With Windows Vista out shipping preinstalled on virtually all new PC’s, you might be wondering how your existing Windows XP license fits into the new machine in the event you decide to load it instead of Vista. Probably the biggest concern you have is the Windows Activation process, WPA.

This article gives a great explanation of how WPA works, both in terms of when you need to reactivate Windows and what information is sent to Microsoft. Included in the article is the details behind a common myth, that you can copy the WPA.dbl and WPA.bak files from an activated computer to a non-activated computer to circumvent the activation process.

Regardless, this is a great article to have bookmarked in the event you have any questions or doubts of how the WPA process works.