Thanks for posting the manual activation technique when automatic activation no longer works. I used the non-smart phone telephone activation. Of Note: Write down all the numbers before you advance to the next step of activation. There's no way to back up to record the numbers after you hit "Next" Then you have all the needed information for reloading if needed. I also found a back door into Microsoft Update to get the latest Service Pack download. After installing the SP, the standard Microsoft Update allowed the 2003 updates to proceed. I was very distraught at first when I though I bought software that couldn't be activated. Thanks again.