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Options for 'Fixing' A Pirated Copy of Windows
PunkOfLinux writes "My parents are running a pirated copy of windows that my mom received from a teacher at school. My parents want to go legit, and buy a copy of Windows, but they are afraid of deleting everything and having to reinstall all their programs. Seeing as I know you guys will have an answer, I'm going to ask you: What would you do in this situation?"
Install GNU/Linux. All the worms and trojans would go too.
Afterall, they shouldn't have what is on there now. Why do they expect a mulligan?
Becuase vista is gonna suck.
Well since the slave loves his/her collar.
1) Check out all the software that are installed "on top of windows".
2) Backup all data
3) check the licences of all your "non Windows" sofware
4) Make sure you have a licence for a virus scanner and a spyware scanner
4a) if now buy
4b) buy all non windows software you need and do not have a legal licence for.
5) contact your hardware makers and try to get or buy a legal version of Windows made for your hardware
if you have an invoice and the original key (sticker on your pc) you should be able to get this
6) pay the upgrade for what ever version you want
7) install the original windows and all the drivers
8) go to each of your periferal HW vendor site and check if there is an upgrade for your driver
9) install your recent windows version
10) install the virus scanner and run it
11) connect to the internet
12) upgrade the virus scanne and run it again
13) install the spyware scanner
14) upgrade the spyware scanner
15) run it
16) upgrade windows online
17) re run the viruse scanner and the spyware scanner
18) re install all your junk windows compatible software
19) reload your data (you did check that the bakcup worked right ?)
20) install a bakcup manager and train your parents
21) remember they are your parents you cannot charge them 500$ for the day you lost
22) remember they are your parents you cannot take a cut on the 400$+ of software licence they had to buy
23) try to invoice the stupid moron that gave them the pack of crufty junk in the first place
24) you can mutter sotto voce against the people that have the intellectual laziness to prefer this aggravation to running a free platform (that of course also has its own hasles but at least you are free so the hasles is to stay that way not to lineup bill and steve's pockets and flush democracy down the drain.
25) good luck
11) install the
This guy obviously works for Microsoft. Don't people recognise astroturf anymore?
How we know is more important than what we know.
Considering that you are accusing great-grandparent of saying things he didn't say, that you can neither spell nor use correctly the word impugn, that you seem to have no grasp of hyphenation, that you don't seem to grasp the concept of a Straw Man, that nobody has attacked anyone's credibility but you, and that there's been no point at which anyone's even attempted to justify their disagreement (don't confuse that with inability,) I think frankly you shouldn't be calling other people idiots.
Glass houses, and all that noise.
StoneCypher is Full of BS