Certificate of License - damaged?

I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?
--
http://www.vatican.va

"Father Justin" said this in news item
...
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the bottom
is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?
--
http://www.vatican.va

You might ask for divine inspiration. If this fails then Google is your best
bet. Just type

Windows Product key

into a search box and you will get more than 40 million hits on how to
retrieve a product key. Jellybean's Keyfinder is one of them.

On Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:20:39 -0500, Father Justin
wrote:

I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?

D/l and run Belarc adviser , which will tell you everything about the
laptop .

Father Justin wrote:
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?

Not enough information.

For starters, what is the make and model of the laptop? If you have a
Dell, for instance, the product key you will get using a program like
Belarc Advisor or Magical Jellybean Finder is going to be different from
the product key found on the COA sticker.

Also, which flavor of XP is indicated on the sticker -- Home or Pro?
Does the OS installed on the laptop match the license? (Sometimes
upgrades are performed.)

When you purchased this laptop, did the original owner provide you with
the appropriate reinstallation method? (CD or DVD of some sort or
directions to access a hidden recovery partition?)

See Pegasus' & Jim's replies, then read the below:

HOW TO do a clean install of WinXP: See
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps and/or Method 1 in
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978307

After the clean install, you'll have the equivalent of a "new computer" so
take care of everything on the following page before otherwise connecting
the machine to the internet or a network and before using a USB key that
isn't brand-new or hasn't been freshly formatted:

5 steps to help protect your new computer before you go online
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/com...nced/xppc.mspx

Other helpful references include:

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP Gold (no Service Packs) fully patched
(after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...5afa8ed33e121c

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP SP1(a) or SP2 fully patched (after a
clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...66ae41add7dd2b

NB: Any Norton or McAfee free-trial that came preinstalled on the computer
when you bought it will be reinstalled (but invalid) when Windows is
reinstalled. You MUST uninstall the free-trial and download/run the
appropriate removal tool before installing any Windows Service Packs or IE
upgrades and before installing your new anti-virus application.

Norton Removal Tool
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...moval_Tool.exe

McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool
http://download.mcafee.com/products/...tches/MCPR.exe

Also see:

Steps To Help Prevent Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/prevent.aspx

Steps to Help Prevent Computer Worms
http://www.microsoft.com/security/worms/prevent.aspx

Avoid Rogue Security Software!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
www.banthecheck.com

Father Justin wrote:
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?

Not a bad post here except it's a little sketchy for what your level of
expertise appears to be. I could be wrong, so, ... .
A very important point is to NOT connect the computer to the internet
without an anti-virus program installed. You should learn about and use
spyware scanners too but the AV is the most important, and a firewall too.
The main point is, do not connect to the internet without an antivirus
program installed, current, updated and functional. Folks here will be glad
to point out safe and reliable programs for any of these if you're not sure.

The "Clean Install" mentioned is actually pretty important because it gives
you a fresh start and you'll only have to fight any problems you might
create, not those of the previous owner, which are sometimes substantial. It
also provides you with the knowledge as to how to do it, which you are
likely to need in the future.
Re the ability to do a clean install: That capability is required to be
supplied with a computer.
The installation CDs and documentation or on-disk capabilities and
documentation have to be capable of returning the computer to the same state
as when it was delivered new. That means if the computer also has Microsoft
Office on it, you'll require a way to reinstall that also, and so on. If you
don't have the ability to reinstall them, then you may not have the licenses
to use them.
If the recovery programs are on-disk then you won't be able to or need to
do a "clean install" because it'll be automated for you when you trigger the
on-disk recovery program.

HTH,

Twayne



In ,
PA Bear [MS MVP] typed:
See Pegasus' & Jim's replies, then read the below:

HOW TO do a clean install of WinXP: See
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps and/or Method
1 in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978307

After the clean install, you'll have the equivalent of a "new
computer" so take care of everything on the following page before
otherwise
connecting the machine to the internet or a network and before using a USB
key
that isn't brand-new or hasn't been freshly formatted:

5 steps to help protect your new computer before you go online
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/com...nced/xppc.mspx

Other helpful references include:

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP Gold (no Service Packs) fully
patched (after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...5afa8ed33e121c

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP SP1(a) or SP2 fully patched
(after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...66ae41add7dd2b

NB: Any Norton or McAfee free-trial that came preinstalled on the
computer when you bought it will be reinstalled (but invalid) when Windows
is
reinstalled. You MUST uninstall the free-trial and download/run the
appropriate removal tool before installing any Windows Service Packs
or IE upgrades and before installing your new anti-virus application.

Norton Removal Tool

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...moval_Tool.exe

McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool

http://download.mcafee.com/products/...tches/MCPR.exe

Also see:

Steps To Help Prevent Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/prevent.aspx

Steps to Help Prevent Computer Worms
http://www.microsoft.com/security/worms/prevent.aspx

Avoid Rogue Security Software!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx

Father Justin wrote:
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?




--
Often you'll find excellent advice on a newsgroup.
Before you use that advice though, consider the
ramifications of it being wrong or even dangerous;
how important IS that to you?
ALWAYS verify and confirm ANY advice from a
newsgroup!

On 1/2/10 5:18 AM, Pegasus [MVP] wrote:


"Father Justin" said this in news item
...
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?
--
http://www.vatican.va

You might ask for divine inspiration. If this fails then Google is your
best bet. Just type

Windows Product key

into a search box and you will get more than 40 million hits on how to
retrieve a product key. Jellybean's Keyfinder is one of them.

Interesting, however the hard drive is in hard drive heave.
Nothing can be retrieved off it.

--
http://www.vatican.va

On 1/2/10 1:46 PM, Twayne wrote:

Not a bad post here except it's a little sketchy for what your level of
expertise appears to be. I could be wrong, so, ... .
A very important point is to NOT connect the computer to the internet
without an anti-virus program installed. You should learn about and use
spyware scanners too but the AV is the most important, and a firewall too.
The main point is, do not connect to the internet without an antivirus
program installed, current, updated and functional. Folks here will be
glad to point out safe and reliable programs for any of these if you're
not sure.

The "Clean Install" mentioned is actually pretty important because it
gives you a fresh start and you'll only have to fight any problems you
might create, not those of the previous owner, which are sometimes
substantial. It also provides you with the knowledge as to how to do it,
which you are likely to need in the future.
Re the ability to do a clean install: That capability is required to be
supplied with a computer.
The installation CDs and documentation or on-disk capabilities and
documentation have to be capable of returning the computer to the same
state as when it was delivered new. That means if the computer also has
Microsoft Office on it, you'll require a way to reinstall that also, and
so on. If you don't have the ability to reinstall them, then you may not
have the licenses to use them.
If the recovery programs are on-disk then you won't be able to or need
to do a "clean install" because it'll be automated for you when you
trigger the on-disk recovery program.

HTH,

Twayne



In ,
PA Bear [MS MVP] typed:
See Pegasus' & Jim's replies, then read the below:

HOW TO do a clean install of WinXP: See
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps and/or Method
1 in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978307

After the clean install, you'll have the equivalent of a "new
computer" so take care of everything on the following page before
otherwise
connecting the machine to the internet or a network and before using a
USB key
that isn't brand-new or hasn't been freshly formatted:

5 steps to help protect your new computer before you go online
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/com...nced/xppc.mspx

Other helpful references include:

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP Gold (no Service Packs) fully
patched (after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...5afa8ed33e121c


HOW TO get a computer running WinXP SP1(a) or SP2 fully patched
(after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...66ae41add7dd2b


NB: Any Norton or McAfee free-trial that came preinstalled on the
computer when you bought it will be reinstalled (but invalid) when
Windows is
reinstalled. You MUST uninstall the free-trial and download/run the
appropriate removal tool before installing any Windows Service Packs
or IE upgrades and before installing your new anti-virus application.

Norton Removal Tool

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/englis...moval_Tool.exe


McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool

http://download.mcafee.com/products/...tches/MCPR.exe


Also see:

Steps To Help Prevent Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/prevent.aspx

Steps to Help Prevent Computer Worms
http://www.microsoft.com/security/worms/prevent.aspx

Avoid Rogue Security Software!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx

Father Justin wrote:
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?





I am an IT tech for 11 years.

--
http://www.vatican.va

On 1/2/10 7:34 AM, Jim wrote:
Belarc adviser

The hard drive has failed - I made several attempts at recovering the
data including freezing it.
Nothing.
Satan's work I imagine.

--
http://www.vatican.va

Father Justin wrote:
On 1/2/10 7:34 AM, Jim wrote:
Belarc adviser

The hard drive has failed - I made several attempts at recovering the
data including freezing it.
Nothing.
Satan's work I imagine.

If it spins up, it can be easily read. Depending on how much you want to
spend.

There are commercial and freeware programs that can read the drive at the
physical level.

"Father Justin" said this in news item
...
On 1/2/10 5:18 AM, Pegasus [MVP] wrote:


"Father Justin" said this in news item
...
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?
--
http://www.vatican.va

You might ask for divine inspiration. If this fails then Google is your
best bet. Just type

Windows Product key

into a search box and you will get more than 40 million hits on how to
retrieve a product key. Jellybean's Keyfinder is one of them.

Interesting, however the hard drive is in hard drive heaven.
Nothing can be retrieved off it.

--
http://www.vatican.va

It appears that your initial confession left out some essential details. I
can think of two paths leading to redemption:

a) If you could retrieve the folder c:\Windows\system32\config then some of
the tools mentioned previously may be able to retrieve the key.

b) If you have a good connection to the crime squad of the Swiss Guard then
they might be prepared to lend you their UV-lamp. It is likely that it will
reveal the characters on the product key sticker that are normally invisible
to the human eye.

If neither a) nor b) applies then you need to ask Bill Gates for a
charitable donation.

On 1/2/10 4:26 PM, HeyBub wrote:
Father Justin wrote:
On 1/2/10 7:34 AM, Jim wrote:
Belarc adviser

The hard drive has failed - I made several attempts at recovering the
data including freezing it.
Nothing.
Satan's work I imagine.

If it spins up, it can be easily read. Depending on how much you want to
spend.

There are commercial and freeware programs that can read the drive at the
physical level.



A new copy of Windows XP on eBay goes for about $40.
I have tried so many things this drive redefines dead. he platter is
toast, event he motor doesn't work anymore.
I'm pretty certain it took a static charge, nailed the electronics and
caused multiple failures. I used to work on printers; when a mainboard
would fail sometimes it send bad voltage to the motors and eventually
damage them as well.

--
http://www.vatican.va

On 1/2/10 4:32 PM, Pegasus [MVP] wrote:



"Father Justin" said this in news item
...
On 1/2/10 5:18 AM, Pegasus [MVP] wrote:


"Father Justin" said this in news item
...
I have a laptop here - I bought it second hand. The sticker on the
bottom is worn and I can barely read the numbers.
I have to reinstall the OS - how do I handle this?
--
http://www.vatican.va

You might ask for divine inspiration. If this fails then Google is your
best bet. Just type

Windows Product key

into a search box and you will get more than 40 million hits on how to
retrieve a product key. Jellybean's Keyfinder is one of them.

Interesting, however the hard drive is in hard drive heaven.
Nothing can be retrieved off it.

--
http://www.vatican.va

It appears that your initial confession left out some essential details.
I can think of two paths leading to redemption:

a) If you could retrieve the folder c:\Windows\system32\config then some
of the tools mentioned previously may be able to retrieve the key.

Attempted and failed.


b) If you have a good connection to the crime squad of the Swiss Guard
then they might be prepared to lend you their UV-lamp. It is likely that
it will reveal the characters on the product key sticker that are
normally invisible to the human eye.

Interesting - that I will certainly try.
I do have access to a black light.


If neither a) nor b) applies then you need to ask Bill Gates for a
charitable donation.

That is why the Almighty led me to Mac.


--
http://www.vatican.va

Father Justin wrote:
On 1/2/10 4:26 PM, HeyBub wrote:
Father Justin wrote:
On 1/2/10 7:34 AM, Jim wrote:
Belarc adviser

The hard drive has failed - I made several attempts at recovering
the data including freezing it.
Nothing.
Satan's work I imagine.

As was stated elsewhere in this thread, even if you *could* have
retrieved a key from the hard drive (using a program like Belarc
Advisor), it might not have been the one you want anyway (because there
are different kinds of product keys for XP, depending on the OEM and the
method they use to preinstall XP). But as long as you don't tell us the
make and model of the laptop, we can't really help you out with that.

If it spins up, it can be easily read. Depending on how much you
want to spend.

There are commercial and freeware programs that can read the drive
at the physical level.



A new copy of Windows XP on eBay goes for about $40.

Are you sure? I just entered the following terms:

"xp home" "sealed"

I see it offered for $84 (the Buy it Now price, which includes
shipping). Perhaps certain auction items are at $40 currently? Then
again, you might be talking about a Dell CD (don't know -- you STILL
haven't told us the make and model of this laptop!!!). Forty dollars
seems over-priced to me _for that_ because the main reason for the high
cost of a CD is the license.

Also, if someone wanted to purchase XP Home new, they might as well use
a retailer like Newegg IMO. (Again, this is for the generic OEM version,
not for the Dell-branded version!)

Also, whenever one deals with Ebay sellers, one never knows what they're
buying. In another thread started a few days ago, a poster informed us
he bought an XP installation CD from an Ebay seller and is reporting
that Microsoft is flagging his system as non-genuine. This could be a
coincidence, but I wouldn't take such a chance.

Instead of taking your chances with Ebay sellers, you might as well
first try to download the .iso for free and determine it to be clean
(like you recounted in your "F6 Drivers" thread in the Dell newsgroup).
I would *never* recommend this to a newb! But you seem to know what
you're doing. You could also run an MD5 hash and Google it to see if
others have reported that particular .iso as clean (or otherwise). Then
again, this would work only with something like a Dell-branded XP
installation CD (which contains a generic "golden master" product key --
the very same one that Belarc Advisor would report, BTW). The reason:
You don't know what the Product Key is!!!

WTF did you reply to *my* post, you doofus?

On Jan 2, 1:46*pm, "Twayne" wrote:
Not a bad post here except it's a little sketchy for what your level of
expertise appears to be. I could be wrong, so, ... .
SNIP
[You usually are.]

PA Bear [MS MVP] wrote:
See Pegasus' & Jim's replies, then read the below:

HOW TO do a clean install of WinXP: See
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanx...ml#stepsand/or Method
1 inhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/978307
SNIP