PC Tech Thread

Local accounts will only be available on Windows Pro.

And for that reason, I'm out.

Depending where you get it from a pro licence is pretty cheap.

I was spoiled having a full MSDN license subscription for years and years.

(Couldn't use it for home stuff though.)

Depending where you get it from a pro licence is pretty cheap

Cite source of cheap legit digital licences or product keys.

a pro licence is pretty cheap

Yeah, and I'll end up getting Pro on machines as they come around for replacement, but upgrading to Pro just so people can still be local users after "upgrading" to 11? Ain't nobody got time fo dat

This is what I use. Technically OEM
https://www.vip-scdkey.com/software/microsoft-pc-10-pro-oem_1227-20.html

I just buy Win Pro keys of ebay for around £5. Since they all get activated online I consider them good enough.

Only issue I ever had was on this POS Dell XPS that doesn't support upgrading a current installation and needed a clean re-install.

It’s not like it needs a reinstall, you just change the license key.

The keys are cheap, I think you can even still buy a Windows 7 or 8 license for buttons and it works for 10/11

It’s not like it needs a reinstall, you just change the license key

Nothing ever goes that smoothly in my experience. I administer four Windows boxes, one is on Pro by accident, two of the others are pretty close to end of life anyway. The real question then becomes, can I be arsed to get an upgrade key for mum's laptop just so she can obtain whatever benefit Windows 11 is going to bring to a box which is only used as a Web browser?

I was wondering about the license key .... if I do a clean install but I've lost my Win 10 Pro key, will it activate as long as I use the same MS login that my Win 10 uses? obv. it's replacing my Win 10.

I'm switching my machine to a Ryzen 9 5900x ... so worried it won't allow activation or some bullshit. I've no spare keys otherwise

If you have access to the old machine, you can get the current key from the command line/right registry file.

If you changed enough components it may also require telephone activation. Been very straightforward when I've done it.

Worth also mentioning that if you don't ever activate Windows, the only repercussions are a watermark in the bottom right hand side of the screen and inability to customise the appearance of windows. I know plenty of people who use windows but never bother to buy/activate it.

Sorry if not the right thread, but I have a prehistoric PC question - I'm seeing if an 80s Amstrad 1640 is working - when powering on it asks for a system disk, upon insertion there is a disk boot failure message - that's the floppy disk that's failing, not the hard drive, right? Assume it's trying to boot from the floppy....

Has yours definitely got a HD in it? Most didn't. I think you are correct, even with HD they still needed to boot from floppy. Is it those weird 3" disks?

Might be worth checking if the mainboard battery is ok. I think the old Amstrads took AAs somewhere!

The 1640 used 5 1/4" disks--it was a PC rather than one from the 464, 664, 6128 series.

I can't remember whether it only booted from floppy disks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC1640

I think the old Amstrads took AAs somewhere!

AFAIR there was a recess for batteries on the top of the case that you plonked the monitor on.

I was never baller enough to have an Amstrad with an HD so my memory is incomplete too.

@nickvonfiction if you boot with nothing in the floppy drive do you get the same message?

He said that on powering on he gets a message asking him to insert a system disk if there isn't one inserted.

Gah, i'm brain dead this morning

Boot disk failing.

I'm just happy that I can make posts in the PC Tech Thread about thirty-year-old computer hardware. :)

#alliknow

Warm memories here too.

I remember having the 1988 Olympics on in the background, writing some of my first structured code, aged 7. My mum and Dad didn't have much money at the time and my Dad's boss gifted me his old Amstrad. He died a couple of years ago, wish I'd had the chance to thank him for setting me up with a career!

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This was the first PC* I ever used - a 'portable' mains-only 6kg slab of the future that came in its own suitcase:

*Probably not a true IBM PC clone, but it did run MS-DOS.

[Edit: I pretty futuristic-looking for 1984. I think it shared some external design heritage with Sony/Apple Macs via a design consultancy]

Not wanting to derail a much more interesting conversation (our first family computer was a ZX80 my dad built from one of the kits).
But does anyone who understands current graphics cards shortages think it makes sense to wait until 2022 to buy a new video editing PC? Are things going to improve by then?