Marilyn, Actually ,support has been extended as follows: Both, XP Home and XP Pro (also XP MCE (media center edition)) Mainstream Support until 2009-04-14 Extended Support 2014-04-08 Source http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex Activation should not be affected.Support is for patches, updates etc and also email support for those items. Just buy your copy at the best price you can and enjoy it. Remember that an OEM copy may be cheaper,but doesn't allow many re-installations or installing on different hardware. That's the official line anyway. Peter E -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [PCSOFT] New Build with XP From: Marilyn Wilson <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Date: 21-Feb-2008 3:29:05 PM I'm planning on building a new computer either next fall or winter. I understand Microsoft is not going to support it beyond the end of June this year. If I buy a retail copy of XP will I still be able to activate it next year and is there anything special I should do before the end of June? Thanks for any advice. Marilyn PCSOFT's List Owner's: Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]> Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>