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| Thread ID: 54907 | 2005-02-25 16:22:00 | Permission From Microsoft Required For Reinstall For Machines Bought After Feb 2005 | vinref (6194) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 328171 | 2005-02-25 22:09:00 | From that article, it says that MS plans to extend the internet product activation to all pre-activated OS's from the next quarter. It isn't any big deal having to re-activate Windows via phone anyway. No hassle unless it's 2am, your reloading the OS for the third time because you've got a damaged OS, third party software or hardware issues, and obviously, you ain't a guru you think you are :D <rant> But beside all that, as Met's hints at in his subtle way, it's another incremental invasion of out time and space disguised with a plausible justification, AKA we know what's best for you (to be read "us", so up yours valued customer). Looks suspiciously like certain political actions we've become fond of; just shut up and take it, it's for your own good. Grrrr </rant> |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 328172 | 2005-02-25 22:20:00 | If you have your COA it shouldn't be a problem. You know that MS can afford stickers and don't use scraps of paper :-) | PaulD (232) | ||
| 328173 | 2005-02-25 22:33:00 | No hassle unless it's 2am, your reloading the OS for the third time because you've got a damaged OS, third party software or hardware issues, and obviously, you ain't a guru you think you are :D You have 30 days to activate though, so the 2am doesn't really come into it ;) |
Jeremy (1197) | ||
| 328174 | 2005-02-25 22:35:00 | The first post in this thread states you have to get the "get go" from MS before you start the process. | Metla (12) | ||
| 328175 | 2005-02-25 22:57:00 | No hassle unless it's 2am, your reloading the OS for the third time because you've got a damaged OS, third party software or hardware issues, and obviously, you ain't a guru you think you are :DI've have been caught when I did a repair on someone's XP machine and it wouldn't load the desktop until it had been re-activated again. Only problem was the only internet access was via a USB cable to my ADSL router as it had no onboard NIC. If I couldn't access the desktop, I couldn't load the USB modem drivers so that the internet connection could occur. Catch 22. :D I actually had a throat virus infection at the time, and literally had no voice so couldn't phone up MS either. Had to catch a friend on IM and get him to phone up on my behalf and get me a new activation key. If you are going to have to play 20 Q's eventually, I can see this will be a problem. I guess they will have fax facilities for those who cannot use a phone so that you can get your activation key that way. But this doesn't affect anyone with a full retail version which wasn't preactivated prior to purchase. The first post in this thread states you have to get the "get go" from MS before you start the process.That article (www.betanews.com) does use the words "first", but then go on to say "If a customer attempts to activate Windows XP with an OEM key from a COA, they will be directed to call customer support specialists to obtain an override code", which suggests you can reinstall up to the activation point. I think they have it wrong though with this statement; "Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox said the change shouldn't affect many PC buyers. "Seeing as how the typical OEM would normally preactivate Windows XP, most legitimate users shouldn't have much need to go through the activation process," noted Wilcox." Legitimate users are perfectly capable of breaking their OS to the point where a reinstall is required, and some do with great frequency. Legitimate users also like doing complete fresh reinstalls to perk up XP when it starts to drag it's heels after a while. |
Jen (38) | ||
| 328176 | 2005-02-25 23:28:00 | Managing to pick up one of the 'New' Rootkits means even more reinstalls to clean up the mess. It's also been generally easier to reformat & reinstall if you are trying to fix a friend's PC that's been online for months without updated protection. Are they trying to alienate all their user base? |
Sue (33) | ||
| 328177 | 2005-02-26 00:43:00 | Making a compressed image of your OS partition (or OS and programs if you prefer) will get individual users around their reactivation problems and save a lot of time on "reinstallations" as well, like 30 minutes or so to restore your OS, programs and all settings back to normal even after the most catastrophic infection or corruption. Use Ghost or any other imaging program of your choice and you are home and hosed. I accept that it won't work for those involved with servicing computers as a business (or at least, it can, but you shouldn't) but for home and small business users it is a no-brainer. The only proviso is that you need to either divide your HDD into OS/Program and Data-only partitions, or use a second HDD, otherwise the restoration of your OS image will wipe out your data. I do the latter, and use a second partition on the OS HDD to store data backups as insurance against a data disk failure. Likewise, a second partition on the data disk stores my OS images. For very few dollars and not much time and effort you can have a virtually disaster-proof computer. Cheers Billy 8-{) :2cents: |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 328178 | 2005-02-26 00:46:00 | Just to add to this mess...I have many customers running XP who don't, won't, can't, or simply refuse to reinstall, simply because they don't know how. They would prefer a technician to do it, even to the point of activation, as it's all too much for them. (computer illiterate). They also have told me that they don't want to talk to someone at Microsoft because the last time they did it was a person who could hardly understand english, let alone tell them how to reactivate XP. So I guess it's going to be me that spends lots of time with Microsoft, just to get their XP going again. And really I don't want to be on the phone all day talking, when there is other work I could be doing, to make money, not lose it, yakking on the phone. It sounds to me like a revenue gathering scheme. Regards Fred |
intel hunter (6666) | ||
| 328179 | 2005-02-26 03:41:00 | It sounds to me, as if they are trying to protect against pirates,of which there are a few. Why wouldn't you want to copy the best system in the world? :thumbs: |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 328180 | 2005-02-26 21:07:00 | As of the end of February, if you buy a OEM-Windows machine, and you want to reinstall for some reason, you need to get the OK from Microsoft to do so first. You have to call them up and answer a few questions over the phone. Story from Slashdot here (it.slashdot.org). It is meant to stop unscrupulous dealers from selling the same PID code over and over again. what a load of rubbish, you pay for software you own, and you should be able to do what ever you want with it. |
Prescott (11) | ||
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