Windows

I have yet to figure out how you can get around WinXP's registration process. (what happened to the good ol' Win95 that you could bypass with all 1's?)
It's highly unlikely that your wife's computer has illegal copy installed because she'd never have been able to use the computer for this long.

My wife's hard drive crashed. She brought the computer to a local
guy to replace it an save her files, which he did, but he also
installed his copy of Windows XP Professional (multi license version
I think) on it. Somehow the the license # he installed with it doesn't
pass the authentication process when I try to update, get patches,
toots etc. from Microsoft. The local guy refuses to help me, saying
"If it's running don't touch it" which to me is ridiculous. How can I
maintain a computer that way.

If it's running, you shouldn't bother with it.. What do you care if it's running in the first place. I am not supporting piracy, but hey, it's running.. If you don't know how to add these updates other than going to Windows Updates, you probably don't know much about pc's to begin with. Leave it to him, that's what you paid him for..

A friend of mine told me that if you set your updates to Automatic, it will go ahead and download the updates to your computer. Only if you manually try to run Windows updates do you run into the Genuine program. I wouldn't know. I have been legal since winders XP was initially released...

I've heard from several sources on this topic. According to what I've heard from them, the automatic updates somehow manages to bypass the whole thing, up to and including SP2 updates.

I have an "illegal" copy of XP and haven't been able to get updates for some time now. My problem started when my hard drive crashed. I put in a new hard drive and restored from an image of my old drive. According to Microsoft, I now have an illegal copy because I had an OEM version of XP and the copy is no longer valid if you change hardware configurations. The fact that I have the original installation disks and the key that came with the PC are immaterial. I explained my problem to Microsoft and their only response was "Buy another copy". So thanks for getting me a way to keep up to date on fixes without giving Microsoft money for software I already purchased once.

If you bought the computer with XP Pro, then while you may technically be in violation, you have adhered to the spirit. If you bought the home edition, then you are running illegal software.

If it were me and I had original CDs for installing the OS, I would format and reinstall - its not that difficult. If you don't I would spend the $99 for a copy of XP home - you don't need the professional version unless you are logging into a domain(large network with directory servers). It is worth it, because XP requires so many patches, and while there are ways to patch it manually, using auto updates is preferrable.

James

It's an old computer, an HP Pavillion 7855, purchased at a Best
Buy, a long time ago. From what I can tell, it came with Windows
Millennium Edition. For what the computer is being used for, I
think she can still get a couple of years out of it.

It sounds too me like all the third party software will be lost if I
do a clean install of Windows XP.

This is to subway00@.... No I'm not as knowledgeable of
Windows as I would like to be. That's why I'm asking your advise.
But I'm learning a lot each day, enough to network my Mac and
her PC.

That's the best you can do to her.. and to you.