My old dad has an old laptop running Windows XP (office version, I think). He knows jack about computers (and probably shouldn’t be allowed to have one, for his own protection, and for the common good, but let’s let that be for now). The laptop he got for cheap from some mate who’s a backyard computer dude. Dad had trouble with Genuine Windows validation nagging for a while, but got a different version from another acquaintance, who supposedly had a multiple licence version from somewhere. That latest version kept the Microsoft fraud hounds at bay for the last six months or so, but they’re back, maybe.
Something changed his desktop wallpaper from whatever it was supposed to be to an all black number with the Genuine Windows “your version may not be legitimate” or whatever warning in the bottom right corner.
Does Microsoft do that kind of thing, or is it more likely some kind of malware evil phishing expedition? I mean, nagging is one thing, but changing your wallpaper? That’s bad.
Purchased? Probably not. Was given a version covered by a valid multi licence agreement? Maybe.
I think it’s entirely possible that his version of Windows is less squeaky clean than MS would like. I don’t know that he could afford to buy another licence from them at the moment in any case. As you probably gathered, I’m more worried about this trouble not being from Microsoft.
Really? My understanding is that if the validation fails, you have 30 days to fix it, or else XP won’t start up. If it’s been running for six months, isn’t that a pretty good demonstration that it has been validated?
Thanks very much for that info! (My opinion of Microsoft has now gone up a notch. I am impressed that they will allow a non-Genuine version to run at all, even as nagware. This somewhat softens their image as greedy dictators.)
I don’t know what response might ensue, but I believe Microsoft might pick up on things like a certain multi-licence key being used too many places, or in a too weird pattern, and flag it as stolen/distributed.
The validation tool is required for you to use updates. It adds a noticeable slow down of the start on an older system. I only have legitimate OS keys on my system so I can’t tell you beyond that it will let you know your license is suspect. Call them and they will issue you a new Key so this goes away permanently if he has a legitimate copy. Tell him to buy a license if he needs to. I do remove the validation programs from start up between uses of update, because of the lag it introduces in my start up while it compares my Keys to known problem Keys.
Microsoft also has (or at least did at one time) a “Stool Pigeon” program: If you tell them where you obtained a non-genuine version of the OS, they’ll give you a heavily reduced rate on a properly-licensed version.
Found out what happened, in part at least. Dad rang MS today, and ended up coughing for a new licence. Seems the old licence was legit, but it was some kind of commercial licence that expired recently. Cost him $200+ AUD (didn’t know he had it in him).
They should really make a stripped down, idiot proof Operating System for Luddite technophobes like my dad. There’s no way in hell he should be allowed to have charge of anything running Windows. Sure, he shouldn’t be denied access to the interwebs and shit, but he shouldn’t be able to install dreck like Incredimail or operate without any anti-virus software. He’ll ruin us all, mark my words…
Next time, you could always consider some flavor of Linux. Put Firefox and OpenOffice on it and he might not even notice the difference. Frees him from all the malware problems, too.
It’s tempting, but I know even less about Linux than I do about Windows. I’m more of a Mac user these days. Dad would do fine on a Mac, once he got the hang of it. Macs are dear, but. And there’s the whole sovereignty thing, he might not take well to having a solution imposed upon him. And I don’t relish trying to teach him anything at all.
I worry about my own level of I.T. competence, and I’m probably of average or slightly above ability. Other less savvy people are just plain scary. :eek:
Yes, they’re better than Apple, but it’s also to their advantage. Besides the bad PR waging a true war on piracy would cause, it’s actually in Microsoft’s interests for people to use free copies of Windows. It’s better than them switching to Linux.
Thing is, if he doesn’t have any strange hardware or software needs (and it sounds like he doesn’t), then Ubuntu should be just as straightforward to install and use as Windows.
My Ubuntu installation recognized virtually all my hardware immediately, and basically everything worked right out of the box. The only extra stuff i needed was a driver for my printer (very easy to install) and for my dual monitors (a bit more complicated, but i imagine this won’t be an issue for your dad).
Once you fire it up, it’s completely easy to use Firefox and Open Office the same way that you do on Windows.
Well, to keep their image intact, the fact is that many (most?) of the installations identified as ‘non-Genuine’ are in fact legally purchased copies of the software. The WGA software to identify non-Genuine copies is just as buggy as any other Microsoft product, and frequently wrong. If they made a legally purchased copy of XP stop working, due to their error in WGA software, there would likely be legal consequences.
Don’t be a sap. t-bonham has it nailed.
I coughed up 150 for the student version, from Target a few years back. It seems that every application that I want to run requires me to download some new feature from the Internet. This is after I went online with their marvellous key code. They now have the Validation box popping up every time that I power up, telling me that I may not have genuine Windows junk. I went online afterwards, following the link provided, and it wasn’t very enlightening. I don’t know what mischief will happen next.
Better than Apple in terms of activation how? AFAIK Apple has NO serial numbers or activation on copies of OS X. There’s a hardware check to make sure it doesn’t run on non-Apple hardware, but that’s not quite the same thing.
Like a few others, I’m running Windows XP, using everything that came pre-installed on the laptop I bought brand new. Several months ago I started getting this warning that my version may not be genuine. I just click “resolve later” and go about my business.
