In an attempt to reduce piracy of its software, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has announced protective changes to its Windows Product Activation (WPA) service, beginning with WinXP Service Pack 1. As veteran Microsoft watchers have expected, SP1 will not install if either of what the company calls "two well-known pirated product keys" has ever been used to activate the system. Such systems will also be denied access to Microsoft's Windows Update feature.
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