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It seems that no amount of housekeeping can root out all of the accreted junk that XP accumulates under regular use. I suggest that users ensure that they have an XP install disc handy (preferably SP3, as the service pack is a monstrous download) and carry out a clean installation every few years, with an occasional re-formatting as well. Legit full-install discs (and semi-legit OEM discs) are $50-$80 on eBay these days, and I see nothing wrong with using an OEM disc if you already own a legit OEM installation. You’d be amazed at how many gigabytes magically appear on your hard drive after a reformat and clean install. (I had run just about every registry cleaner and housekeeping program known to man, then did a re-install that freed up ~8 GB!) It’s a big job, taking the better part of a day to re-load your software and install all of the accumulated updates, drivers, etc., but I think it’s well worth the time. You can be confident that the OS is free of rootkits and malware, and it may run noticeably more quickly. You might want to image the drive immediately on completion of the job, so you can return to this “virgin” state more easily in the future.

Apple has no way of knowing who’s using who’s account and password, with or without permission, so like all merchants they leave it to the customer to take precautions. If you have an easily-guessed password (or, more likely, an easliy-answered personal-identification question), it’s your own carelessness that’s the problem.

That said, I think Apple is in a position to do a bit more than most retailers, because all of their “goods” are delivered electronically. Surely they have the ability to give you the option of limiting downloads to one or two approved IP addresses, and/or emailing you for confirmation if a new IP address is used; and perhaps they could even blacklist the IP addresses of thieves. I’ve always thought that they had the ability to cut off delivery of services to stolen iPods, iPads, and iPhones as well. If these devices had little or no value to thieves, I think that would be a huge selling point — and I find it strange that Apple, which is so consumer-centric in other respects, doesn’t see it.