I mustn't have gotten the memo, Was bringing nephews old system back to scratch since I haven't been able to get his new one going (story in another thread). On starting the first thing I saw was the little green star in the system tray, ah yes I remember now, this one has the dreaded XP Pro Corp with FCKGW serial and can't get updates. "Bugger" I thought. Undaunted I launched into Windows update, why, I don't really know. Of course the first thing it did was download the validation software and I thought 'Here endeth the first lesson" Well FMD up popped the dialog "Thank you for taking the time to validate Windows and thank you for using genuine Windows software. Huh! Checked the serial again .. sure enough FCKGW etc. Got the nephew on the phone, No he hasn't run any shonky third party validating software, he hasn't even touched the system for about a year.
50 odd updates later incl SP3 the system is humming along with no green star and auto updates doing it's thing happily. Was there a memo I missed or has M'$oft found a heart now.

What's your take on it.