lol, i hate microshits activation thingy, i think its a load of bull ****. just call em up, tell em u got a virus and had to reinstall, then the key wouldnt "activate", they will ask if its running on any other computers, just say no, they might forward u around a few times, and ask for a few numbers, takes like 15 min, but you get a new key....or, you could just do what mr *cough* said. but if u do, when u download from microsoft, like wmp, directx, or anyother ms app, it will try to verify that ur not pirating, and if u didnt activate correctly, then it will say f*** u, u cant have it(lol, not realy, but thats kinda what it means).