Plese register your windows product???

Peterpocketman

I recently Bought a cheap laptop for about 100 euro and it was working fine up till last week.

I hadnt used it for a week as I was on holiday however my girlfriend was using it, I came back to find it saying Plese register your windows product with ok or cancel (both by clicking just restart the system) Im not a tech guy and all I know is that its something to do with the xp instalation disc (which I dont have)

ANyone able to help me out or was I coned out of money?

AlmightyCushion

You have to activate the windows installation. Where did you get the laptop from?

Peterpocketman

Over in England from someone from London from gumtree. the machine did work perfect up till the register part now I cant even get my files from it

Peterpocketman

or is there a way around it as I need the laptop (badly) for work

Peterpocketman

anybody? some help would really be appricated as I cant work without my laptop

killbillvol2

Peterpocketman wrote:

anybody? some help would really be appricated as I cant work without my laptop

So you bought one from a stranger for 100 euro. Genius.

Kimbot

Try get ubuntu and boot it up with that, then save your important files onto a flash key and put them on another PC till your sorted!

Breezer

OK, it sounds like what's happened is that the person who sold it to you reinstalled Windows on the system before you bought it. This would make sense because it gives you a fresh installation and you don't have any of the previous owner's files or programmes on it.

With Windows XP, Microsoft introduced 'activation' as an anti-piracy measure. When you bought the system, you should have been given an activation code, which when put into the system tells Microsoft this is a genuine, legal copy of Windows. You don't have to do this until 30 days or something after Windows is installed (the initial 30 days is a trial period of sorts), which is why the laptop was working fine up till now.

If you were given this code, I presume that you'd click 'OK' and input it. You say that just restarts the computer though. To be honest I have little experience with expired trial periods on Windows. My suggestion is to ask over at the Windows forum, they may be able to help you more than I can.

Of course, it's quite possible that you weren't given this code at all, and that the person that sold you the laptop is running the same copy of Windows on their new computer. If it's a retail copy of Windows (bought in a shop as a piece of software) rather than an OEM copy (preinstalled by the computer's manufacturer, such as Dell), they are within their rights to do this, and you have no legal right to run that copy of Windows (unless of course they specifically sold Windows to you along with the laptop). If it's an OEM copy, it can only legally be installed on the laptop you bought, and they are in the wrong. It's up to you in that case to decide if you want to chase it up.

So if it's a retail copy and the original owner kept it, or you don't want to chase it up, you'll have to buy your own copy of Windows.

Now, there's the issue of your files. As the previous poster suggested, you can run a Linux operating system called Ubuntu from a CD, which will enable you to copy your files to a USB key. If you're not the most computer savvy though, you're likely to find the process tricky. If you know someone who knows about Linux, see if they can help, or send me a PM if you like and I'll try walk you through it.

There's probably other ways around it though. Macs have a feature called 'target disc' mode, where you can hook up two Macs via a Firewire cable and transfer files from one to the other as if one were just a hard drive. I'm not sure if Windows has a similar feature, maybe the guys in the Windows forum can help.

I know this post went on a bit, sorry, I was just trying to be as clear as possible. If you need any more help, feel free to PM me, although I haven't used Windows in quite a while so as I've said I'd try the Windows forum too. Best of luck