"Not Genuine" appears after running sfc /scannow

Hi, folks... A few days ago, I ran into an appcrash problem with Portable Publisher 2007. As suggested on another site, I ran sfc /scannow to see if I could find and get rid of any corrupt files that might be causing the problem.

Just before my computer (7 x64 on a Gateway p-7805u fx) restarted, the message that the computer was "configuring Windows Updates" appeared. This was odd, because I have Windows Updates turned off, and have had for some time.

When my computer restarted, lo and behold, the dreaded "This copy of Windows is not genuine" watermark had appeared, and Remove WAT would no longer work for more than a few minutes, despite being removed, cleaned off my computer and re-installed.

I installed the latest version of Hazar's loader, which worked for a few hours...but if I was online for more than a few minutes, the "not genuine" watermark reappeared. When I opened my computer's "Properties" screen, however, the watermark disappeared, and all was well.

Until the next time I went online.

I uninstalled Hazar's and gave Daz's loader a try, and it worked for a few days as well... but this morning, the watermark again appeared...only to disappear as soon as I opened the computer's Properties screen.

I was getting ready to post here to see if anyone else had this problem, when it occurred to me to check what updates were installed on my computer through my computer's control panel (I previously looked for installed updates via an uninstaller program I use).

Imagine my surprise when, upon opening "Programs and Features" and checking for installed updates, I found KB971033 was there! Since I consciously chose not to install this update when it came out, it's quite obvious to me that Microsoft "gifted" me with this KB when I did the sfc /scannow and restarted my computer...whether I wanted the KB or not.

So I just wanted to tell everyone to be sure to first check what updates are installed on their computers through Programs and Features if their OS loaders suddenly stop working. It may save them a lot of frustration. I have, of course, uninstalled that KB, and expect that I won't have any more problems with the "not genuine" watermark appearing in the future.

By the by, this is an awesome site...thanks for being here to help!