Re: hypothetical upgrade situation

Hey PS,

Actually, in the fully legal manner of this question, no, you cannot use
that upgrade disk.

Why? Because, believe it or not, it is illegal to sell and purchase used
software. It's kinda like ripping off the tag of your mattress, but if
anyone would try to uphold this law, it would be M$N... Plus, the
registration process on XP scans your system hardware, then creates the ID
number for your version of XP. Then, they keep it in their database, and
when you try to register it with another set of hardware, it gets flagged,
and rendered useless. Then, gives you a 1-800 number to call, plead your
case, and then, if you're lucky, they will give you a new number to enter.
(Went through this, changed a motherboard on a pc... they had a fit. After
chewing out their rep and a manager, they reluctantly gave me a new
number...).

Sooo, legally, no, you cannot use this cd, unless it was never registered
at all. It's worth a shot, but maybe John Smith is calling MSN as a
question

Hoot

P.S. despite all my rhetoric about msn, they have relaxed the rules on the
XP registration, it just may be worth a shot....

"PSumerlin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> if a person bought a xp upgrade at a garage sale. opened( no seal), but it
is
> the original install disc complete with product key and manual and does
not
> know if it has been previously registered or if it still exists or ever
> existed on another computer or not,. could they use it on their computer
?.
> Can they find out if it has ever been registered? If it has been
registered to
> another person but no longer exists on another computer, could the new
owner
> just upgrade their registered copy of 98 and be safe to go to microsoft
for
> updates without fear if the xp upgrade is registered to someone different
than
> the 98 being upgraded? what options would a person have in this
situation....to
> upgrade or not to upgrade....?

hootnholler