Hi there, I have a problem and I'm hoping someone can help. The computers not been well recently, I've reinstalled O/S and used a variety of bug killers and all seemed ok. Problem is that in the last week I've been prompted to reactivate windows four times due to hardware changes, in reality the hardware hasn't changed at all. However, now microsoft is giving me the 'too many activations' crap. I can't afford the $3,000 per second to bathe in the glory of their wisdom by phone or email. Any ideas on 1) activation and /or 2) why it was prompting me to do this in the first place?????
Thank you ...... sorry for the ramble. Lumpy X

All that I can suggest is calling Microsoft's toll-free number to take care of this. It's a pretty efficient system, doesn't take longer than a minute. And it's a lot cheaper than buying another retail Windows XP license

I've called up in the past, quickly explained the situation, and they rectified the matter ASAP.

Agreed. You do not need to ring Microsoft Support. You only need ring the Microsoft Activation service. Begin to activate, and choose to activate via telephone instead of activate by internet.

If you've set your regional settings correctly during installation the correct telephone number should be presented to you. Have the PC running when you ring, explain the situation and you'll be given an activation code to enter into the routine.

Sorry for being slow but is this a free number? Any thoughts on why it was doing this. Thanks L.

I'm pretty sure that it's a toll-free number wherever you might live.


You've mentioned 'reinstalled' but people's opinion about what this means varies. Have you formatted and installed everything again fresh? If not your system may still have the bug/intruder that caused the behaviour originally.

Just to add to this, yes, it's a toll-free number. When you tell it to activate over the phone, it asks you your country, and then it gives you the appropriate number.