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Then what is? I was just going by what I've read on a couple of different sites.

As for activation, Brown said users could expect a return to the familiar activation scenario. Windows Vista, like XP, contains an electronic list of the components within the PC, which it turns into a code, or hash. If a user adds or subtracts too many components, the hash will change enough that it will signal the need for another activation, which can be done either online or via telephone.

Vista, however, will apparently be a bit more tolerant of the DIY community: "Windows Vista is more intelligent and a bit more lenient than Windows XP around hardware tolerance," Brown said. She referred questions to Microsoft's Windows Activation Web page, which does not address Windows Vista.

In Windows XP, the software looked at ten hardware attributes to create the hash: the display adapter, the SCSI adapter, the IDE adapter, the network adapter and its MAC address, a "RAM amount range" (0-64 Mbytes, 64-128 Mbytes, etc.), the processor type, the processor serial number, the hard drive device, the hard drive volume serial number and the CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM.

"Specifically, product activation determines tolerance through a voting mechanism," the XP Activation FAQ says. "There are 10 hardware characteristics used in creating the hardware hash. Each characteristic is worth one vote, except the network card which is worth three votes. When thinking of tolerance, it's easiest to think about what has not changed instead of what has changed. When the current hardware hash is compared to the original hardware hash, there must be 7 or more matching points for the two hardware hashes to be considered in tolerance."