Hey everyone,

I'm in a bit of a quandry, I'm desperate to try out the new ie7 beta but I'm not sure how genuine my copy of windows XP is.

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/dow...yValidate.aspx

That site validates your copy of XP, but I dont want to do it incase I lose any functionality? What do you suggest?

Hm, Tjobbe quite a pickle you have there. I am not too sure, but there may be other ways to validate your WinXP besides Microsoft. But then you run the risk of that site trying to steal it if it is valid. Honestly, I'm not too sure Tjobbe

It sounds like a no go anyway, I did soom googling but couldnt find anything concrete but read snippets about the computer being invalid for updates. Which is never ideal!

Stop the Background Intelligent Transfer Service and the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:

a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command.
net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
exit
2. Delete the "SoftwareDistribution" folder:
a. Click Start, click Run, type %systemroot%, and then click OK.
b. Locate the SoftwareDistribution folder, and then press Delete on keyboard. Click Yes to confirm deletion.
c. Click Start, click Run, type %systemroot%\system32 and then click OK.
d. Locate the SoftwareDistribution folder, and then press Delete on keyboard. Click Yes to confirm deletion.

3. Download and save the update on affected system from the following links.

1. http://snipurl.com/rh9j
2. http://snipurl.com/WGADELL
3. http://tinyurl.com/o3cpu
4. http://www.download.windowsupdate.co...d496154544.exe

4. Run the update from saved location.

5. Restart system

6. Start the Background Intelligent Transfer Service, the Automatic Updates service, and the Event Log service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
b. At the command prompt, type the following commands, and then press ENTER after each command.
net start wuauserv
net start bits
exit

7. Browse to www.windowsupdate.com and try doing an update.

If you are able to see the updates to be downloaded, the issue is resolved. You may also download a verification tool or visit Microsoft genuine page to verify the fix.

Microsoft page to validate windows: www.microsoft.com/genuine . Click on Validate Windows.

Verification tool: http://tinyurl.com/9ggd3.