Microsoft Mandates Piracy Checks

From now on, customers looking to get the latest add-ons to Windows will have to verify that their copy of the operating system is legit. The piracy check will be mandatory for all customers worldwide who want to download add-ons for Windows XP. The only exception is for security-related patches. It looks like mandatory validation of your Windows XP license is now voluntary again. A simple hack has been found that disables the check