TP

Have you got the latest version, and are you logged in as an Administrator?

Hawick

The Administrator is normally disabled in Vista you should not be able to log on as Administrator. A user can have Admin rights, but these are slightly less than full Administrator. Some programs need Administrator rights to run, but these have to be specifically authorized every time.

I suggest that you click Start Button - Help & Support then search for 'activate'. From memory, if the activation process does not like your key then you are offered a number to phone (try not to use a cordless phone as you will have to press a lot of keys).

Should you have to buy another Vista package, then you can probably just enter the key. However, if you have a dodgy copy then you don't really know what you have got. You should consider at least a full reinstall.

Wehn I clicked on buy a new key now, after putting in my key number in the box, i got I got:
'Unable to verify site certificate pa.one.microsoft.com

Could be a site pretending to be, etc.............. Surely if it was a microsoft site this is very unlikely?

In a tizz now, does anyone have a microsoft support phone number (UK or better still Slovenia!). Thanks!

I did this from control panel system where I got the message to renew within 28 days

If the last section of the site is .microsoft.com (correctly spelt) then the site should be OK.

You may find it cheaper to buy an OEM copy fro a retailer than go direct to Microsoft although I'd be interested to know what MS charge.

Hawick

Click Start Button - Help & Support then search for 'activate'. the FAQ covers activation by phone and also has a comment about viruses erasing the activation status.

Found a local help number but not the comment about viruses erasing activation.

Thanks for all comments, any more appreciated. As I have had it working for months I do suspect a virus that my security has missed. Strange!

One way of cracking the Vista WPA is to "fool" the PC into thinking that there is 6 months remaining before the product needs to be activated rather than the conventional 30 days. Given the source (eBay), I still suspect that the product is a pirated copy which has been cracked. I doubt it's a virus.

It might be worth Googling how to crack it for another 6 months. If you dig really deep, you'll probably find out how to crack it permanently.

:o)

Thanks Hilary again.

I've had another error message saying that 'the reason the upgrade is required ' the key is already in use' but I have been using it since the early part of the year!! -:( There are some articles about what you say, but very complicated.

microsoft are charging 450 Euros for a new key!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should be able to buy an OEM package for < 100 but it will be limited to use on one machine and the key may not work on your system. In which case you would have to do a new install.

Back to my laptop for a moment, got the HP6715S and set it up with the twin screen option for father-in-law, all working perfectly. Whilst it's not the fastest machine on the planet it's more than adequate for what he needs. Cracking deal for 400 and there's the promise of 50 cashback.

I was cleaning up my Desktop and I guess I may have accidentally deleted the My Computer Icon and also my Recycle Bin.

My Computer does not appear when I click Start so I cannot move the version that would appear there (a well suggested fix) to the Desktop.

Right clicking on the desktop to get into Display Properties will get me the to customise desktop but the My Computer tick box is greyed out.

Last night Optimist asked whether I was logged in as Administrator (my Win32 problem). I thought I was and always have been - but I could be wrong.

Something is odd. I have no Recycle Bin in Windows Explorer.

Off line for a couple of hours now - but anyone with any ideas for me to follow when I get back. Please.

TP

hawick,

The idea of Windows XP and Vista is that it's one copy of the software for each PC. That also applies to other recent MS products such as Office too.

To prevent piracy, MS started putting the activation gizmo into their products whereby the user had 30 days from installation to activate the product over the internet. Basically MS send a little man with a torch down the telephone line to look inside the user's PC and match the components inside the PC with the serial number of the software which is then stored in the MS filing cabinet. When somebody tries to activate the same piece of software on a different PC, the alarm bell rings and that person gets locked out.

This was all very well, but some clever people soon worked out what MS were doing to their software to lock people out of using it multiple times and quickly developed some workarounds (known as cracks) to get users back into XP and Office. MS then went one step further with Vista and made it a more difficult to crack. It has been cracked nonetheless, and there are numerous websites which explain what to do if you've got a bit of time.

What I suspect has happened in your case is that the eBay seller has reformatted the hard disk and installed an existing activated copy of Vista onto the machine before selling it to you. I further suspect that he has cracked it for 6 months as that would roughly coincide with the dates that you mentioned above and there is a 180 days crack which is commonly used.

New machines with preinstalled operating systems generally have a sticker on them with the CD key of the operating system. Does yours have one?

If you don't want to shell out for a new copy of Vista, it is possible to re-crack Vista for another 180 days which you would then need to do ad infinitum. Alternatively you may want to think about changing OS to XP which is cheaper (and very easy to crack if you've access to an existing copy).

I have heard of people going into PC stores and reading the key off the sticker on the PCs as some have Vista installed but not fully activated.

My missing My Computer and Recycle Bin.

What an IDIOT !!!

Obsessed with owning any bit of software that looks as if it makes life faster I'd bought a thing from Uniblue called System Tweaker.

And, yes, it has the facility to hide both those icons.

Get a life TP - you've just wasted a good three hours of the current one.

TP

Haystack it did cross my mind!!!

Thanks for further replies, I came clean though, spent hours on the phone with Microsoft, to be fair really tried to help, , even doing registry changes etc, to no avail. \it seems I was sold a pirate copy.

Time to dip into the trouser pocket.............. -:(

I'm no fan of this habit of selling computers with preinstalled software but no damn OS disk.

I bought an Acer 7004 laptop from Laptops direct which included Vista a couple of months ago ... no Vista disk of course and I've no idea how to repair the damn thing if it went down ... it's certainly not clear from the 'instructions'.

Anyway, the damn thing was slow and vista had issues with some of my software - finally I had to connect it at one location to an adsl d-link modem - of course the d-link didn't support vista. Enough was enough and getting my old xp disk out I put XP on - of course I can no longer boot vista* but the machine now flys and I've had no issuses with software or anything else. I'm also confident of being able to repair the thing when it eventually goes t^ts up.

* I installed xp on a seperate volume hoping to be able to dual boot - but to do that I need the vista CD - which doesn't come with the damn thing!!

Just a rant but why do we let them get away with selling us an OS but no OS disk?

I would prefer to have installation CD's and agree that there is a large proportion of the computer buying public who's motto is 'Feel the price never mind the quality!'.

However, so long as you have your software keys, you can always borrow or download the installation disk. Also, as an example, in the early days of Win XP SP2 there were plenty of people trying to reinstall using the original pre SP2 disk. This was at best unsafe and if they had a more recent hard drive, then it would not work. In those cases, having the install disks could do more harm than good.

A far more worrying trend is that Microsoft are making it less necessary to look after the software keys, because if you change your computer you can't take the OS with you.

Gone a bit quiet so if anyone remembers this short conversation in October:-

"Any view on this Asus.

Bearing in mind my needs. Primarly something that I can display pictures on and a possible secondary benefit of a travellable mail and web site reader.

I see it is Linux but it says it is XP compatible. Presumably that means it would handle the camera download software.

TP


Optimist - 30 Oct 2007 11:40 - 6230 of 6409
I've taken a quick look at it.

It says that the hardware is XP compatible, so you would have to trash th O/S and install Win XP but it will be tight on disk space. In theory, you could run XP in VMWare on the existing O/S but I doubt that it has the power, memory or disk space for that. "

Just a note to say that I've found a web forum dedicated to this device here

I have a nagging feeling that this may turn out to be the new Libretto that so many of us took to about a decade ago. Solid state disk. Almost instant boot up. Small.

And from what it says an XP version should be available next month.

Just in time for Christmas.

TP

TP,

The Torygraph did a review of your Asus at around the time of your original post. I intended to paste the link in case you hadn't seen it, but it slipped my mind.

Thanks Hilary,

Quite a positive review.

TP

My ASUS has finally arrived - over a week late with unanswered e mails and phones along the way and minus the optical mouse. The tedious swop over proceeding as I write (190mb 0f microsoft updates alone!) so too early to comment but I will not be using the Batersea boys again (asuslaptop.co.uk).