bobbyblue's blog

Heres a simple way to check if you're version of Windows has been activated.
XP:
Start->Run
Type:
oobe/msoobe /a
then press enter.
Vista:
Start Orb->Right Click Computer->Properties
Scroll down to "Windows Activation"
It will show Product ID and if you're activated.

You might need to kill explorer if it stops responding. You would probably open up Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) or even restart if you were really dumb. The clean way to close explorer is like this:

Go to Start > Turn Off Computer and hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift and press Cancel.

The start bar and desktop will disappear. To start explorer again and get them back, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to bring up the Task Manager, click New task and type explorer. Press enter to run it.