windows 7

[hahavishnu]

looking to upgrade my pc...would you guys advise against using anything other than an original version of windows for your pc...the store want to charge me £90 for an install but a mate can do for free...wot to do?

[guzman]

7 is great, and so is your mate's price. Go for it.

[hahavishnu]

Originally Posted by guzman

7 is great, and so is your mate's price. Go for it.

other than the obvious ethical question is there not some disadvantages to a "bootleg" copy

[KeithC]

It (probably) won't have a unique registration number that the Windows software will continually bug you about entering. You can use it without but won't get updates etc.
I did that on my wife's laptop for a while to see if see liked W7 and ended up getting a real copy.
If your mate somehow has a unique registration number then only thing left is the ethical question....that's up to you though!

[RedTiger]

Originally Posted by hahavishnu

looking to upgrade my pc...would you guys advise against using anything other than an original version of windows for your pc...the store want to charge me £90 for an install but a mate can do for free...wot to do?

Is it an OEM copy? If so, then you won't get very far with it. At that price, I'm assuming it's the commercial version. As long as he's not using the license and he provides you the code, you should be good to go.

[hahavishnu]

Originally Posted by RedTiger

Is it an OEM copy? If so, then you won't get very far with it. At that price, I'm assuming it's the commercial version. As long as he's not using the license and he provides you the code, you should be good to go.

OEM?

[Blix]

I'm using Window 7 on a 6-year old Pentium 4, it's never been faster, quite impressed.

[acguitar84]

Originally Posted by Blix

I'm using Window 7 on a 6-year old Pentium 4, it's never been faster, quite impressed.

that's pretty cool. i remember back in 2005 when i got a dual core pentium D, they told me Vista would "choke" on it. I bet 7 would run on it with no problems. (it runs XP right now)

[mannish]

My laptop has 7 and desktop has vista 64 - I still prefer XP of course - using a bootleg copy you may want to turn off automatic updates

[RedTiger]

Originally Posted by hahavishnu

OEM?

Original Equipment Manufacturer

OEM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-983-_-Product

Retail:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-716-_-Product

OEM is intended for system builders. When you buy a computer from Dell/HP/etc., you have an OEM version of the OS. It costs significantly less than retail. It comes without all the fancy packaging that retail has.

The downside? First, Microsoft provides no support. It's up to the system builder to provide support for the customer. Second, and most impactful, you can only install it ONCE. Have you ever seen that sticker on the back of a store-bought PC? That's your license code. If you try to install an OEM copy on a different system with this code, it will not work. Microsoft detects the system hardware configuration and will not allow an additional install if it detects a significant change in hardware configuration.

So if this guy is offering you an OEM copy, don't bother. Just buy your own OEM copy.

[korby]

Microsoft can crash your computer if you use an unlicensed copy if you try to get updates .You'll get warnings for a few weeks then blue stripes and an unusable computer .

[hahavishnu]

Originally Posted by RedTiger

Original Equipment Manufacturer

OEM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-983-_-Product

Retail:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-716-_-Product

OEM is intended for system builders. When you buy a computer from Dell/HP/etc., you have an OEM version of the OS. It costs significantly less than retail. It comes without all the fancy packaging that retail has.

The downside? First, Microsoft provides no support. It's up to the system builder to provide support for the customer. Second, and most impactful, you can only install it ONCE. Have you ever seen that sticker on the back of a store-bought PC? That's your license code. If you try to install an OEM copy on a different system with this code, it will not work. Microsoft detects the system hardware configuration and will not allow an additional install if it detects a significant change in hardware configuration.

So if this guy is offering you an OEM copy, don't bother. Just buy your own OEM copy.

i just bought a laptop...so that will have the OEM?is it OK/worthwhile? i dont need to replace it, do i?

is it the OEM you can only install once?

what happens if i buy the full version for my main pc and it crashes and dies,can i install it again ?

[karmadave]

In the US you can't even buy a PC without an OEM copy of Windows 7. Not sure about the UK, but in my opinion it's not worth the risk of having anything but a licensed version installed...

[Echo Are]

Windows 7 udates itself quite a bit, relatively speaking. There have been times when it has 12 or more updates to install(or so says the message in the shutdown screen.) Other than these sometimes too frequent updates, I like Win7 fine myself. In fact, if you set the desktop theme(Appearance?) to Classic mode, it feels a lot like using XP IMHO.

[peacebone]

Originally Posted by hahavishnu

..the store want to charge me £90 for an install but a mate can do for free...wot to do?

Where's the outrage for this post? If he had said "I'm thinking of buying [album] but a mate can give it to me for free," most of you would have torn this guy apart.