New authcode EVERY time I install?

[Gordon Price]

I just reinstalled XP on my home machine, which is EXACTLY the same machine
it was before. I have no internet connection (grad student on 20 hour work
week cost cutting measure) so when I installed last time I had to call MS
and get an auth code. When I installed this time, the code to provide to MS
was different, forcing me to AGAIN listen to the world's most annoying voice
mail, and get a new auth code. Now I thought the code the install generates
was based on the hardware in the machine, so I expected to be able to use
the old auth code. No such luck. Any reinstall seemingly will require pain
and suffering. Is this what MS intended, to annoy the !@#$% out of users, or
do they just assume that everyone has an internet connection and anyone who
doesn't is hosed?
Makes me wonder if I could do my thesis work on a Linux word processor.

Gordon

 

[Andrew]

If you do go to linux, I suggest Latek. Works well for me.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I just reinstalled XP on my home machine, which is EXACTLY the same machine
it was before. I have no internet connection (grad student on 20 hour work
week cost cutting measure) so when I installed last time I had to call MS
and get an auth code. When I installed this time, the code to provide toMS
was different, forcing me to AGAIN listen to the world's most annoying voice
mail, and get a new auth code. Now I thought the code the install generates
was based on the hardware in the machine, so I expected to be able to use
the old auth code.

When you do an activation by phoning in, the two numbers exchanged
include a time indication, so are different on each occasion.

But why are you needing to do it by phoning in? If you reformat and
reinstall, the record on your machine has of course been deleted, so you
need to activate again. But subsequent occasions on the same hardware
should go through on the net just like the first. You get on the net,
run
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Activate Windows
take Activate on the internet now, and it takes maybe 30 seconds.

If you do a 'repair' reinstall, you should not even need to do that -
and it might be asked why are you feeling you should reinstall
frequently anyway - it should *not* be a piece of routine maintenance

 

[Gordon Price]

I just reinstalled XP on my home machine, which is EXACTLY the same machine
it was before. I have no internet connection (grad student on 20 hour work
week cost cutting measure) so when I installed last time I had to call MS
and get an auth code. When I installed this time, the code to provide to MS
was different, forcing me to AGAIN listen to the world's most annoying voice
mail, and get a new auth code. Now I thought the code the install generates
was based on the hardware in the machine, so I expected to be able to use
the old auth code.

When you do an activation by phoning in, the two numbers exchanged
include a time indication, so are different on each occasion.

But why are you needing to do it by phoning in? If you reformat and
reinstall, the record on your machine has of course been deleted, so you
need to activate again. But subsequent occasions on the same hardware
should go through on the net just like the first. You get on the net,
run
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Activate Windows
take Activate on the internet now, and it takes maybe 30 seconds.

If you do a 'repair' reinstall, you should not even need to do that -
and it might be asked why are you feeling you should reinstall
frequently anyway - it should *not* be a piece of routine maintenance

No internet access at home. Grad student on 20 hour work weeks means food comes first. No land line phone either (Qwest sucks). As for regular reinstalls, sometimes it is needed, like when the topic you are working on for your Thesis specifically involves OS setup The net result is there is no reason for the time to be included in that number, and MS is just @#$%ing us. At least with the OS you can call in. I tried the 30 day demo of Publisher to see if it could handle the graphic load, and you CAN'T use the 30 day demo without an internet connection. It seems the dorks in the Office devision don't know about the phone based OS authorization that actually requires no human being to make a living. If it wasn't for AutoCAD being Windows only, I would seriously consider dumping MS. What a crock.

Gordon