Great news from Adobe!!

Glen Elliott · July 8th, 2003, 07:25 AM

So let me get this right- say if I reformat my machine...will I have problems activating XP automatically like I did the first time I built my machine and installed XP.
Conversly, if I decide to upgrade...say...my CPU, what will happen. Will I have to physically call Microsoft to get a new activation code or something.

Granted I can understand why they do it this way- it cuts down on pirating a heck of alot- though they should weight the benefits of such a design. They might be losing more customers with this invasivness then they would have from piraters.

Jeff Natalie · July 8th, 2003, 07:42 AM

Yes, that may be necessary. Although, I had significant problems with my older machine, explained it to the tech support guy and after several formats and reinstalls never had to call again (although I had to activate it each time.)

Glen Elliott · July 8th, 2003, 07:55 AM

Then in what instance would you "have" to call? Couldn't I just change whatever I wanted after reformatting my machine and just click activate?
Or do they have a data-base that'll notice some hardware was changed and ask you to call?

K. Forman · July 8th, 2003, 08:27 AM

New stuff comes out all the time, old stuff dies. Or, I just feel like swapping stuff out to try and gain a little more stability. Why should I have to keep going back to MS everytime? It's almost enough to make me look at -gasp- Mac! Oh, the horror!

Glen Elliott · July 8th, 2003, 10:12 AM

*gasp*....the dark side? Don't do it Keith!

Hans Henrik Bang · July 8th, 2003, 11:07 AM

It seemed that I ran out of XP activation tries after 3 activations of XP.

Fortunately I have a stack of unused OEM versions from work, where new PCs come with XP license, but have Win 2000 installed on them instead, so I just moved down to the next serial number I had instead of bothering to call Microsoft.

Hans Henrik

Bill Ravens · July 8th, 2003, 11:38 AM

you guys are kinda paranoid. Given M$'s history, I can understand why, however, there are several guides on the web describing how to insure that you're not sending any private info to M$. It's really not a problem, except when you have to re-install an OS...then you have to call M$, describe what you're doing, and they'll give you more activations. It's really so simple and NON invasive, it's silly to NOT do it.

K. Forman · July 8th, 2003, 01:35 PM

"It's really not a problem, except when you have to re-install an OS...then you have to call M$, describe what you're doing, and they'll give you more activations"

And you don't find THAT silly?

Bill Ravens · July 8th, 2003, 01:47 PM

indeed...but not enuff so that i won't use win XP. The improvements are way to good.

Alex Taylor · July 8th, 2003, 08:06 PM

It's not as bad as people make it out to be. I re-installed XP Home on my secondary machine a few weeks ago and I didn't have to reactivate it at all, after formatting the hard drive and removing a few PCI cards. The only time it will make you re-activate is when you change either the motherboard or the CPU. I believe you can change whatever else you want and it will still be fine.

Jeff Natalie · July 8th, 2003, 09:10 PM

Alex,
I'm not sure that is accurate in technical terms but very well may be in practical ones. You are supposed to have flexibility to make 5 changes before you need to reactivate.

Bill Ravens · July 8th, 2003, 10:25 PM

actually, if you make duplicate copies of the files WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/WPA.* and WPABALN and store them somewhere else. if you ever need to re-install your OS, all you have to do is copy the copies back into the new install and voila!! This only works as long as you've made no hardware changes to your system. The license key tracks harware config.

Nick Glenister · July 10th, 2003, 03:08 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Glen Elliott : So let me get this right-
Granted I can understand why they do it this way- it cuts down on pirating a heck of alot- though they should weight the benefits of such a design. They might be losing more customers with this invasivness then they would have from piraters. -->>>

Thepirated version of WinXP was, believe it or not, available before the offical release of WinXP thus making the registration total redundant as a anti-piracy tool.

There was a picture on the Internet of a guy (presumably the Cracker) holding a copy of the "Devils own" cracked version of WinXP in front of the Offical countdown timer marking the release of WinXP.

So in this repect I agree that the registration of XP is pointless and inconvenient as its failed in its primary purpose; on a individual user basis. It does however prevent companies from installing one copy of XP on all of their machines which I'm led to believe is the thing Microsoft was mostly concerned about.

Us single users are small potatos to them, most of people having bought a prebuilt machine with a image of Windows on a restore disc instead of the proper deal and its unlikely that they would ever upgrade (and even more unlikely that it would work =o)).

For what its worth i would recommend that you reinstall Windows if you ever change the motherboard (not so much the processor). I didn't do it once on an old Win 95 machine simply swapping the hard Disk over and it took at least an hour to search through and identify all of the busses and controllers and it never worked properly even then.

But all in all i still stress that XP is far better than any previous Windows version, and urge everyone to upgrade (any Microsoft bob reading who wants to pay me for saying that feel free).

Regards

Bill Ravens · July 10th, 2003, 07:09 AM

hey, let's face it!!! Bill Gates and Micro$oft have to be one of the most disliked personas in history....does he rank with Attila? hardly, but, close enuff. Anyway, he holds the monopoly on this technology. Until a bigger dog comes along(and then we can all hate him), we're stuck with the whims of M$. I've used UNIX, and beleive me, it's a funky system. So, bite the bullet, live with the small inconveniences, just get rid of that Windoze 98....it's a total disaster.

K. Forman · July 10th, 2003, 07:31 AM

There is only one reason I continue to use Win98, and that is for older programs and games. I use a very old, and now very dead, 3D program. It will work in Win2K, but actually does better in Win98. The same goes for Microsoft Works, which will not work in Win2K.

As far as Video, I only use Win2K. I am relatively pleased with 2K, and from what I have read and heard about XP, it ain't worth changing to. Just the hassle of having to go through Microsoft to use it is an inconvenience.

If I don't choose to register at all, that is my choice, not theirs. If I were to ever switch, I would proudly use a Pirated version that has the registration disabled, just to show my disdain with the whole process.

July 8th, 2003, 08:06 PM	#25
Alex Taylor Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 390	It's not as bad as people make it out to be. I re-installed XP Home on my secondary machine a few weeks ago and I didn't have to reactivate it at all, after formatting the hard drive and removing a few PCI cards. The only time it will make you re-activate is when you change either the motherboard or the CPU. I believe you can change whatever else you want and it will still be fine. __________________ alextaylor.org

July 8th, 2003, 07:25 AM	#16
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	So let me get this right- say if I reformat my machine...will I have problems activating XP automatically like I did the first time I built my machine and installed XP. Conversly, if I decide to upgrade...say...my CPU, what will happen. Will I have to physically call Microsoft to get a new activation code or something. Granted I can understand why they do it this way- it cuts down on pirating a heck of alot- though they should weight the benefits of such a design. They might be losing more customers with this invasivness then they would have from piraters.

July 8th, 2003, 07:42 AM	#17
Jeff Natalie Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Erie PA Posts: 29	Yes, that may be necessary. Although, I had significant problems with my older machine, explained it to the tech support guy and after several formats and reinstalls never had to call again (although I had to activate it each time.)

July 8th, 2003, 07:55 AM	#18
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Then in what instance would you "have" to call? Couldn't I just change whatever I wanted after reformatting my machine and just click activate? Or do they have a data-base that'll notice some hardware was changed and ask you to call?

July 8th, 2003, 08:27 AM	#19
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	New stuff comes out all the time, old stuff dies. Or, I just feel like swapping stuff out to try and gain a little more stability. Why should I have to keep going back to MS everytime? It's almost enough to make me look at -gasp- Mac! Oh, the horror!

July 8th, 2003, 10:12 AM	#20
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	gasp....the dark side? Don't do it Keith!

July 8th, 2003, 11:07 AM	#21
Hans Henrik Bang Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Frederiksberg, Denmark Posts: 133	It seemed that I ran out of XP activation tries after 3 activations of XP. Fortunately I have a stack of unused OEM versions from work, where new PCs come with XP license, but have Win 2000 installed on them instead, so I just moved down to the next serial number I had instead of bothering to call Microsoft. Hans Henrik

July 8th, 2003, 11:38 AM	#22
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	you guys are kinda paranoid. Given M$'s history, I can understand why, however, there are several guides on the web describing how to insure that you're not sending any private info to M$. It's really not a problem, except when you have to re-install an OS...then you have to call M$, describe what you're doing, and they'll give you more activations. It's really so simple and NON invasive, it's silly to NOT do it.

July 8th, 2003, 01:35 PM	#23
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	"It's really not a problem, except when you have to re-install an OS...then you have to call M$, describe what you're doing, and they'll give you more activations" And you don't find THAT silly?

July 8th, 2003, 01:47 PM	#24
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	indeed...but not enuff so that i won't use win XP. The improvements are way to good.

July 8th, 2003, 09:10 PM	#26
Jeff Natalie Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Erie PA Posts: 29	Alex, I'm not sure that is accurate in technical terms but very well may be in practical ones. You are supposed to have flexibility to make 5 changes before you need to reactivate.

July 8th, 2003, 10:25 PM	#27
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	actually, if you make duplicate copies of the files WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/WPA.* and WPABALN and store them somewhere else. if you ever need to re-install your OS, all you have to do is copy the copies back into the new install and voila!! This only works as long as you've made no hardware changes to your system. The license key tracks harware config.

July 10th, 2003, 03:08 AM	#28
Nick Glenister Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: UK - Norfolk Posts: 95	<<<-- Originally posted by Glen Elliott : So let me get this right- Granted I can understand why they do it this way- it cuts down on pirating a heck of alot- though they should weight the benefits of such a design. They might be losing more customers with this invasivness then they would have from piraters. -->>> Thepirated version of WinXP was, believe it or not, available before the offical release of WinXP thus making the registration total redundant as a anti-piracy tool. There was a picture on the Internet of a guy (presumably the Cracker) holding a copy of the "Devils own" cracked version of WinXP in front of the Offical countdown timer marking the release of WinXP. So in this repect I agree that the registration of XP is pointless and inconvenient as its failed in its primary purpose; on a individual user basis. It does however prevent companies from installing one copy of XP on all of their machines which I'm led to believe is the thing Microsoft was mostly concerned about. Us single users are small potatos to them, most of people having bought a prebuilt machine with a image of Windows on a restore disc instead of the proper deal and its unlikely that they would ever upgrade (and even more unlikely that it would work =o)). For what its worth i would recommend that you reinstall Windows if you ever change the motherboard (not so much the processor). I didn't do it once on an old Win 95 machine simply swapping the hard Disk over and it took at least an hour to search through and identify all of the busses and controllers and it never worked properly even then. But all in all i still stress that XP is far better than any previous Windows version, and urge everyone to upgrade (any Microsoft bob reading who wants to pay me for saying that feel free). Regards

July 10th, 2003, 07:09 AM	#29
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	hey, let's face it!!! Bill Gates and Micro$oft have to be one of the most disliked personas in history....does he rank with Attila? hardly, but, close enuff. Anyway, he holds the monopoly on this technology. Until a bigger dog comes along(and then we can all hate him), we're stuck with the whims of M$. I've used UNIX, and beleive me, it's a funky system. So, bite the bullet, live with the small inconveniences, just get rid of that Windoze 98....it's a total disaster.

July 10th, 2003, 07:31 AM	#30
K. Forman Capt. Quirk Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Middle of the woods in Georgia Posts: 3,596	There is only one reason I continue to use Win98, and that is for older programs and games. I use a very old, and now very dead, 3D program. It will work in Win2K, but actually does better in Win98. The same goes for Microsoft Works, which will not work in Win2K. As far as Video, I only use Win2K. I am relatively pleased with 2K, and from what I have read and heard about XP, it ain't worth changing to. Just the hassle of having to go through Microsoft to use it is an inconvenience. If I don't choose to register at all, that is my choice, not theirs. If I were to ever switch, I would proudly use a Pirated version that has the registration disabled, just to show my disdain with the whole process.