Going Legal...

[munter]

Heres a purely fictional scenario I'm raising on behalf of a friend.

Say you have a PC that installs a windows update which tells you that your copy of XP isnt a licenced proper copy. (Obviously you were previously unaware of this fact having purchased the machine pre installed at a car boot sale). Could you buy a OEM edition of XP and boot from the CD and do a repair installation to turn it into a fully payed up licenced copy?

[Jspesh]

You could change the licence key to the legal one using a utility which could easily be found using google.

[munter]

Ta for that! Didn't realise those utilities exised. Now to find the cheapest copy of Win XP pro OEM i can find.

Cheers

[size13]

Purely hyperthetically, you could buy it from Ebuyer for £88.15
www.ebuyer.co.uk/UK/product/97544/rb/18939714753

thats the cheapest I can find it.

[annodomini2]

Jspesh said:

You could change the licence key to the legal one using a utility which could easily be found using google.

There are also ways around above said update.

[ATG]

the legit convert-to-legal courtesy of Msft is something like £80

[munter]

ATG said:

the legit convert-to-legal courtesy of Msft is something like £80

It might be if it worked.... When I click on Get Legal or whatever it says then nothing happens...just boots up as normal... So looks like E-buyer and then at least I have a CD for the 6 monthly re-install anyway.

[munter]

munter said:

ATG said: the legit convert-to-legal courtesy of Msft is something like £80 It might be if it worked.... When I click on Get Legal or whatever it says then nothing happens...just boots up as normal... So looks like E-buyer and then at least I have a CD for the 6 monthly re-install anyway.

Got it working in the end. You have to use IE rather than firefox.... gerr. Anyway it's £92 and they send you a CD. Ebuyer by the time you add VAT and delivery is £92.60.

[Muncher]

The annoying message can be removed pretty easily if it is coming up in error

[__LEE__]

I get confussed who's who, when you both start posting!

Why do you need to go legit all of a sudden?

[thepassenger]

__LEE__ said:

Why do you need to go legit all of a sudden?

Well given the hypothetical nature of the issue, I'd suggest that his friend is having major guilt pangs about depriving some poor mankysoft tech in Mumbai or whereever they moved the main grunt programming work to, of his £100. Or perhaps he is now over the pure blind rage that was the "stable and user friendly" Windows 95A.

Although more than likley the "Windows Genuine Advantage Tool" has landed on his system and is not throwing out all manner of messages along with shutting down his access to Windows Update.

[Major Bloodnok]

munter said:

munter said: ATG said: the legit convert-to-legal courtesy of Msft is something like £80 It might be if it worked.... When I click on Get Legal or whatever it says then nothing happens...just boots up as normal... So looks like E-buyer and then at least I have a CD for the 6 monthly re-install anyway. Got it working in the end. You have to use IE rather than firefox.... gerr. Anyway it's £92 and they send you a CD. Ebuyer by the time you add VAT and delivery is £92.60.

Install IE Tab [url]https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/[/url]. Whenever you get to an irritating site, just click on the little icon in the status bar, and presto! IE in a firefox tab. You can even give it site address patterns that it will automatically render in IE whenever you go there (e.g. *.microsoft.com)

[Major Bloodnok]

Dang! How do you get links to work?

[munter]

thepassenger said:

Although more than likley the "Windows Genuine Advantage Tool" has landed on his system and is not throwing out all manner of messages along with shutting down his access to Windows Update.

Yep that'd be it. And every couple of mins when it decides to inform you if your running something thats taken over the whole screen (e.g. a game) it dumps you onto the desktop....nice

[touchingcloth]

munter said:

thepassenger said: Although more than likley the "Windows Genuine Advantage Tool" has landed on his system and is not throwing out all manner of messages along with shutting down his access to Windows Update. Yep that'd be it. And every couple of mins when it decides to inform you if your running something thats taken over the whole screen (e.g. a game) it dumps you onto the desktop....nice

System restore to a week or so ago and you will uninstall the nasty update. Then turn off autoupdates. I think you can then still do manual updates via windows updates on the web anyway and choose the ones you want.

[GreenV8S]

You should be able to get a copy of XP SP2 OEM for under £60 all in if you shop around. You'll need to buy some qualifying hardware, which normally means a 50p mouse.