Tell me, who are you?

For four years I've had the same Toshiba notebook: Satellite series, 1100-MHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM (upgraded to 512 this year), 20 GB drive, CD burner/DVD player. (Some of you may actually have seen it.) There's a software gizmo inside it which automatically downloads driver updates and such from Toshiba's US branch, separate from the Windows Update function that comes with Microsoft's infamous OS.

And last night it downloaded a new registration system to replace the old one. The dialog box didn't ask for any new information, except for "where purchased," but it did take me by surprise, especially since the machine is long out of warranty. Best guess: Toshiba is cleaning up its user database, and anyone who doesn't fill out the new form doesn't get any more free updates. Second-best guess: Toshiba finally got around to reading the serial number of this machine, discovered that they'd foisted it off on a reseller as a factory second — there's a tiny dent in the case and the floppy door sticks — and was shocked to find it still in service. (I paid $889 for it in 2002; list price for this model was $1295. Machines with more muscle routinely sell for half that these days.)