On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:10:29 +0100, Andrew Drapper <and...@drapper.com> wrote:
> 1. I have in the past had a number of pre-installed pc with XP, but > only restore CD's I can probably find the COA Is there anyway to use > these? The likely-hood is these keys are for an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) version of XP. Which means that 'technically' they can only be used once by a hardware constructor. I have had success in the past ringing the phone number that comes up in the validation wizard and telling them windows broke and I need a new key. They often cough up for an old OS. > 2. Do I need a full XP CD? Any ideas on where to get them. Ebay has many > that appear second hand, and often for Dell, will these work? If > not, any ideas about where is the best place to get a full CD There are no "legal" ways to download an XP cd (unless you have an MSDNAA license). However as long as you have a license I can't see anything illegal about installing XP from any source. You could try one of your restore disks, some will just be a modified install CD, others are a ghost CD. IF you have a modified install CD you will get the bundled crapware though. > 3. Is Sun vertualBox a good idea? Personally I'm a fan, though I'm a fan of many odd things. Its just such a simple program to use and I can't see any major drawbacks for SOHO use. -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ -- Next meeting: C4L and Bournemouth, Wednesday 2010-06-02 19:00 http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2645413 Chat: http://www.mibbit.com/?server=irc.blitzed.org&channel=%23dorset List info: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/dorset
