There is some information on the Web that indicates that this message/problem originates in a Windows download a year or two ago that installed something called "Windows Genuine Advantage", which is a clone killer. Supposedly, WEA can be uninstalled without any harm to your computer, and this utility will do it for you. I have never used this, and I cannot vouch for it...J in K is much more of a techie than I am, and he may have an opinion on this.

IF you go to a new laptop, and it is a Vista laptop, look carefully to see if it is 32 or 64-bit Vista. The specs don't always tell you - a clue is that machines with 3 GB or more RAM are Vista-64 more often than not, and 1 or 2 GB are almost always Vista-32. Not all software works on Vista-64, even the ones that say that they do, so some of your favorite programs might not be available to you. It is possible to set the "compatibility" mode in Vista so the program thinks it is operating in something else (e.g., WinXP), but that doesn't always work perfectly.

I have a Vista-32 laptop and a Vista-64 desktop, and have had no significant hassles, other than that problem with legacy software.