Where I can buy windows vista for cheap, I got a virus a few weeks ago, I got rid of it, but the porblem is now the version of vista I got off my sister's boyfriend is running out of licence in 13 days, bloody idiot didn't say a thing. Its copied from his genuine version, not downloaded or anything, what do I do?

My suggestion would be to go somewhere that sells windows vista (dunno where because my vista came automatically on my comp) but I went to PC world, I'm sure if you ask them they should be able to help you out. Unless of course that is someone else has a better idea which I'm sure they will lol

What about your own copy? dont you have a disc or something that it came with?

yeah i do why?

I'm not sure at all, but if that copy is licenced to you, then you can use it again cant you, for the purpose you're talking about?

isnt there a number that you type in to somewhere and when it's in your vista is registered and you days arent limited... there should be if it's yours..

If he got the version of his sis's Bf, then I dunno if the license key will still be useable.

I have a crack CD that removes the need for license confirmation, but I can't remember where I downloaded it from. I'll have a look around for ya.

If all else fails, I’d recommend Novatech for a legit copy. Fantastic tech support, fast effecient delivery (if you don't have a store near you), and not too expensive.

But surely if he still has his own licenced copy of vista, thats all he needs isnt it?

yea thats what i mean, he said he has one therefore there should be a registration thingy which enables you to prove it is your copy

Depends where he got the PC from originally. Occationally you won't get the Operating system CD with the PC software when you buy it. You should, but if the operating system is pre-installed when you get the PC, you may not notice you don't have it until something like this happens. Plus it may have become lost, or one of many other possibilities.

If he does have the CD and the original authentication code, or can get hold of who-ever he got the PC off then its a simple case of reinstalling it. If this isn't possible then the only other options are buying a new one (once again i recommend novatech) or cracking the current copy you have.

I'd go for the latter option cos i'm cheap, but only if you know what your doing, and you can get a crack from someone trusted. I'll try and find a decent crack for ya, but even i wouldn't trust someone i'd met on a forum.

i just fixed it now guys, used the automatic telephone activation system.
cheers

hahah all that for that

Whats that?

Aye, i'm with scorp on this. Never used the phone authentication.

Whats it like quality wise?

What I was doing wrong was entering my serial number, everytime a little pop up on the right hand side of the screen kept saying I must activate windows. But all it kept saying was this serial number is already in use.

What I needed to do was bring up the activation screen, which gives you a number of choices, activate over the internet, phone, etc. I chose activate over the phone, which then brought up a free phone number with an automated answering service. I followed the simple instructions, and answered a a few simple questions, and hey presto it supplied me with my activation number which I just had to type in. Now I'm back in business. Horaay!

And yeah Rach227 you're right, 'All that for that' but I did think at one point I was going have to fork out £170 for a new version of windows.

No worries JC, thats what we're here for

lol well im glad it's sorted, it always ends up 'all that for that'

e.g. my msn display name stopped changin i asked the people how to do it and they told me to run through this big shmuck about uninstalling and reinstalling, all I had to do was press a button haha