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Microsoft Stores Around The Corner

Civi — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:14:52 +0000

Microsoft plans to open its own retail stores just like apple did to help with the company’s slowdown. According to Microsoft’s press release, they will be opening the stores “to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy.”

Microsoft has appointened David Porter, a former walmart executive, to be the corporate vice president of Retail Stores. This move is similar to what apple did when they opened their own retail stores which was quite a succesful move for them. Now lets just sit and watch how microsoft will do in this.

Windows telephone activation

Civi — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:41:53 +0000

I recently build a new computer and re-installed windows XP which i bought but since my computer had new hardware, i had to re-activate windows. I tried through online activation but no success. So i got lazy and kept re-installing XP everytime it expired then i finally made a choice yesterday to try telephone activation. It was a lot easier than i thought, took me about 5 minutes. Here’s how i did it.

I went to the activation screen and chose telephone activation then selected my country (USA) and they gave me a number to call. I called the number which was 1(888)571-2048 then the machine answered and the automated lady asked me if i wanted to activate windows, i said yes. She then asked me to read the installation ID in groups of six. The code is found in the activation screen and its about 8 or 9 groups of 6 numbers each. After i read all of the code, she transferred me to a real person because the XP was used before.

Waited about two minutes then an indian guy spoke to me and he asked me which version of windows i was activating then he asked me if i have installed it on another computer before.I said no. He then asked me verify the first six and the last three numbers of the installation ID which i did. Then he gave me the activation code. Easy and takes only five minutes.

How windows activation works

Civi — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:00:55 +0000

If you buy or build a new comptuer, at some point you will need to activate windows XP or vista to continue using it. Microsoft introduced windows product activation (WPA) to many of its products as a way to prevent software piracy. When installing windows, you have up to 30 days to activate windows or you will not be able to login anymore. Activation is usually done online or by telephone. Remember that activation and windows registration are two different things so don’t confuse them. Registration is optional and activation is a must.

If you buy a PC from a vendor then it will come already activated unlike building your own or buying a computer without OS installed. So how does WPA work? The process starts with an installation ID. When activating windows through telephone, you are required to provide the installation ID or if you do it online then the computer will send the ID automatically. Installation ID is a number consisting of 50 decimal digits that are divided into groups of six digits each. This ID contains the 25 digit product ID which you entered when installing windows and the hardware information of your computer. When you provide Microsoft the installation ID when activating, they will generate and give you the activation code needed to activate windows. After activation, every time you start windows, it checks to make sure that your computer hardware information matches with the code. Windows checks for the following hardware changes:

Display Adapter
RAM Amount Range
Network Adapter
Processor type
Processor Serial Number
SCSI Adapter
IDE Adapter (Motherboard)
Hard drive
Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
CD/DVD drives installed

Microsoft keeps a record of the information it collects on every licensed copy of windows XP/Vista so that no one can install it on another computer and activate it. So if you make too many changes to your hardware then you will be required to activate windows again. If you are just re-installing windows and you don’t want to activate again then you can backup a file called wpa.dbl found in the system32 folder then after installing windows, take the file you backed up and replace it with the one in the system32 folder.

Microsoft Office 14 Screenshots Leaked

Civi — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 23:58:23 +0000

Screenshots of the upcoming Microsoft office 14 which is rumored to be released in 2010 has been leaked. Last week Microsoft released an early alpha build for select testers but somehow the screenshots have been leaked out. It is also rumored that the photos came from a Russian tester from wzor.net. Here are a few shots…

Office 14

Word

Excel

More information here