Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Dr. Emilio Bombay Column.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)

Sep. 29--DEAR DR. BOMBAY: I just installed a new hard drive. Now I need the serial number for my Windows 95 disk. I bought this machine secondhand, so I have never had the number.

-- Wrong Number

DEAR WRONG: No, you've always had the number. You just don't know where it is.

One of the most irritating aspects of installing and reinstalling a Microsoft product is having to keep track of some 25-character string of gibberish. Lose the product key, and you might as well buy another copy of the software.

Look, I understand that Microsoft is worried about bootleggers, but this key thing isn't the way to handle the problem. In the first place, …