I think ive been caught by Microsoft!!!

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Wahayyy!!! Well thanks everybody, you cleared my mind!

But unfortunatly now i have another problem on my hands, i downloaded a virus and its messing with my computer, so i went to reinstall windows but i found that there was an admin password even though i didnt set one. Its not the Windows XP passord cause i already tried that one, i think it some BIOS password which was set by the manufacturer and im still trying to find it out!
 
You can get around the BIOS pass by resetting the BIOS.

You can remove the battery, it looks identical to a watch battery, for a few seconds, or you can reset the jumpers (if your board has them).
 
Just a sec,, went through a nasty with this issue involving an IBM laptop,, seems that somewhere along the way, someone set the CMOS password,, no worries right,, remove battery, or set jumpers and voila,, off you go,,,NOT!!

What happened next was that the SUPERVISOR password kicked in as further security measure,, however, the owner and vendor knew nothing about the password!!

in short, cost an additional $185 US to have the little security chip replaced and the HDD wiped!

what a venture of futility that was,,, prior to pulling any battery, check to see if a power on password or supervisor password is set,, if it is disable it first,,

or... suffer ....

cheers,
 
To andrew03:

To be legal....

Trace your computers OS back to it's original state (when you first purchased the computer). If this original OS was OEM and you upgraded your way to XP then your upgrade copy of XP is also OEM and must remain with the computer the original OS was installed on. The only OEM software from MS which allows for transfer is an Office upgrade on top of an OEM full office product.

If your copy of XP was purchased as a full copy ($199 for Home and $299 for PRO retail) then you may install that OS on up to three different machines (read below) before you must purchase a new OS (I believe this is completely bunk but what can you do against a software monopoly pig like Microsloth).

To microsoftne:

Alot of people whom have more than one computer in their home will often share the operating system. While we would like for you to buy more than one copy, what you have done is perfectly legal.

Funny thing, I see no mention in the EULA at all about one piece of OS software being usable on more then one computer at one time without a seperate license for each copy. Actually the EULA reads:

You may install, use, access, display and run one copy of the Product on a single computer, such as a workstation, terminal or other device ("Workstation Computer").

I wonder what my MS Licensing Rep would say about it being "perfectly legal"?

If you want your questions about licensing XP answered correctly I would advice you read %systemroot%\system32\EULA.txt. That is the only thing which will tell you what you can and cannot do with your OS legally.

-al
 
I have one thing to say and you can all take it how you want:

Screw Micro$oft and screw licensing software.
 
Unfortunatly all software has a license of some sort, even Linux (GNU copyleft). And when you work in the industry staying ligitimate is a huge concern. I've seen companies go bankrupt because they were busted by the BSA and fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Although I do agree with your first comment I do not agree with your second. Let's say you were to write a piece of software and offer it free; wouldn't you be a little pissed off if someone took the code you worked so hard on and made millions of dollars off of it without giving you a single cent?

-al
 
To. Albion

I think I know very well what microsoft will and will not prosecute for. I will never say screw microsoft "they do sign my paycheck after all". But that doesn't mean I agree with everything they do. ie. software activation. For the EULA, XP can be activated 3 times before you must call for a new key. I know several Employee's here at microsoft that have and will always use one copy of an O.S. on multipule computers within their home. That is one of the factors in the WPA that lets you activate it 3 times before calling in. Most people do not have more than one or 2 pc's at home.
Thanks for reading this long post.
 
As a representative of Microsoft shouldn't you at least pretend to honor their policies? I mean my boss might not care much that I don't abide by all of our policies but if I went around telling people that they don't have to either he might have some not so nice things to say to me up to and including the words "termination", or "what the f<beep>k were you thinking".

-al
 
AL-
Thank you for caring but actually, I am within the guidelines set forth by my position. What i do is evaluations of schools teaching microsoft, and I'm part of the Anit-piracy task force. I am trying to give people some information, so that no action shall be taken against them. It is one of my functions to try and curb legal action taken against consumers. And by letting you know what you can and can't get away with helps trememdously in this effort.
It is a little difficult to explain at length but I am trying to protect my companies assetts as well as your interests.. 85% of the piracy cases here at microsoft go before me for review to see what can be done to curb the legal action. That is why I give tidbits of information here and there to try to reduce this. I don't want people to stop using our products, or do I want them pirated, but I will give someone an answer if asked a specific question like this thread. I even made sure to read the bylaws to appropriately answer this without giving too much information.

I hope this clears things up a little.
if you have any questions just ask. Take care.
 
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