Overanalysing

Maybe I'm giving the MS programmers too much credit, but I'm wondering if my
difficulties updating an XP OS is because they can't confirm that the OS
"qualifies".

My home and work computers both have updated with the recent batches of
updates. The kid's computer, which I had to reload the OS from a restore
CD, has been unsuccessful. I can't keep banging my head on these irritating
problems, but suspect that installing a second copy of XP onto the harddrive
and then removing the original copy has identified my OS as a pirate
version.