We posted yesterday about the new Microsoft policy of checking if your copy of Windows is legal before doing Windows updates. How does the update work, a tech friend asked, and indeed, I was wondering that too. There seemed no obvious way to install a new Windows key without an install CD and even then, there’s a risk it might re-install files it shouldn’t and screw up your existing Windows setup.

Well, Microsoft has made it simple and easy. One of my computers did indeed have bootleg Windows. I ordered the key online for $149 after Windows Update scanned my system and determined my Windows was counterfeit. They then email you a new key with a link to download the installation software.

To convert your counterfeit Windows XP software to a genuine copy of Windows XP using the new Product Key, you will need to download and run the Windows Product Key Update Tool on the same computer you used to purchase the electronic license for Windows XP.

It scans your system, does a bit of hidden voodoo I’m sure, then you cut and paste the new key in. Reboot, and your copy of Windows is now legal. It took about 3 minutes.

Microsoft appears to be steadily tightening up on allowing free Windows updates for bootleg copies of Windows and indeed said online this upgrade offer is for a limited time only. So you might want to get legal while it’s still easy to do so.

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Miami - This week, [Luis] Diaz, who in 1980 was convicted of seven rapes and sentenced to life in prison, walked free.

Defense lawyer Barry Scheck, whose New York-based Innocence Project helped free Diaz, called the former cook’s release from prison a watershed because his convictions had relied heavily on eyewitness identifications. “This case had eight mistaken eyewitnesses. The previous high was five,” Scheck said.

The organization co-founded by Scheck, a member of O.J. Simpson’s defense team, says it has helped free more than 160 wrongfully convicted people through the use of DNA testing.

Innocence Project

A non-profit legal clinic which only handles cases where postconviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence.

Innocence Project - Luis Diaz page

In June 2005, test results from both laboratories indicated that a male profile had been found and that it did not match Luis Diaz. A second round of testing corroborated these findings.

On August 3, 2005, the charges against Luis Diaz were dropped and he walked free, surrounded by his family and supporters. Diaz, now 67 years old, had proclaimed his innocence since he was questioned in 1979.

How many more are in prison for crimes they did not commit?

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CNN suspended contributor and conservative columnist Robert Novak on Thursday after he cursed and stormed off a live studio telecast of the cable network’s program “Inside Politics.” In suspending Novak, the network called his on-air actions “inexcusable.”

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A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on charges they received classified national defense information from a Pentagon analyst.

AIPAC is the most powerful of the pro-Israel lobbies. This is a major and significant indictment.

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