Stroller wrote:
On 15/11/2010, at 11:36pm, Dale wrote:
... I don't have the OS media to reinstall.
Because it is kids, they don't want to buy the OS.
Assuming the laptop has an OEM Windows license sticker on the underside, it is
not necessary to buy a new o/s disk.
Any standard Microsoft XP OEM CD [1] will install using that license key. Even if the sticker says "Dell" or
"Sony" on it - you only have to match up the "home" or "professional" version. I
periodically hear claims that this is not the case, but I don't believe them, as I have never encountered it myself
over literally dozens of installs.
Also: uninstall AVG and replace it with Microsoft Security Essentials. I know,
I know - you'd think that if you don't trust Microsoft to write a secure o/s in
the first place, why should you trust them to write antivirus, right? But
Security Essentials is really good, and will find malware that AVG misses. AVG
has been going downhill for 2 or 3 years, but has got really bad in the last
year and anyone with any sense (who maintains home Windows PCs regularly) has
moved to Security Essentials now.
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
Stroller.
[1] E.G.: http://www.techsouq.com/images/mwxphe.jpg
I have read the same thing about the media and the code. I only had it
to fail once and it was a home key but a pro media. I wasn't surprised
when it didn't work. My ex bought it off ebay and when we contacted the
seller, he went and found the key so we could use it. At least he was
good about it.
I'll check into security essentials tho. I would like something that
once installed, it updates itself in the background with no input from
the user. The kids don't know much about puters as far as maintaining
them. I'm sure AVG told them several times that it was expired, out of
date or something and they just closed the box and did nothing about
it. Since it is a M$ thing, maybe it will update like the OS does and
the kids never even know it happened.
Thanks for the link and info. Oh, it's a desktop, not a laptop.
Doesn't matter much but anyway. ;-)
Dale
:-) :-)
