Computer Active 5 year old unused software resolved.

sastusbulbas · Tuesday at 18:34

According to the internet an OEM license for Windows doesn't expire if not installed.

So imagine my surprise when the product I bought some years back but never used would not activate Windows.

The advert when purchased stated a genuine license with an original retail price and sale price.
Due to the advert and claimed retail price I had assumed genuine product, OEM single use.

So contact the magazine, 1st they ramble on about one time use, then about it expiring and therefore my fault for not using it.
Apparently I should have known it was an enterprise key with an expiry date.

Nowhere on their adverts does it ever say it's some expiring batch key. That it states an RRP infers a genuine OEM

Contacting them was uninspiring.

I specifically bought it from what I thought was a reputable source to avoid any activation issues. Turns out the magazine is simply selling business keys with adverts that infer an OEM retail value.

Moody now. Was meant to be a nice experience enjoying a new build and it's simply been disappointing.

drakulton · Tuesday at 19:18

C'mon man, it was a windows 95 key, all the kool kids are on XP.

Gray2233 · Tuesday at 19:26

You wanted to buy a genuine Windows licence from a reputable source, and you went with what is primarily a magazine company? :confused:

You didn't think to maybe buy one from OCUK instead, or any myriad of other options including Microsoft themselves?

Not that I'd ever do so personally, you can pick up keys for £5-10 and I've never had any issues with doing so. I'd shift to Linux before forking out £100 + to Microsoft to beta test their increasingly poor O/S platform, in fact I'll be doing just that in a month or two.

LostCorpse · Tuesday at 19:32

drakulton said:
C'mon man, it was a windows 95 key, all the kool kids are on XP.

Na ME !!! all the way

CaptainCrash · Wednesday at 01:37

Grass them up to MS's enforcers: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/howtotell/cfr/report

sastusbulbas · Wednesday at 07:43

Gray2233 said:
You wanted to buy a genuine Windows licence from a reputable source, and you went with what is primarily a magazine company?

You didn't think to maybe buy one from OCUK instead, or any myriad of other options including Microsoft themselves?

Not that I'd ever do so personally, you can pick up keys for £5-10 and I've never had any issues with doing so. I'd shift to Linux before forking out £100 + to Microsoft to beta test their increasingly poor O/S platform, in fact I'll be doing just that in a month or two.

If you look at the advertising it infers genuine product just as Overclockers do. A listed retail price, and then the discount. I used it thinking it was a reputable sale as 5 years ago some were wary of online key vendors.
I've already had two full retail purchases of Windows 7 Ultimate back in the day, one of which I passed to my eldest. The magazine advertising the single use license at a sale price of £33 seemed genuine back then.

For a second PC I thought a single license was fine. Didn't realize Computer Active were selling expiring enterprise codes. The fact that they list original retail prices for multi use full retail packages even today is dubious.

Sadly I feel I want to avoid Windows 11, the latest NVMe issues a class example of why, and often issues on the work PC"s after updates.

sastusbulbas · Friday at 20:57

Update.

After another email where I explained the manner of the advert and again going over the matter, I got a rather polite email and replacement key. Cheered me up.

But next license I may well be tempted just to get another full MS version to avoid any further issues in future.