(Re-) Activate, or Flatten and Re-install?

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>sc sdshow plugplay

D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;IU)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;SU)S:(AU;FA;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;WD)

C:\Windows\system32>REG QUERY "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18" /S

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-18
    Flags    REG_DWORD    0xc
    State    REG_DWORD    0x0
    RefCount    REG_DWORD    0x1
    Sid    REG_BINARY    010100000000000512000000
    ProfileImagePath    REG_EXPAND_SZ    %systemroot%\system32\config\systemprofile


C:\Windows\system32>REG QUERY "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-19" /S

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-19
    ProfileImagePath    REG_EXPAND_SZ    C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService

    Flags    REG_DWORD    0x0
    State    REG_DWORD    0x0


C:\Windows\system32>REG QUERY "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-20" /S

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-20
    ProfileImagePath    REG_EXPAND_SZ    C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService
    Flags    REG_DWORD    0x0
    State    REG_DWORD    0x0

Code:

Diagnostic Report (1.9.0027.0):
-----------------------------------------
Windows Validation Data-->

Validation Code: 50
Cached Online Validation Code: 0x0
Windows Product Key: N/A, hr=0x80070005
Windows Product Key Hash: N/A, hr=0x80070005
Windows Product ID: 00359-OEM-8703917-84448
Windows Product ID Type: 3
Windows License Type: OEM System Builder
Windows OS version: 6.1.7601.2.00010300.1.0.003
ID: {C4579C6A-19F5-477E-BB43-4936E525E7D6}(3)
Is Admin: Yes
TestCab: 0x0
LegitcheckControl ActiveX: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Product Name: Windows 7 Home Premium
Architecture: 0x00000009
Build lab: 7601.win7sp1_gdr.140303-2144
TTS Error: 
Validation Diagnostic: 
Resolution Status: N/A

Vista WgaER Data-->
ThreatID(s): N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002

Windows XP Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
File Exists: No
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
WgaTray.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
WgaLogon.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002

OGA Notifications Data-->
Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
OGAExec.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
OGAAddin.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002

OGA Data-->
Office Status: 109 N/A
OGA Version: N/A, 0x80070002
Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002
Office Diagnostics: 025D1FF3-364-80041010_025D1FF3-229-80041010_025D1FF3-230-1_025D1FF3-517-80040154_025D1FF3-237-80040154_025D1FF3-238-2_025D1FF3-244-80070002_025D1FF3-258-3

Browser Data-->
Proxy settings: N/A
User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Win32)
Default Browser: C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt
Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disabled
Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Allowed
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disabled
Allow scripting of Internet Explorer Webbrowser control: Disabled
Active scripting: Allowed
Script ActiveX controls marked as safe for scripting: Allowed

File Scan Data-->

Other data-->
Office Details: <GenuineResults><MachineData><UGUID>{C4579C6A-19F5-477E-BB43-4936E525E7D6}</UGUID><Version>1.9.0027.0</Version><OS>6.1.7601.2.00010300.1.0.003</OS><Architecture>x64</Architecture><PKey>*****-*****-*****-*****-BBBBB</PKey><PID>00359-OEM-8703917-84448</PID><PIDType>3</PIDType><SID>S-1-5-21-364757089-888712819-4013641008</SID><SYSTEM><Manufacturer>Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.</Manufacturer><Model>GA-990FXA-UD3</Model></SYSTEM><BIOS><Manufacturer>Award Software International, Inc.</Manufacturer><Version>F9</Version><SMBIOSVersion major="2" minor="4"/><Date>20121022000000.000000+000</Date></BIOS><HWID>5BFF3607018400F2</HWID><UserLCID>0409</UserLCID><SystemLCID>0409</SystemLCID><TimeZone>Central Standard Time(GMT-06:00)</TimeZone><iJoin>0</iJoin><SBID><stat>3</stat><msppid></msppid><name></name><model></model></SBID><OEM/><GANotification/></MachineData><Software><Office><Result>109</Result><Products/><Applications/></Office></Software></GenuineResults>  

Spsys.log Content: 0x80070002

Licensing Data-->
C:\Windows\system32\slmgr.vbs(1333, 5) Microsoft VBScript runtime error: Permission denied

Windows Activation Technologies-->
HrOffline: 0x00000000
HrOnline: 0x00000000
HealthStatus: 0x0000000000000000
Event Time Stamp: 7:27:2014 04:25
ActiveX: Registered, Version: 7.1.7600.16395
Admin Service: Registered, Version: 7.1.7600.16395
HealthStatus Bitmask Output:


HWID Data-->
HWID Hash Current: MgAAAAIAAAABAAEAAwACAAAAAQABAAEAHKKYaaRWwNiK01AE7hZqreCPYj1Q1DbvbnU=

OEM Activation 1.0 Data-->
N/A

OEM Activation 2.0 Data-->
BIOS valid for OA 2.0: yes, but no SLIC table
Windows marker version: N/A
OEMID and OEMTableID Consistent: N/A
BIOS Information: 
  ACPI Table Name	OEMID Value	OEMTableID Value
  APIC			GBT   		GBTUACPI
  FACP			GBT   		GBTUACPI
  HPET			GBT   		GBTUACPI
  MCFG			GBT   		GBTUACPI
  MSDM			GBT   		GBTUACPI
  EUDS			GBT   		
  MATS			GBT   		
  TAMG			GBT   		GBT   B0
  MATS			GBT   		
  IVRS			AMD  		RD890S

I haven't done a byte-for-byte comparison, but it looks the same as the previous run.

BTW: if you help me avoid flattening and re-installing, I don't mind sending some funds via pay-pal to your tip jar.

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>ATTRIB  C:\Windows\System32\7b*.*
A   H        C:\Windows\System32\7B296FB0-376B-497e-B012-9C450E1B7327-5P-0.C74456-A289-439d-8115-601632D005A0
A   H        C:\Windows\System32\7B296FB0-376B-497e-B012-9C450E1B7327-5P-1.C74456-A289-439d-8115-601632D005A0

C:\Windows\system32>ICACLS  C:\Windows\System32\7b*.*
C:\Windows\System32\7B296FB0-376B-497e-B012-9C450E1B7327-5P-0.C7483456-A289-43-8115-601632D005A0 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)

                   BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)

                   BUILTIN\Users:(I)(RX)

C:\Windows\System32\7B296FB0-376B-497e-B012-9C450E1B7327-5P-1.C7483456-A289-43-8115-601632D005A0 NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)

                   BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)

                   BUILTIN\Users:(I)(RX)

Successfully processed 2 files; Failed processing 0 files

C:\Windows\system32>ATTRIB  %windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\tokens.dat
A       I    C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microso\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\tokens.dat

C:\Windows\system32>ICACLS %windir%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\tokens.dat
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\tokens.dat NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)

                          BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)

                          NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE:(I)(F)

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

C:\Windows\system32>

I know that its late for you. From a desperate Texan: Thanks. These will be ready for you in the morning. This gives me an excuse to use Dropbox--never needed it before.

Get some sleep.

I'm a Linux geek. I delight in obscure and mostly unknowable language. But this Windows Activation stuff is beyond dense to me.

Of course, I am an open-source kinda guy, so I see no need of it. There are lots of companies selling billions of dollars of free software. They are making tidy profits by giving away their products.

But beyond the question of why, is why me? All I want is a operating system that will operate my computer in a secure manner.

I know that Windows was never designed to be networked. In the original PC, if you wanted security, you turned it off and locked your floppy disks in your desk drawer. So security is a 'bolted on' afterthought. Hence an antivirus, a firewall and a malware system must be purchased in addition to the cost of the OS itself.

In my world, security is baked in to the system at every level. Its not that it can't be virused, but it would not be by a 13YO script kiddy. And anyone who breaks through my *nix security gets a free steak meal before I throw him in jail so fast and so far it will take a month for his ass to catch up with the rest of him.

And of course, there is no registry to be hacked. *nix doesn't need one. Now its true that AIX has a form of a registry in its kernel. But its a micro-set of the DB2 RDBMS, not a flat file. So its blindingly fast, and is rebuilt every time the machine boots, and frequently thereafter. Its called the Object Data Manager, and mostly is used for keeping track of I/O. 25 years ago, I had to manually rebuild the ODM when a disk crashed. But later versions of the OS take care of even that.

But apart from AIX, the very concept of a registry doesn't exist. And if it doesn't exist, it can't be hacked. There are ways, for example, to force buffer overflows and attain root privileges. Those will be caught by careful monitoring though. I haven't heard of any of these in a long time either.

So I don't understand why this sort of thing is even necessary. I've installed several programs that seem to operate fine but make no changes to the registry. It seems then that the registry is just a kluge.