thats a possibility (the kms headaches) ive just been using MAK keys on machines that arent on domain and machines that are on domain are all permanently fixed so if they saw 180 days off the network, theyve prolly been stolen anyways. either way dealing with activation every 180 days > cracking windows and dealing with broken windows at who knows what interval but yeah id say backup your reg if you can do it reliably on Vista but if your reinstalling so frequently to set of a 20 install limit, something ain't right. By the way geek, howdy from a fellow Okie