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Funny Story (If you're a computer nerd)
Nov. 15th, 2014 11:59 pmMy hard drive crashed on me on Thursday. Windows 7 has this nifty feature that says "Oh, by the way, your hard drive is about to crash. Might wanna do something about that."
The good news is, I am meticulous about backing my shit up. I, have backups in 3 different locations. S'all good in this hood.
The bad news, however, was that I wasn't able to clone the hard drive to flip it over to a new drive before it well and truly gave up the ghost, so I ended up not only buying a new hard drive but a copy of Windows 8 as well.
No biggie. Whatever.
So I installed my hard drive and installed Windows 8.
(And I am ok giving my money to Microsoft. Someday I may buy an Apple, but not this week. I doubt I'll ever care enough to run linux or ubuntu or anything smart like that. Microsoft products work for me. I understand them (most of the time, Windows 8 is a bit odd, but I'll get used to it.)
Anyway, I digress.
So I bought and installed Windows 8.1 "Full Version"
When I looked at the "Full Version" as compared to the "Pro Version" the only differences I saw were remote desktop capabilities, some higher security and domain capability. Meh, don't really care about any of that. "Full Version" sounds good to me!
So I bought and installed Windows 8.1 "Full Version"
Except the "Full Version" doesn't come with Windows Media Centre. Not a big deal, at first blush, except I have a tuner card in my computer which allows me to watch TV on my computer. I like this feature. And the card wasn't exactly cheap. Ok, it wasn't exactly expensive either. But that's not the point. I have a card, I have my room set up to play on the computer *and* watch tv while hanging out on the treadmill. I want to watch TV. I need Media Centre.
No biggie you'd think, right?
You'd be wrong.
I'm not exactly dum when it comes to computer stuff. Sure, I'm not going to go in and change your registry to update your crap without sweating a bit. And chances are good I'll get it wrong the first 20 or 30 time. But I have a clue.
So I did some web searching. And poked a bit here and a bit there. And indeed, I needed the pro version (for another $150) to get media center. To be clear. I could buy a TV for $150. I don't want to buy a $150 program to watch tv on my computer when I had it for free before.
Anyway. I poked and prodded and may have entered a few random numbers and VOILA! I now have media centre on my computer.
(Did I mention I also now have Windows 8.1 pro? Hmmmm...)
(And I didn't pay $150 to get it. Hmmmmm...)
So I'm kinda proud of myself that I've figured out how to get Media Centre on my computer.
And I go about getting everything else the way I want it.
Except when I go to customize the colours in my start menu it tells me that I need to "activate windows"
And when I enter the key I received with my legitimately purchased Windows 8.1, it tells me it's not valid.
And it's at this point, ladies and gentlemen, you realize you have an unauthorized version of Windows 8.1 pro on my computer.
So. Here's what I do.
I actually contact Microsoft and ask them what I should do.
I talk to 3 on line techs and one telephone tech who takes over my computer.
I stump them all. (Though to be clear, it's only the telephone one who is at least as smart as I am when it comes to computer stuff, and that ain't sayin' much.) The telephone guy tells me I need to reinstall my version of Windows 8.1 to fix it.
So. Here's my ethical dilemma.
a) Do I reinstall my version of Windows, removing Media Centre and leaving my tv tuner card useless. (I have poked around for other software to run it. It's out there but I haven't found one that works yet. Media centre is easy and works.)
b) Do I go out and spend $150 for an upgrade to Windows which means for $150 I will be able to watch TV on my computer.
c) Do I go and take that $150 and buy a crappy tv to put in my computer room (though in truth, I usually watch netflix on the computer)
d) Do I do nothing and run with an unactivated version of Windows 8.1 pro and an uncustomized start screen (not sure what other limitations there are yet. I assume it won't do auto updates, and that's kinda important.)
e) Do I start poking around for a crack and (gasp!) pirate that shit. (Not one of my favourite options, but it's certainly an option.)
It is now 11:54 PM. I think I don't need to decide now.
But what would you do? (I asked the answers to only be viewable by me. Feel free to answer honestly. I won't call the police on you.)
[Poll #1989210]
The good news is, I am meticulous about backing my shit up. I, have backups in 3 different locations. S'all good in this hood.
The bad news, however, was that I wasn't able to clone the hard drive to flip it over to a new drive before it well and truly gave up the ghost, so I ended up not only buying a new hard drive but a copy of Windows 8 as well.
No biggie. Whatever.
So I installed my hard drive and installed Windows 8.
(And I am ok giving my money to Microsoft. Someday I may buy an Apple, but not this week. I doubt I'll ever care enough to run linux or ubuntu or anything smart like that. Microsoft products work for me. I understand them (most of the time, Windows 8 is a bit odd, but I'll get used to it.)
Anyway, I digress.
So I bought and installed Windows 8.1 "Full Version"
When I looked at the "Full Version" as compared to the "Pro Version" the only differences I saw were remote desktop capabilities, some higher security and domain capability. Meh, don't really care about any of that. "Full Version" sounds good to me!
So I bought and installed Windows 8.1 "Full Version"
Except the "Full Version" doesn't come with Windows Media Centre. Not a big deal, at first blush, except I have a tuner card in my computer which allows me to watch TV on my computer. I like this feature. And the card wasn't exactly cheap. Ok, it wasn't exactly expensive either. But that's not the point. I have a card, I have my room set up to play on the computer *and* watch tv while hanging out on the treadmill. I want to watch TV. I need Media Centre.
No biggie you'd think, right?
You'd be wrong.
I'm not exactly dum when it comes to computer stuff. Sure, I'm not going to go in and change your registry to update your crap without sweating a bit. And chances are good I'll get it wrong the first 20 or 30 time. But I have a clue.
So I did some web searching. And poked a bit here and a bit there. And indeed, I needed the pro version (for another $150) to get media center. To be clear. I could buy a TV for $150. I don't want to buy a $150 program to watch tv on my computer when I had it for free before.
Anyway. I poked and prodded and may have entered a few random numbers and VOILA! I now have media centre on my computer.
(Did I mention I also now have Windows 8.1 pro? Hmmmm...)
(And I didn't pay $150 to get it. Hmmmmm...)
So I'm kinda proud of myself that I've figured out how to get Media Centre on my computer.
And I go about getting everything else the way I want it.
Except when I go to customize the colours in my start menu it tells me that I need to "activate windows"
And when I enter the key I received with my legitimately purchased Windows 8.1, it tells me it's not valid.
And it's at this point, ladies and gentlemen, you realize you have an unauthorized version of Windows 8.1 pro on my computer.
So. Here's what I do.
I actually contact Microsoft and ask them what I should do.
I talk to 3 on line techs and one telephone tech who takes over my computer.
I stump them all. (Though to be clear, it's only the telephone one who is at least as smart as I am when it comes to computer stuff, and that ain't sayin' much.) The telephone guy tells me I need to reinstall my version of Windows 8.1 to fix it.
So. Here's my ethical dilemma.
a) Do I reinstall my version of Windows, removing Media Centre and leaving my tv tuner card useless. (I have poked around for other software to run it. It's out there but I haven't found one that works yet. Media centre is easy and works.)
b) Do I go out and spend $150 for an upgrade to Windows which means for $150 I will be able to watch TV on my computer.
c) Do I go and take that $150 and buy a crappy tv to put in my computer room (though in truth, I usually watch netflix on the computer)
d) Do I do nothing and run with an unactivated version of Windows 8.1 pro and an uncustomized start screen (not sure what other limitations there are yet. I assume it won't do auto updates, and that's kinda important.)
e) Do I start poking around for a crack and (gasp!) pirate that shit. (Not one of my favourite options, but it's certainly an option.)
It is now 11:54 PM. I think I don't need to decide now.
But what would you do? (I asked the answers to only be viewable by me. Feel free to answer honestly. I won't call the police on you.)
[Poll #1989210]