----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh Gundersen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 1:30 AM
Subject: Re: Changing Activation Code
If it's a 'new' to you computer - what's the problem --- don't tell me
it also got a million dollars worth of software also installed that you
want to keep. There are ways around this but we don't discuss it here -
do we chaps (+ ladies)?
My new customers often find out for the first time in their life that a hard
drive is not a data storage device (in the sense of data being kept
permanently) but a temporary holding area for data.
I have to explain to my customers that you need the installation CD and the
Product Key for any software installed on your computer that requires same.
Formats and reinstalls are normal procedures you should be prepared for,
along with the hard drive crashes that often cause them.
I tell them that from now on if you are going to steal (let a buddy "load
you up") at least obtain and retain a copy of the CD (if it is old software)
if you want the stuff back, (don't ask your computer technician to get
involved by reinstalling this stuff!) The online activation process for the
newer expensive software is the computer technician's friend. It means there
is less pressure on us to get involved with illegal software. Again, my
advice to obtain and retain a CD for illegal software is not encouragement
but instructions that mean, "If you want the stuff back, have the CD as you
are own your own after a format and reinstall job. I will not get involved."
It would be perfectly normal and accaptable if anyone who gives away or
sells a computer would format the hard drive first and furnish legal copies
and Product Keys of all OEM software that originally was installed on the
computer. To give away or sell a computer with data on its hard drive is
similar to giving away or selling a file cabinet with documents filed
inside. The difference is it is far easier to see documents in a file
cabinet than on a computer hard drive. True, it is easy to delete all of the
files in the "My Documents" folder etc. but are you deleting all of your
data. If you have nothing confidential on your computer then you can safely
give it away or sell it without formatting its hard drive.
Many will disagree and assure you that all confidential data can be gotten
rid of without a format and reinstall. I have my opinion and they have
theirs and it is the seller's choice, not the buyers.
Chuck
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