How to buy a used xp computer?? Activation??

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I've been reading lots of FAQs and am still confused.

I'm standing at a garage sale or swapmeet in front of
a computer that runs XP.  I'm handed a license key.
Now What?
There appears to be a way to look at the key used to
install XP and compare to the key in my hand.  There
appears to be a way to ask the computer if it's been
activated.  All assuming it's powered on, which it usually ain't.
Now What?

The first thing I'm gonna do when I get it home is
image the drive and restore it onto a partition
of a bigger hard drive.
Then I'm gonna upgrade the network card.
Sounds like this is gonna require activation.
Is M$ gonna let me do that?

Or more importantly, how do I GUARANTEE, while
standing at the garage sale before handing over my money,
that M$ is gonna grant me access to MY system???

And, thinking ahead,  What's gonna happen when someone
else calls up and tries to activate a system using that
same key?  I'm not responsible for the previous owner's
compliance with the EULA...or am I?

At the risk of asking too many questions in one posting...
I routinely image my plug-in primary drive to another
then swap it in and boot from it to test rogue freeware before
committing to my primary drive.  Is XP gonna let me do that?
It's not unusual for my system to get so hozed that I have
to restore a previous image that may not map directly to the
current hardware configuration.  Is XP gonna let me do that?
If I call up twice a week for new activation, at some point,
M$ is gonna get cross with me???

Thanks, mike

.

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