Want to buy Windows 7 for a reinstall on my computer. I have a box a friend gave me, has 7 Ultimate on it, no product key or software for an update. I have been warned every day that my copy is not genuine and urged to purchase a product key. Don’t know what that means. Should I do that?
Amazon’s offerings are all OEM and warn that there is no online support. What does that mean really? No Windows update, no Defender, that kind of stuff?
Which version should I buy? Don’t do much but surf, word process, make copies of my CDs, that sort of thing.
Oh yeah, one more question. I downloaded Ninite at the urging of online computer smart people. It asked me if I wanted it to update Java and I said sure, doesn’t every computer use Java? Seems, though, as if I didn’t have Java and it seems to be wreaking havoc, slowing my browser way down, asking if I want to update it all the time. Should I uninstall it? Thanking you, Dopers.
OEM means you don’t get support from Microsoft beyond product key issues (which you shouldn’t have if you buy legit straight from Amazon). You still get updates, defender, and all that jazz.
Looked into nanite. Dunno why it’s necessary. Web browsers and Office already update themselves. Java sucks. If you don’t need it, uninstall it. If you think you need it, try to find some other program that can do the same thing without it and then uninstall it. If you can’t find an alternative program, ask yourself if you really need that program – you probably don’t – and then uninstall it.
If you’re the gambling type, you can also buy a Windows 7 key from eBay. If you buy it from a high-feedback seller, it’s probably alright. You’ll pobably just need to reactivate it over the phone system by swearing that it’s the only computer you have it installed on and listening to a bunch of numbers.
Ninite can do more than just keep the Microsoft Office apps updated and that’s its draw. It’s really handy once you have a lot of OTHER things on there and want to keep them up to date.
Otherwise, what **Reply ** (Cool screen name. Automatic cred!) said.
If you just installed Windows and you never had a product key, it won’t consider itself a legal copy. Is that what you did?
Do you have any idea of the provenance of the copy on your box? It could be that it’s a legit copy that they just never went through the rigmarole Reply mentioned with the listening to the number and the scout’s honor thing. There’s programs you can use to get the key that’s stored in the registry; you could try doing that and re-activating it.
Although if it keeps nagging you about not being genuine but never actually locks you out it’s probably been cracked. But, hey, I’ve known people with legit copies who just decided it was easier to download the crack than go through the whole calling up Microsoft thing to reactivate, so it might be worth a try! Worst case you have a very awkward conversation with someone at a call center in India.
if it has Windows 7 Ultimate on it, it’s probably a cracked/non-legit copy; nobody paid for Ultimate
it means if you call Microsoft with a tech support question, they’ll defer you to the maker of your PC. Which, since you bought the OEM version of Windows, is you. You will still get all updates and whatnot. I’ve pretty much only ever bought OEM versions of Windows.
Your mileage may vary but this past spring I wanted to upgrade my brother’s PC from Vista to 7 and when I called Microsoft (his copy of Vista was totally legit) they refused to sell me an upgrade key (or DVD) for 7, they told me I had to buy Windows 8 or nothing. The only thing they said I could do was to contact the PC manufacturer. I bought a copy off eeghead.com…
Microsoft will still sell Windows 7 licenses to PC manufacturers. Or as “downgrades” to people who buy systems from PC manufacturers. They aren’t selling retail licenses of Windows 7 to end users. Which is the same thing they’ve done for decades.
Yeah, but nowadays, it’s kinda weird for software that has updates not to automatically update. I only see an advantage if you turn all those off. Or, yes, in a network environment.
Someone as new to this as the OP seems to be, who doesn’t use that many programs, could probably go without it.
(Also, I think Reply is talking about Java when he says to uninstall it. It really isn’t all that useful, and is a security nightmare. It even partially blocks itself from running older versions now, on top of Firefox blocking it in a way that seems special to Java. Other plugins just say “click to activate.”)
