what a rip off

I was having trouble download service packs for windows xp pro i had all the usual that its not a valid copy dont know how they got that cos its mine.
so i went and bought winxp home addition which is a rip off as soon as i put it in my computer i have had more viruses and trogan abd god knows what coming in my pc where as before i didnt have any i managed to sort it out in the but the crunch came when i upgraded another of my computers i put the home addition in and it has a key to activate it the computers in my name with the information but it wouldnt allow me to activate because it had already been activated in my other pc so i rang support and was told you can only use the home edition once it wont go into any other pcs if your computer goes down and you have to change the motherboard or something its no good you cant use it in other words its like a condom use it once and throw it away. i just thougt id let other people know not to buy windows xp home edition as its a waste of money and space .
and yes a rip .
i also asked why it was not put on the packaging that you can only use it once . they had no answer
i guess bill gates dont care cos all he does is go around with his escorts drinks his self silly and rips people like us off.
who else thinks we keep getting ripped off

 

I'm good... doesn't sound like your here looking for help but...

With XP Home or Pro you still need to protect your PC from from viruses and Spyware so don't blame MS. Also you can utlize the same OS if replacing a MOBO... you may have to call MS to get it registered, if your trying to reload that same PC from Restore Disks that is another issue.

 

When you first install a new OS that hasn't been updated with the latest criticals you should disconnect from the net and don't reconnect until you have at least a decent firewall installed and I don't mean windows firewall. It would also help if you made sure you installed SP3 prior to connecting so you had all that protection as well.

I don't know what you heard when you were on the phone but I have XP home on one of my computers and have used it on several others at certain times, and when I formated those computers out and installed it on the new one I was able to reactivate even though it was a pain. One copy of XP on one computer, thats the rule. As long as you remove it from computer 1 you can install it legally on computer2.

I hate it too, but MS had to try and protect its interests somehow. I had Win98se I bought, installed on 4 computers at one time and I loved it, I wish XP was the same. Because the new rules for activation only tinkle on the people who paid for the software, not the pirates who are fixing it. And its the same for Vista, Microsoft is still tinkling on its paid customers to protect itself from pirates that it misses completely with the stream.

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks Splat!

XP comes in a Retail version and an OEM version. The Retail can be installed on multiple machines as long as it is only on one computer at a time. The OEM version is usually sold with hardware (PC, hard drive...) and once installed, is tied to that one computer. It cannot be transfered to another computer.

Sounds like you got an OEM version.

As far as the virus and stuff, as mentioned above, get a firewall installed and upgrade the OS as quickly as possible. It is crazy how fast you can get junk on an unpatched OS.

E