Hi,

Back to your original question.

.......Will cloned HDD avoid activation?

The answer is no. If you're trying to fool programs into thinking they
were just installed instead of when you really did, your computers date
will also have to be kept in the past too.

There are registry entries made when you install software that keep
track of when the software was installed, these entries are usually
referred to as turds.

Cloning, imaging, or even reimporting a registry hive will rollback
things to the way there were at the time you backed things up, but they
are still keeping the dates intact of when you originally installed the
software. When your computer date hits the magic termination date of
your trial software it'll still do its process even though you're
running a clone/image etc. Your trial period will end as designed.

Sure, you could keep your computers date running in the past, but then
you're probably going to be finding newer files-n-things being over
written with older versions every now and then too. You're certainly not
the first, or only person here, to want to keep an unregistered program
running forever without paying the freight.


---==X={}=X==---

Jim Self
AVIATION ANIMATION, the internet's largest depository.
http://avanimation.avsupport.com

Your only internet source for spiral staircase plans.
http://jself.com/stair/Stair.htm

Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)
Technical Counselor