Genuine Advantage Melarky

[Guest]

My problem is thus; I bought my computer from Time Computers Ltd. with a
restore disc to restore Windows. When I tried to restore last year, the
system failed and I was advised to return the PC to the vendor. The vendor
however, has gone into liquidation so I sourced a counterfeit copy of Windows
and installed it on my machine and now I'm getting bugged by the genuine
Windows thingy. Why should I have to buy Windows again when I already have a
valid holographic licence sticker stuck to the case of my machine?

 

[Tom Willett]

"so I sourced a counterfeit copy of Windows"

Didn't you answer your own question?

 

[Admiral Q]

message : My problem is thus; I bought my computer from Time Computers Ltd.
with a
: restore disc to restore Windows. When I tried to restore last
year, the
: system failed and I was advised to return the PC to the vendor.
The vendor
: however, has gone into liquidation so I sourced a counterfeit copy
of Windows
: and installed it on my machine and now I'm getting bugged by the
genuine
: Windows thingy. Why should I have to buy Windows again when I
already have a
: valid holographic licence sticker stuck to the case of my machine?


WGA doesn't know there is a genuine holographic sticker on the
side - it only knows what it reads in the registry - so bottom line,
reinstall using the OEM CD or go buy a retail upgrade WinXP Home/Pro
and install it. That's your choices. After all, you don't own the
WinXP OS, you are just paying MS to use a licensed copy of the OS.

--


Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!

Google is your friend!
http://www.google.com

 

[Vanguard]

My problem is thus; I bought my computer from Time Computers Ltd. with
a
restore disc to restore Windows. When I tried to restore last year,
the
system failed and I was advised to return the PC to the vendor. The
vendor
however, has gone into liquidation so I sourced a counterfeit copy of
Windows
and installed it on my machine and now I'm getting bugged by the
genuine
Windows thingy. Why should I have to buy Windows again when I already
have a
valid holographic licence sticker stuck to the case of my machine?

If you remove the license plate from your car and then proceed to drive
your car off a cliff, you really expect to still own a usable vehicle
just because you're holding onto the license plate. Now you have some
memorabilia to add to your collection. Since your restore operation
screwed up and since the OEM is no longer available to provide support
for that OEM version of Windows, your choice at this point is to suffer
WGA, buy a retail full or OEM version, or try to recover from whatever
problems occurred when you last tried to restore.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

If you open up this link: www.microsoft.com/genuine and click "Validate Windows", when you fail it should give you a button that
says "Get Genuine". If you click the button it should lead you to where you can order a WGA kit to replace your counterfeit copy of
Windows XP.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| My problem is thus; I bought my computer from Time Computers Ltd. with a
| restore disc to restore Windows. When I tried to restore last year, the
| system failed and I was advised to return the PC to the vendor. The vendor
| however, has gone into liquidation so I sourced a counterfeit copy of Windows
| and installed it on my machine and now I'm getting bugged by the genuine
| Windows thingy. Why should I have to buy Windows again when I already have a
| valid holographic licence sticker stuck to the case of my machine?

 

[Ron Martell]

My problem is thus; I bought my computer from Time Computers Ltd. with a
restore disc to restore Windows. When I tried to restore last year, the
system failed and I was advised to return the PC to the vendor. The vendor
however, has gone into liquidation so I sourced a counterfeit copy of Windows
and installed it on my machine and now I'm getting bugged by the genuine
Windows thingy. Why should I have to buy Windows again when I already have a
valid holographic licence sticker stuck to the case of my machine?

Your best bet would be to try to use the restore disk again, perhaps
on a different hard drive. A 40 to 80 gb hard drive will probably be
cheaper than a new copy of Windows.

If the restore disk will not work then you can probably get some
pretty good assistance from this or another newsgroup with the
specifics of that problem.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[John]

username132 wrote:
now I'm getting bugged by the genuine Windows thingy.

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/060615/
TOP STORY
Genuine Advantage is Microsoft spyware

 

[Guest]

since you have a halograph sticker on the machine, you probably also have the
product key for your windows as well. try to download "belarc advisor" and
it will analyze your system, show all the programs and all the licenses.....
the product key should show up too. enter it in your nag sceen and then call
the toll free number to activate / unnag your pc......

 

[Og]

since you have a halograph sticker on the machine, you probably also have
the
product key for your windows as well. try to download "belarc advisor"
and
it will analyze your system, show all the programs and all the
licenses.....
the product key should show up too. enter it in your nag sceen and then
call
the toll free number to activate / unnag your pc......

Utter Nonsense.
Most (if not all) pirated Win XP installations are Volume license version;
the OP either had (1.) a Retail version or (2.) an OEM version. Windows will
accept neither a Retail key nor an OEM key. (and versa visa).
Steve

 

[Guest]

well, i am not here to making any assumptions because neither you or i don't
have all the facts. instead i provided a suggestion that will help obtain
the product key id from the system. if the product key has been registered
by someone else, then it is reasonable to assume that username132 has a
conterfeit version. If username132 has a receipt showing that earnest money
was paid for the windows that came with the system and is also found on the
included recovery disks microsoft has a program that will help username132.
(unfortunately, recovery disks don't have a repair option, so using the
recovery disks would have meant loosing all previously installed programs and
all documents, pics, etc... made by the current system because the harddrive
would have been restored to the original state. so aquiring another windows,
conterfieit or not is sometimes not out of the question or reason if the
windows repair option was needed)

 

[demdike]

Lets forget about any assumptions and have some facts:
1) the Time restore disk is just hat -its NOT a Windows installation
CD. All it does is run a recovery routine using a hidden partition on
the hard drive. If the drive or partition dies, then the CD becomes
useless.
2) you cannot use the "product key" sticker to activate an OEM or
retail copy of windows. It will probably let you install it, you wont
be able to activate it. These volume licence keys are blocked by
Microsoft. All they are are certificates of authenticity - not keys
3) If you change the motherboard or flash the BIOS, the SLP string in
the BIOS DMI data to which the reload and image are locked is lost.
Either the machine wont reload, or activation will be required - which
of course wont work. There is a way round that by hacking the SLP DMI
string, but I wont go imto that here. The details ARE available on the
net elsewhere.
In short, spend the £80 and buy a copy of Media Centre 2005 - cheapest
way out of it.

 

[Brian Wescombe]

Lets forget about any assumptions and have some facts:
1) the Time restore disk is just hat -its NOT a Windows installation
CD. All it does is run a recovery routine using a hidden partition on
the hard drive. If the drive or partition dies, then the CD becomes
useless.
2) you cannot use the "product key" sticker to activate an OEM or
retail copy of windows. It will probably let you install it, you wont
be able to activate it. These volume licence keys are blocked by
Microsoft. All they are are certificates of authenticity - not keys

Wrong - if you use a generic unbranded XP CD, the COA sticker key will
activate using the automated telephone activation process.

 

[demdike]

Wrong - if you use a generic unbranded XP CD, the COA sticker key will
activate using the automated telephone activation process.

Sorry but you are wrong.
It USED to be true, but M$ blcked these from activating around 2 years
ago.
Too many people were using them install windows onto a second machine.
Believe me I've tried it.
If you search "The Register" you should find an artilce about the
change.
Demdike

 

[Brian Wescombe]

Sorry but you are wrong.
It USED to be true, but M$ blcked these from activating around 2 years
ago.
Too many people were using them install windows onto a second machine.
Believe me I've tried it.
If you search "The Register" you should find an artilce about the
change.
Demdike

Wrong - I've done it twice recently myself. Using my generic XP Home OEM CD,
I've installed onto an e-machines/Gateway PC and a HP laptop using the keys
from the COAs stuck to the cases. Both times I was able to activate using
the automated phone process. And I've not had any WGA notification pop-ups
either.

 

[Guest]

since you have a halograph sticker on the machine, you probably also have the
product key for your windows as well. try to download "belarc advisor" and
it will analyze your system, show all the programs and all the licenses.....
the product key should show up too. enter it in your nag sceen and then call
the toll free number to activate / unnag your pc......

 

[Guest]

I installed a new DVD writer and am getting the message to re activate my XP,
but it seems the activation file is corrupted. It tries to come up when I go
into XP but gives me an error message and then when i try to run 00be/msoobe
/a it gives me the same error message. I have only three days to activate.
What do I do?????

HELP!!!

 

[Guest]

Since there is a sticker on the machine with a product key, then it is likely
that you have an installation folder. Do you see a \i386 folder on your
drive? if so, then launch (or search for) winnt32.exe this will
reinstall windows. What you can also do is to search the net for the
website that made your pc. they usually have downloads and drivers specific
for your system. they may also have troubleshooting techniques regarding the
restore disks. It is unclear why your restore disks did not work.....

 

[Guest]

go ahead and reactivate it. i don't understand the problem since you have a
licensed version and a product key attached to your system.... what you
can also do is to obtain a wndows cd somehow, do a setup, then an install,
then select the option to repair. then activate it and if necessary provide
the key to the activator representative. Just tell them that you bought
the pc with windows preinstalled and it is the only computer with it....

But I would try again with the restore disks. Your pc should have a special
program that will either create a restore file or retrieve the data from the
restore file in order to restore your harddrive. this is called a disk image
so look for a special disk imaging software somewhere on your system.......
Again the website of your pc manufacturer may have FAQ's on how to access the
restore program or provide a copy to download it.

Here is a possible trick/tip to use that works on laptops with preinstalled
windows. During the booting of the pc, press and hold alt+f10 keys. If you
have a hidden partition on your drive, then it will may launch a restore
session, whereby it will ask you to insert the restore disks.......
however, this only works if there is a special directory on you harddrive.
The website can probably provide info of this procedure if it applies to your
system....

 

[Guest]

if you get any popups, cancel them including free registry checking, etc....
just work with the fresh diagnose.

 

[demdike]

I installed a new DVD writer and am getting the message to re activate my XP,
but it seems the activation file is corrupted. It tries to come up when I go
into XP but gives me an error message and then when i try to run 00be/msoobe
/a it gives me the same error message. I have only three days to activate.
What do I do?????

HELP!!!

What is the actual error code? And who is the system manufacturer? And
have you just flashed the BIOS? If its a system locked preload, and you
flash the BIOS, in most cases the DMI string gets wiped and the
pre-activation fails. As I said before, trying then to activate using
the key off the sticker wont work.
Difficult to give more advice without knoing the exact error message.
Demdike