My brought and paid for legal Vista Business told me it was fake, then activated in the space of a few seconds when I booted it up the other day.

I dual boot it with Ubuntu and I'm guessing it must just have been a month or more since I'd used Vista... don't get Vista if you think your system is going to be off the net for long periods! (at least until SP1 anyhow)

I think Pirates will find ways to bypass this SP1 update.

Cat and mouse, the never-ending story.

I look forward to Vista mis-identifying properly licensed dell / hp / insertmanufacturer name here, computers and locking regular people out because it thinks its a hacked oem bios.

"clear and recurring notices" -- probably no more disruptive or annoying than UAC ;)

I suspect I got a pirated version of Vista.. I think it's an Dell OEM version. But how do I know for sure? How can I figure this out without fearing the comp. being fcuked by MS goonies?

I own Retail. I say secure away. I'm sure I`ll be glad I don't work in the OEM space anymore when people can't activate some compromised volume license or some such.

Well I have 2 copies unopened. So I can easily wait till the SP hits before installing them. (I've had one for a year now).

...Engage!