) in XP SP1 I think
it was, it was to make WPA *less* trigger-happy, particularly in the
context of laptops and docking stations. Although the total point
count went up by 2 points, the threshold was the same, so the effect
was for a retained LAN adapter to mute the effect of other changes.

And now we have this; significant changes made, causing a single item
to trigger the payload, and not a thing announced or written about it.



>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
The most accurate diagnostic instrument
in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Yes! Instant death for a hard drive swap IS ridiculous. And it does occur.
Talking about it here doesn't do much good. All we can do is explain why it
happens.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirkenews@nospam.mvps.org> wrote in
message news:rdqi83h2mi291i3rkik879nov7gjcta8bj@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:29:50 -0400, "Richard Urban"
>
>>As long as you don't change out the hard drive (that in itself may cause a
>>need for reactivation) there is a way around this. Build up your system to
>>where you want it to be "before" you activate the system. Activate the
>>system. Then make an image of your system partition using Acronis
>>TrueImage
>>HOME. Save the image in multiple places (on a 2nd hard drive + on an
>>external hard drive + on DVD's. As long as you are restoring the image to
>>the original hard drive, the system will just start up without having to
>>reactivate again.
>
> And if the HD fails? I'm using HDs with as long as a warranty I can
> get (Seagate, 5 years) because I find they are a fairly common (and
> very significant) point of failure.
>
> Instant death for a HD swap is ridiculous.
>
> Before the "weighting" shell game, you'd have to have (on paper) 4
> items change, which in reality could drop down to 2 due to conjoined
> items (CPU type + serial number, physical HD + volume serial number)
> so already, we have a "large print giveth, small print taketh away".
>
> Then when weighting was added (only for LAN adapter) in XP SP1 I think
> it was, it was to make WPA *less* trigger-happy, particularly in the
> context of laptops and docking stations. Although the total point
> count went up by 2 points, the threshold was the same, so the effect
> was for a retained LAN adapter to mute the effect of other changes.
>
> And now we have this; significant changes made, causing a single item
> to trigger the payload, and not a thing announced or written about it.
>
>
>
>>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
> The most accurate diagnostic instrument
> in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
>>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Actually, the reason I asked in this forum is to prepare myself for
what lays ahead. I'm actually NOT complaining here, I just wanted to
know what to expect. When you start the process of swapping HD drives,
say for example at Sunday at 7PM, you kinda want to know what you need
on hand to complete the process. What to expect. You also want to know
to allow an extra 30 minutes fo phone re-activation, etc.

Just want to know in advance. Kinda like the old recommendations to
'Read all instructions entirely before you begin'.

Anyway, I will fire up my COPY COMMANDER V9 CDROM over the next few
days and clone my current drive to a new drive. COPY COMMANDER V9 says
it is compatible with ANY operating system and it boots from the CDROM
and runs in Pseudo-DOS mode to assure a clean CLONE is possible.
Sounds like the simple hardware swap, COPY COMMANDER CLONE, followed
by Phone Activation and I'm golden.

Regards,


On Jul 2, 2:50 pm, "Richard Urban"
<richardurbanREMOVET...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Yes! Instant death for a hard drive swap IS ridiculous. And it does occur.
> Talking about it here doesn't do much good. All we can do is explain why it
> happens.
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirken...@nospam.mvps.org> wrote in
> messagenews:rdqi83h2mi291i3rkik879nov7gjcta8bj@4ax.com...
>
>
>
> > On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:29:50 -0400, "Richard Urban"
>
> >>As long as you don't change out the hard drive (that in itself may cause a
> >>need for reactivation) there is a way around this. Build up your system to
> >>where you want it to be "before" you activate the system. Activate the
> >>system. Then make an image of your system partition using Acronis
> >>TrueImage
> >>HOME. Save the image in multiple places (on a 2nd hard drive + on an
> >>external hard drive + on DVD's. As long as you are restoring the image to
> >>the original hard drive, the system will just start up without having to
> >>reactivate again.
>
> > And if the HD fails? I'm using HDs with as long as a warranty I can
> > get (Seagate, 5 years) because I find they are a fairly common (and
> > very significant) point of failure.
>
> > Instant death for a HD swap is ridiculous.
>
> > Before the "weighting" shell game, you'd have to have (on paper) 4
> > items change, which in reality could drop down to 2 due to conjoined
> > items (CPU type + serial number, physical HD + volume serial number)
> > so already, we have a "large print giveth, small print taketh away".
>
> > Then when weighting was added (only for LAN adapter) in XP SP1 I think
> > it was, it was to make WPA *less* trigger-happy, particularly in the
> > context of laptops and docking stations. Although the total point
> > count went up by 2 points, the threshold was the same, so the effect
> > was for a retained LAN adapter to mute the effect of other changes.
>
> > And now we have this; significant changes made, causing a single item
> > to trigger the payload, and not a thing announced or written about it.
>
> >>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
> > The most accurate diagnostic instrument
> > in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
> >>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Just a note of caution. Vista is not listed for that version of Copy
Commander and Vista uses a different version of NTFS. Others have had
problems down the road with copies produced with several older imaging
programs that are not specifically Vista ready.

<markharris2000@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1183417577.475268.269790@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
> Actually, the reason I asked in this forum is to prepare myself for
> what lays ahead. I'm actually NOT complaining here, I just wanted to
> know what to expect. When you start the process of swapping HD drives,
> say for example at Sunday at 7PM, you kinda want to know what you need
> on hand to complete the process. What to expect. You also want to know
> to allow an extra 30 minutes fo phone re-activation, etc.
>
> Just want to know in advance. Kinda like the old recommendations to
> 'Read all instructions entirely before you begin'.
>
> Anyway, I will fire up my COPY COMMANDER V9 CDROM over the next few
> days and clone my current drive to a new drive. COPY COMMANDER V9 says
> it is compatible with ANY operating system and it boots from the CDROM
> and runs in Pseudo-DOS mode to assure a clean CLONE is possible.
> Sounds like the simple hardware swap, COPY COMMANDER CLONE, followed
> by Phone Activation and I'm golden.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> On Jul 2, 2:50 pm, "Richard Urban"
> <richardurbanREMOVET...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Yes! Instant death for a hard drive swap IS ridiculous. And it does
>> occur.
>> Talking about it here doesn't do much good. All we can do is explain why
>> it
>> happens.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
>> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>>
>> "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirken...@nospam.mvps.org> wrote in
>> messagenews:rdqi83h2mi291i3rkik879nov7gjcta8bj@4ax.com...
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:29:50 -0400, "Richard Urban"
>>
>> >>As long as you don't change out the hard drive (that in itself may
>> >>cause a
>> >>need for reactivation) there is a way around this. Build up your system
>> >>to
>> >>where you want it to be "before" you activate the system. Activate the
>> >>system. Then make an image of your system partition using Acronis
>> >>TrueImage
>> >>HOME. Save the image in multiple places (on a 2nd hard drive + on an
>> >>external hard drive + on DVD's. As long as you are restoring the image
>> >>to
>> >>the original hard drive, the system will just start up without having
>> >>to
>> >>reactivate again.
>>
>> > And if the HD fails? I'm using HDs with as long as a warranty I can
>> > get (Seagate, 5 years) because I find they are a fairly common (and
>> > very significant) point of failure.
>>
>> > Instant death for a HD swap is ridiculous.
>>
>> > Before the "weighting" shell game, you'd have to have (on paper) 4
>> > items change, which in reality could drop down to 2 due to conjoined
>> > items (CPU type + serial number, physical HD + volume serial number)
>> > so already, we have a "large print giveth, small print taketh away".
>>
>> > Then when weighting was added (only for LAN adapter) in XP SP1 I think
>> > it was, it was to make WPA *less* trigger-happy, particularly in the
>> > context of laptops and docking stations. Although the total point
>> > count went up by 2 points, the threshold was the same, so the effect
>> > was for a retained LAN adapter to mute the effect of other changes.
>>
>> > And now we have this; significant changes made, causing a single item
>> > to trigger the payload, and not a thing announced or written about it.
>>
>> >>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
>> > The most accurate diagnostic instrument
>> > in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
>> >>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
>

How fun is that? I guess a copy of Acronis 10 True Image might be a
good new purchase tonight...


On Jul 2, 5:04 pm, "John Barnes" <jbar...@email.net> wrote:
> Just a note of caution. Vista is not listed for that version of Copy
> Commander and Vista uses a different version of NTFS. Others have had
> problems down the road with copies produced with several older imaging
> programs that are not specifically Vista ready.
>
> <markharris2...@comcast.net> wrote in message
>
> news:1183417577.475268.269790@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Actually, the reason I asked in this forum is to prepare myself for
> > what lays ahead. I'm actually NOT complaining here, I just wanted to
> > know what to expect. When you start the process of swapping HD drives,
> > say for example at Sunday at 7PM, you kinda want to know what you need
> > on hand to complete the process. What to expect. You also want to know
> > to allow an extra 30 minutes fo phone re-activation, etc.
>
> > Just want to know in advance. Kinda like the old recommendations to
> > 'Read all instructions entirely before you begin'.
>
> > Anyway, I will fire up my COPY COMMANDER V9 CDROM over the next few
> > days and clone my current drive to a new drive. COPY COMMANDER V9 says
> > it is compatible with ANY operating system and it boots from the CDROM
> > and runs in Pseudo-DOS mode to assure a clean CLONE is possible.
> > Sounds like the simple hardware swap, COPY COMMANDER CLONE, followed
> > by Phone Activation and I'm golden.
>
> > Regards,
>
> > On Jul 2, 2:50 pm, "Richard Urban"
> > <richardurbanREMOVET...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >> Yes! Instant death for a hard drive swap IS ridiculous. And it does
> >> occur.
> >> Talking about it here doesn't do much good. All we can do is explain why
> >> it
> >> happens.
>
> >> --
>
> >> Regards,
>
> >> Richard Urban
> >> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> >> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> >> "cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" <cquirken...@nospam.mvps.org> wrote in
> >> messagenews:rdqi83h2mi291i3rkik879nov7gjcta8bj@4ax.com...
>
> >> > On Mon, 2 Jul 2007 11:29:50 -0400, "Richard Urban"
>
> >> >>As long as you don't change out the hard drive (that in itself may
> >> >>cause a
> >> >>need for reactivation) there is a way around this. Build up your system
> >> >>to
> >> >>where you want it to be "before" you activate the system. Activate the
> >> >>system. Then make an image of your system partition using Acronis
> >> >>TrueImage
> >> >>HOME. Save the image in multiple places (on a 2nd hard drive + on an
> >> >>external hard drive + on DVD's. As long as you are restoring the image
> >> >>to
> >> >>the original hard drive, the system will just start up without having
> >> >>to
> >> >>reactivate again.
>
> >> > And if the HD fails? I'm using HDs with as long as a warranty I can
> >> > get (Seagate, 5 years) because I find they are a fairly common (and
> >> > very significant) point of failure.
>
> >> > Instant death for a HD swap is ridiculous.
>
> >> > Before the "weighting" shell game, you'd have to have (on paper) 4
> >> > items change, which in reality could drop down to 2 due to conjoined
> >> > items (CPU type + serial number, physical HD + volume serial number)
> >> > so already, we have a "large print giveth, small print taketh away".
>
> >> > Then when weighting was added (only for LAN adapter) in XP SP1 I think
> >> > it was, it was to make WPA *less* trigger-happy, particularly in the
> >> > context of laptops and docking stations. Although the total point
> >> > count went up by 2 points, the threshold was the same, so the effect
> >> > was for a retained LAN adapter to mute the effect of other changes.
>
> >> > And now we have this; significant changes made, causing a single item
> >> > to trigger the payload, and not a thing announced or written about it.
>
> >> >>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
> >> > The most accurate diagnostic instrument
> >> > in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
> >> >>------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -- Hide quoted text -
>
> >> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -