Busted! (In more way than one)

[MadMike]

My only concern with that, is what happens if the HDD fails and I have to replace it? I have no restoration XP CD's for this laptop (it's a Dell BTW.)

I'd much rather have the CD's as a backup.

You might want to check and see if there's a way to make a CD from that. I have no experience with this myself, since I build my own, but I did hear that they include some way to burn your own recovery CD, in case your hard drive does happen to die.

Still, it would piss me off that they're too cheap to include a damn CD. What do those things cost to make anyway, a few cents?

[gijoecam]

You might want to check and see if there's a way to make a CD from that. I have no experience with this myself, since I build my own, but I did hear that they include some way to burn your own recovery CD, in case your hard drive does happen to die.

Still, it would piss me off that they're too cheap to include a damn CD. What do those things cost to make anyway, a few cents?

IIRC, there was a class-action lawsuit a few years ago against one of the big OEM PC builders... (Dell comes to mind, but don't quote me on that) The net result was that if you buy a OC from an OEM with Windows installed, you are entitled to an install CD (for a nominal fee that, last I checked, ran around $20). My fiancee has a PC from EMachines that we ordered the restore CD for just a couple weeks ago. Still haven't reinstalled it.

As for the XP authenticity issue, there's a crack available for that too. I forget the file name, but it's aWinRAR compressed file. I installed it on my PC and Laptop and it solved that problem... not sure how it works, but it works.

-Joe

[Mr. Rude]

All you need to do is set automatic update to "download but let me choose when to install"...

Then, check the list of items as the prompts arrive. Unclick the "genuine advantage" one, install & presto. Just make sure you click the "do not remind me about this item" box.

[MadMike]

All you need to do is set automatic update to "download but let me choose when to install"...

Then, check the list of items as the prompts arrive. Unclick the "genuine advantage" one, install & presto. Just make sure you click the "do not remind me about this item" box.

That's what I've been doing as well. Somehow, it managed to sneak its way onto my wife's machine, but ZoneAlarm alerted me to it, and I downloaded something to remove it.

Interestingly enough, I haven't seen it listed at all lately when either of our machines updated. I recently reformatted mine, which meant I had to re-download every single update, and that one was not listed. Hmm.

[protege]

That's what I've been doing as well. Somehow, it managed to sneak its way onto my wife's machine, but ZoneAlarm alerted me to it, and I downloaded something to remove it.

Interestingly enough, I haven't seen it listed at all lately when either of our machines updated. I recently reformatted mine, which meant I had to re-download every single update, and that one was not listed. Hmm.

Maybe Micro$haft included that update inside another one? I've set all the machines at work to "manually update" but I haven't seen the Genuine Advantage one show up on all of them--only some of the older machines.

[LostMyMind]

There was 2 different "genuine advantage" release. The first one had privacy issues, so a second one was release to replace that.

You probably got rid of the first only to get hit by the second.

[Rapscallion]

I think the second came in as a critical update.

Nice definition of 'critical'.

Still, I'm legit, so I don't care.

Rapscallion

[Sonoma]

IIRC, there was a class-action lawsuit a few years ago against one of the big OEM PC builders... (Dell comes to mind, but don't quote me on that) The net result was that if you buy a OC from an OEM with Windows installed, you are entitled to an install CD (for a nominal fee that, last I checked, ran around $20). My fiancee has a PC from EMachines that we ordered the restore CD for just a couple weeks ago. Still haven't reinstalled it.

As for the XP authenticity issue, there's a crack available for that too. I forget the file name, but it's aWinRAR compressed file. I installed it on my PC and Laptop and it solved that problem... not sure how it works, but it works.

-Joe

I just bought a laptop from Dell last month. When you build it, you have the option of paying ($9 or $10) for a backup copy of the OS. The system does come w/ system restore software, but I like having the actual CDs.

[protege]

There was 2 different "genuine advantage" release. The first one had privacy issues, so a second one was release to replace that.

You probably got rid of the first only to get hit by the second.

That explains things

Does the second version still check if the copy is "genuine" each and every time you turn on the computer? I just installed a legal copy of XP last night, and haven't done the updates yet. Of course that wasn't without problems; it took the better part of 3 hours to back things up, and an additional hour or so to install XP. While I was at it, I found that my NetGear wireless network drivers will crash the computer

[LostMyMind]

Yep, the "genuine" checker still loads every time you boot up and runs continually.

I'm legit, however I don't want crap running on my computer to "make sure I'm legit". That dumb as hell.

On a side note, the "genuine" checker seems to disappear from the list of updates. It's not there anymore (and I don't have it installed). I'm guessing some lawyer got nervous.

[Bliss]

You might want to check and see if there's a way to make a CD from that. I have no experience with this myself, since I build my own, but I did hear that they include some way to burn your own recovery CD, in case your hard drive does happen to die.

The easiest way to do this is to install a base working and fully configured system, and then boot from a CD of Norton Ghost and make an Image on CD, it works a charm. Altough Norton Ghost can be a little expensive to someone not working with computers weekly or monthly, but it is one of the best programs I've seen from Symantec since Peter Norton left the company. (I come from the original norton tools days, and norton commander, and Q-Dos)

[LostMyMind]

norton commander was a life saver in those days. Didn't care much for Q-Dos through.

[Dimensio]

My copy of Windows XP Professional (I won't touch Home) is covered by a university agreement (employees are allowed one home installation of software covered by the agreement). This is convenient, because I tend to build my own machines and thus I have a legitimate copy ready to use. Also, because I build my own, I'm not subject to a "Microsoft tax" forcing me to pay for an OS to which I already have a license.

I've not had to reinstall in years (I had an Audigy driver hose my system about 6 months after installing XP and I had to reinstall). My system tends to stay rather clean. This is likely because I don't run under an Administrator account all the time. You'll find that you're far less vulnerable to rootkits, trojans, viruses and spyware if you don't run under an account that has full Admin rights at all times.


It also might help that I only use Windows for gaming. Any 'productivity' work gets done in Debian.