Important, new news about Win10 activation

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Paul Thurrott has seen some internal documentation, and he’s spilling some important beans. Thurrott.com
[See the full post at: Important, new news about Win10 activation]

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Really interesting read and nothing that really hasn’t been at the back of my mind for a long time. What does this mean for our merry little band of “Microsoft Malcontents” in here? not rocket science really, Windows 10 is sure to get nag msg’s in a similar vein to the long suffering windows 7, 8, 8.1, counterparts, an update probably along the lines of the infamous KB9710033 that Win 7 users know all too well and now all gloriously irressitable thx to win 10’s update stance. Nothing to worry about I would imagine will give us plenty to complain about and certainly going to be annoying. My take, for what its worth, is that its going to be nothing more than a case of “high tech sabre rattling” and that they maybe just “testing the waters” with Paul Thurrot a long known Windows skeptic. This should however spur folks out there to find an effective way around win 10’s update policies and hopefully silence the smug Linux “I told ya so” users.

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Dear Woody,

Thurott’s post has raised a question for me regarding something I did not think of when needing to buy a new computer and having no choice but a Win 10 OS. I, am not IT saavy, and just a “user” who has been faithfully reading you for several years.

Leery of MS, I never created a Microsoft account on the Win 10 computer. I don’t like MS’s new tactics.

If I ever need to reset, or put this computer back to the original Win 10 that came on it, will my not having a MS account cause me a problem?

I just assumed having the license number on the hard drive, or the recovery drive would do the trick for me. Supposedly when I bought it at the dreaded box store, the dufus who set up the computer, and ignoring all my directions that I paid for in my Install Service, as well as putting 32-bit programs on my 64-bit computer, etc., did the backup thumb-drive correctly.

Even though I presume not having a MS account will protect me some from snooping, should I get a MS account to ensure being able to install the OS again should I need it?

Thanks for the advice.

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The MS account *should* never be necessary. It’s just nice to have, just in case. If you bought the machine with Win10 pre-installed, and you don’t change the motherboard, it’s highly, highly unlikely that you’ll ever run into problems.

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Interesting theory – that Paul’s being used to test the waters. I’ve seen that happen before with several bloggers. Microsoft always retains deniability. Hmmmmm…

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Some remarks :

– MS seems to say you can now upgrade your motherboard and still retain your licence. This is new. Up to now, as far as OEM licences were concerned, you could, maybe, swap a dead motherboard for an identical model (and it still required somme convincing during the phone activation process), however upgrading your motherboard was considered a change of computer. (My perception of things ; not actual personal experience.)

MS says : “Reactivation as part of the Troubleshooter is designed to help users who change the motherboard themselves… This is about helping those users who like to upgrade their hardware.”

– MS insists very much on the MS account. No word of what happens if you don’t have one.

– The Byzantinism of these debates is staggering. One could be excused for thinking we are discussing how the human nature of Jesus balances with his divine essence.

– 120 $ to “upgrade” from W 10 Home to Pro ? This is outrageous.

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It’s $100.

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Another thing that really sucks is the fact that ‘Reset PC’ may fail due to multiple OSes registered with the boot loader (even if you never did the multiboot thing..) and the install process failing to select the proper OS partition (even if there is only one..). If that happens, the install will hang forever and you’ll have to pull the plug.. Then, if you’re unable to get into the boot loader and select the right OS (all options show Windows 10..), you’ll have to install via USB/DVD; and if you had the Pro edition installed, you’ll end up on the Home edition.. Even worse, the only official way to get back to the Pro edition is via the Store.. Sure, there is the unofficial solution using VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T as product key during activation to trigger the upgrade to the Pro edition. However, this only works if the Pro edition was activated earlier and your machine ID has been registered with Microsoft..

Last but not least, Internet Explorer 11 is broken again in Windows 10 leaving tons of orphaned processes behind on exit. And yes, tons of orphaned URLxxxx.tmp (xxxx= hex number) and other crap are filling up the temp folder.. Well, it’s Microsoft and they always used to deliver crapware…

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