Validation of XP

[Guest]

We have 3 PC's at home. We each have a copy of the XP CD, all purchased and
real.

My 12 year old has had problems requiring frequent reinstall's etc. I
suspect she gets nasty files via chat.

Anyway. She now gets a message saying the CD has been used too many times
and cannot be used again. Why? We paid for it?

How do I fix this, or rather how does Microsoft fix this. My 12 year old's
immediate reaction was "Why do we use this platform if they cheat us out of
our software?".

Help!

 

[Marcin Domaslawski]

Hi,

It's only little protection to scare someone who gives his serial number
others. Just dial to call center and an lady will give you activation code
at all.

Marcin Domaslawski

 

[LVTravel]

And once you get the software reinstalled on the computer also purchase and
install a cloning program to clone a properly activated, uninfected version
of the hard drive onto a USB hard drive that you can also purchase. When
the 12 year old gets all the nasty files again simply overwrite the hard
drive and you don't have to reinstall and reactivate.

Of course the real fix is to monitor your 12 year old's messaging and
computer use. If she is getting nastys on her computer who is she talking
to and where is she going on the computer? Obviously not anyplace I would
want a minor to be.

 

[nl]

We have 3 PC's at home. We each have a copy of the XP CD, all purchased and
real.

My 12 year old has had problems requiring frequent reinstall's etc. I
suspect she gets nasty files via chat.

Anyway. She now gets a message saying the CD has been used too many times
and cannot be used again. Why? We paid for it?

How do I fix this, or rather how does Microsoft fix this. My 12 year old's
immediate reaction was "Why do we use this platform if they cheat us out of
our software?".

Help!

If my 12 year old's PC needed constant re-installation of the OS, I
would tell him not to blame microsoft but (a) to stop downloading crap
off the net that screws up his machine and (b) that either he or his
parent (wait! That'd be me!) should install decent
antispy/virus/nastyware as a basic preventative measure.

And I should add that if you find nastyware that screws up your OS on
your kid's machine there's a good chance that there are some pretty
unsavoury websites in the history as well (I speak from experience).

I cannot stand those people who preach at other PC parents about how
to raise their kids, so I won't. I just tell you that frequent
reinstalls are a symptom of very poor 'PC hygiene' which needs to be
addressed urgently. Be grateful for the wake-up call from Microsoft,
even if that's not how they meant it.

In the meantime, when the OS says you can't install it anymore
(unusual unless your kid's given the XP authorisation number to
someone else with a non-legit copy of Windows) phone up the helpline
the verification routine gives you and plod through the manual
verification procedure. no-one wll give you a hard time. It is there
to help prevent piracy by making manual authorisations a
time-consuming pain in the ass.

hth

 

[Guest]

Thanks to Martin and LV. I appreciate your quick and accurate advice.

To NL. You preach and rant and then say you hate parents who do that. Mirror
time.

As to your supposed reply. All virus, spyware detection and firewall
software is current and up to date. Always. Yours?

It's a she and she only uses Microsoft Messenger and does not download other
files on her PC. If she wants that she does it on my PC with my supervision
and agreement. So I suspect any nasties come through a Microsoft product.

And no she doesn't go to the nasty sites you talk about. Of course we
monitor what she does.

It is only my suspicion that there are nasty files through chat, which you
will note is Microsoft.

Get off your preaching soapbox and get a life.


Sickened parent, by NL that is.

 

[Guest]

I don't believe you can get a "nasty" by just using a chat program such as
MSN. Same as ICQ, YM, ect. . Some type of file transfer would have to take
place. Could be she just downloaded some music, or someone sent her a file
which was infected (if thats what caused the problem). Also, not every nasty
comes from adult sites. I've seen them come from sites which pose as fan
sites (music/movies), computer sites, even one selling furniture. Though
don't blame micro$oft if you ever get infected, blame your security software
for not doing it's job (anti-virus, malware, and so on).

 

[GO]

If my 12 year old's PC needed constant re-installation of the OS, I
would tell him not to blame microsoft but (a) to stop downloading crap
off the net that screws up his machine and (b) that either he or his
parent (wait! That'd be me!) should install decent
antispy/virus/nastyware as a basic preventative measure.

And I should add that if you find nastyware that screws up your OS on
your kid's machine there's a good chance that there are some pretty
unsavoury websites in the history as well (I speak from experience).

I cannot stand those people who preach at other PC parents about how
to raise their kids, so I won't. I just tell you that frequent
reinstalls are a symptom of very poor 'PC hygiene' which needs to be
addressed urgently. Be grateful for the wake-up call from Microsoft,
even if that's not how they meant it.

In the meantime, when the OS says you can't install it anymore
(unusual unless your kid's given the XP authorisation number to
someone else with a non-legit copy of Windows) phone up the helpline
the verification routine gives you and plod through the manual
verification procedure. no-one wll give you a hard time. It is there
to help prevent piracy by making manual authorisations a
time-consuming pain in the ass.

hth

So it's the user's fault that MS has released an OS that is prone to
viruses/malware? I agree that everyone should practice safe surfing habits
but MS is certainly to blame for all this mess Granted, we will never be
truly rid of viruses but it certainly shouldn't be as big a problem as we
see today.

 

[Guest]

it's very easy to cause a system to go nuts using some type of malware via
IRC, I have experienced this in the past, someone savy caused my system to
not only close messenger but log me off and reboot the system, I no longer
use IRC, nor chatrooms, but by experience I can tell you things can be
installed via messanger
and without having to go to a improper site nor chat room.

 

[GO]

And to take that one step further...you should create a limited user account
for the child

 

[nl]

Thanks to Martin and LV. I appreciate your quick and accurate advice.

To NL. You preach and rant and then say you hate parents who do that. Mirror
time.

I did say that I learned these lesson from my own experience, so I'm
not in a position to preach to anyone. I'm just telling you that you
usually don't have to re-install your OS unless there is something
seriously wrong either with your protection or your kid's browsing
habits. My kids chat to mates on MSN and I've never had to re-install
the OS once.

I did once have to clean off a Trojan that appeared when my son
downloaded a program recommended by his best friend, whom I had not
realised was such an idiot.

It is possible there is some activity going on your daughter is not
aware of, maybe because she clicked on something and nothing appeared
to happen, and she forgot about it.

As to your supposed reply. All virus, spyware detection and firewall
software is current and up to date. Always. Yours?

Yes! I'm not the one on Usenet asking for help!

It's a she and she only uses Microsoft Messenger and does not download other
files on her PC. If she wants that she does it on my PC with my supervision
and agreement. So I suspect any nasties come through a Microsoft product.

And no she doesn't go to the nasty sites you talk about. Of course we
monitor what she does.

You said you 'suspect she get nasty files via chat' which suggests
you're not monitoring her that closely.

It is only my suspicion that there are nasty files through chat, which you
will note is Microsoft.

Get off your preaching soapbox and get a life.

Gimme a break - you complain your kid's system is so screwed up you're
constantly having to re-install the OS, and when a fellow parent tries
to offer you advice from their own experience about proper protection
for anyone using the Net you get all defensive and accuse me of
preaching. I'm not passing judgement on you or your offspring and I'm
not telling you what's right or what's wrong. I'm offering advice on
how to prevent this situation re-occuring.

(Go to a software forum and start a thread about any Net Nanny type
program. You'll find yourself barracked from all sides by idiots
telling you how to raise your children. That's what I can't abide and
that's what I was trying - clearly without success - not to do.)

A final note, on a completely different tack:

If you have had to reinstall the OS several times, and your daughter
has never given the XP authorisation number to someone else, and now
the authorisation routine is claiming that you cannot use this
validation number any more, you might have a hardware problem.

The validation number is generated by the machine itself from the
hardware in the box. If the system has not been changed substantially
then the same authorisation code should work every time. If the
routine keeps failing because it thinks it's finding different
hardware -ie thinks it's in a new machine - it could be a sign of a
faulty motherboard where components are failing.

This would account for bizarre system failures and constant
re-installs of the OS, without any dodgy software being downloaded
from anywhere by any user. So you might want to consider that.

Good luck.

 

[GO]

I tend to agree with this. While bugs/security vulnerabilities are found in
chatting software from time to time I would hazard to guess something else
is at fault. Downloading from P2P networks (Kazaa, eMule, etc) can be a
quick way to compromise a system. If your daughter is unaware of what's
causing the problem then I would suggest locking down the computer (at least
temporarily) until you can pin down the source. Have them run within a
limited/regular user account, use an alternate browser (Firefox, Opera,
etc), use an alternate chat client (eg Miranda, Trillian).

 

[Rock]

We have 3 PC's at home. We each have a copy of the XP CD, all purchased
and
real.

My 12 year old has had problems requiring frequent reinstall's etc. I
suspect she gets nasty files via chat.

Anyway. She now gets a message saying the CD has been used too many times
and cannot be used again. Why? We paid for it?

How do I fix this, or rather how does Microsoft fix this. My 12 year old's
immediate reaction was "Why do we use this platform if they cheat us out
of
our software?".

For the activation question, that message is misleading. What it really
means is that you have to activate by telephone. Start activation again and
when it is refused over the net choose the telephone activation.

As to your issue of needing constant reinstalls, it seems you are going
about this reactively instead of proactively.

First thing to do is after the system is installed with all apps working and
with a 3rd party firewall, AV program and antispyware apps, image the system
to an external hard drive using Acronis True Image version 10. Then if
something damages the installation you can restore this image and be back
running, without needing activation, in about an hour. ATI also does file
backup and disk cloning. You can save this base image, then image the
system regularly and do file backup as an added measure of protection for
the data, but know that if the system get's infected any backups made of the
data after the time of infection are suspect and shouldn't be used. So keep
that initial clean system image in a separate location.

Here are some links for practicing safe hex, and dealing with malware. You
daughter's account should be a limited user account. You can't blame the OS
for the problems. She needs to learn not to click on and install every
interesting looking screen saver or file her friends send her. It's not
that hard to keep a system clean, it just takes some common sense.

Besides a good AV program there should be several programs that deal with
non viral malware. Also in addition to the resident AV scanner you could
install a second AV program to run occasionally on demand, as a double
check.

For AV, avoid Norton or McAfee. I use AVast (free). Some like AVG (free);
NOD32 and Kaspersky, both paid, are excellent.

For non viral malware there is Ad-Aware (new version 2007 just released),
SpyBot S&D, Windows Defender, SUPERAntiSpyware, AVG AntiSpyware, BHO Demon,
Spyware Blaster (this is passive protection to prevent malware from being
installed), and HijackThis, to name some of them.

For firewall I recommend either Sunbelt Software's Kerio Personal Firewall
(free and paid) or Comodo Personal Firewall (free).

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html#III

http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html

Why did I get infected in the first place
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971

Protect Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/

Malware Removal
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Windows is no more "prone" to viruses & malware than any other OS that can
do comparable tasks. It's just the main game in town and therefore the
biggest target.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

You simply need to use the telephone option to activate that copy of XP. The
activation will not be denied.

 

[PA Bear]

<pft> Now pull the other one!

You need MS SteadyState!
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx

Why did I get infected in the first place
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
AumHa VSOP & Admin; DTS-L.org


Desperateparents wrote:

 

[GO]

Windows is no more "prone" to viruses & malware than any other OS
that can do comparable tasks. It's just the main game in town and
therefore the biggest target.

I'll agree with you that MS/Windows is obviously a bigger target but that
makes it all the more prudent that MS takes an effort to release a secure
operating system. But to deny that it is a more prone OS to infection
you're just kidding yourself. There are a number of reasons that makes this
true, but the primary reason is the simple fact that users are running the
OS as an administrator by default.

 

[Daave]

A final note, on a completely different tack:

If you have had to reinstall the OS several times, and your daughter
has never given the XP authorisation number to someone else, and now
the authorisation routine is claiming that you cannot use this
validation number any more, you might have a hardware problem.

The validation number is generated by the machine itself from the
hardware in the box. If the system has not been changed substantially
then the same authorisation code should work every time.

I'm pretty sure that reinstallations within 120 days automatically trip
the validation message. See:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

If the system has not been changed substantially

I'm pretty sure that reinstallations within 120 days automatically trip
the validation message.

ONLY if the system has been substantially changed (like, three of the
checked items or more).

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

So you basically agree that it's not the OS that is faulty, it's bad
practices and the fact that Windows is so friendly to apps that themselves
are faulty. I'm always hearing people complain that Windows doesn't do this
or that natively, and one of those things is malware protection. If Windows
did all those things, MS would be hit with more anti-trust litigation than
they already have been. I would think that even making Windows do some kind
of quality control of apps would have similar results.

As for the default admin account, I'm of two minds. Especially during
initial setup, admin permissions are frequently required. I certainly
wouldn't want the default to be a limited user account, but that's me -- I
run as an admin all the time and don't have any resulting problems because
I'm diligent about other good practices. With the way I use Windows, it
would be a royal PITA to be switching back & forth. Only thing I can think
of is to make a very strong, in-your-face greeting that would push you to
create a limited user account and explain in detail why this is good
practice, but not force it.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Enough for now, except to mention that UAC caused me to reboot to WinXP
within 20 minutes of trying Vista. I've tried it a couple of times more,
trying to wrap my head around it and learn to work with it, but...

I suppose there's a way to totally disable UAC, but I get so disgusted that
I lose patience and dump the whole project.