Windows 10 license pricing

[Vortex12]

I just assembled a new PC, for the first time in years to replace a "dog" of a PC I use as a backup in case of failure of my main PC. All very easy these days and quite inexpensive.

I made a W10 installer USB from a Microsoft download. Worked a charm, and then yesterday the "activate your Windows" nagging started.

I had anticipated transplanting the license from the old PC, but then stumbled across an eBay seller with licenses for £2.68.

At that price nothing to lose in trying so I purchased one, and it works.

Can it really be legit at that price?

D

[The Natural Philosopher]

Might well be if the guy sellng them has taken them from scrapped PCs or PCs now running Linux.

Its a fair price anway.

[Andy Burns]

I doubt it.

Most windows licences don't allow transfer from one PC to another (unless you purchased a 'retail' licence) and the licence gets tied to hardware specific data on microsoft's servers (MAC address, serial numbers, amount of memory etc)

You get away with it, or it might stop working later ...

[Andrew Gabriel]

With XP, Microsoft would block license numbers when it saw they had been cloned.

[Chris Hogg]

If you open Windows Explorer, and left-click on 'Help', a short drop-down menu offers you the option to see if your copy of Windows is legal. How reliable that is, I don't know, but it only takes a couple of seconds to try it.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Chris Hogg writes

Tried that. After I had discovered where Explorer is hidden. My system came up with *we are sorry. The page you requested cannot be found* .

Re-furbished W7 box.

[Jethro_uk]

Windows gets more like Linux every day :)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Browsers behave alike on all platforms...

[Jethro_uk]

It wasn't the browser, it was the out of date documentation.

Even yesterday, working on a current project (very very current), the

*official* documentation is still referring to features that were removed 3 months ago.

Which is frustrating. But nowhere near as frustrating as Googling the issue, and finding my same question being answered by 30 people all referring me (with clickly links) to the outdated documentation.

Not that I have used an MS product for a while. But when I did, between their online libraries and the entire MDSN on DVD, the documentation was pretty robust.

[Tim Streater]

This is kind of a non-sequitur, isn't it? WE is always open, like Finder on the Mac.

It's not hidden anywhere. If you can see the desktop, you can see WE.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Tim Streater explained on 11/02/2018 :

I cannot find it, where is it hidden? I even tried a search and that only mentioned references to it on web sites.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Technically yes, but ...

Press the windows key and the letter E.

This brings up the 'File Explorer' on W10 which is probably what is wanted.

[Bob Eager]

Explorer is what provides the desktop. On my W7 system, right click (well, for most people) on the Windows orb.

But just open any folder and select Help. That should show a suitable menu item. In my case, after a lot of faffing around, it gave a 404 at the Microsoft site!

[John Rumm]

no, of course not!

[Harry Bloomfield]

Adrian Caspersz explained on 11/02/2018 :

Had it have been called File Explorer earlier - I have used it from first installing W10.

[Cursitor Doom]

Not even for free. All Windows versions are loaded with weapons grade spyware.

[Martin]

I don't find about.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Tim Streater writes

I'm a farmer and not a geek! It is tucked away in the accessories program list.

>

[Harry Bloomfield]

Martin formulated on Sunday :

Load 'File Explorer' Right click the File tab, on the left of the panel which appears, hover on the Help, which should bring up a panel on the right with 'About Windows' in it. Click on the 'About Windows' and it will show who it is registered to.

[PeterC]

First time that I did this I clicked on "Is this copy of Windows legal". It opened the browser and set off for Megaflab to find out - closed browser pdq! Under "About Windows" it says that it's licensed to me!