Why I'm angry at Microsoft

So i've been on the phone with microsoft for about 3 hours now... i've spoken with 4 people so far and am on hold at the moment... I could not understand 3 of the 4 people i have spoken too so far... i've spoken with these departments(in cron. order)
1. Product Activation(couldn't understand)
2. Customer Service(couldn't understand)
3. Tech Support(understood but couldn't do anything for me)
4. Customer Service(couldn't understand)

i've now been on hold for about 30-40 minutes and don't even know where i'm being transfered to...

So yeah, my problem is pretty simple too :
I activate windows... more than the average user but not anything extreme. So the last 2 times i've had to activate it, it told me that i had exceeded the limit of times i can activate it... So I spend about 20 minutes on the phone everytime I need to activate it.

I activated it today and was planing on reinstalling it on a different drive after I got everything saved... so i decided to see if i could get this problem resolved... and now it looks like i'll have to wait for another few days to reinstall because I've been on the phone for 3 friggin hours... So yeah, i just keep getting transfered and told that they can't do anything and stuff... hell, all i want is either a new product key, for them to reset my activation number, or to give me some cool stuff... I paid almost $400 for it about a year and a half ago and all i want is to be able to activate it over the net instead of calling...

update :
finally got ahold of the next guy...
turns out they sent me back to tech support...
at least i can understand this guy pretty good, he's trying to get me a new product key.

so apparently i've spent 3 and a half hours on the phone to get told that i need to call up and activate just like i did earlier. WTF... makes me wonder why i bought a legit copy of windows in the first place. :|

Man - that is just insane, I can't feel your pain as I have not done that before. But maybe you need to come to the 'dark' side Luke. Linux

so apparently the guy is going to try to get me a new copy... i hope he does but yeah, i'm not a big fan of linux, i don't have time to mess with that stuff and i'm a big hardware geek too(even though i'm a computer programmer) i don't like to mess with the software side too much, windows works, plus i like gaming.

Wierd, all my activations calls are less than 4 minutes, most of the time its recieving the numbers thats the longest part. I have to activate a lot too.

yeah, come to dark side and will never be problems like activation [Ubuntu Linux]

Im shifting to the Dark side as well. I got tired of the same ol M$ granola. Unfortunately I am dragging some windows with me. It seems that there is
a way to have the Linux LTSP do windows as a diskless thing. and have
it folding too

Same thing just happend to me. I change hardware all the time and I activate at least 7 times a year because I reinstall quite a bit when I get new mobos and stuff. Seems I've come to the end of my "max allowed activations" or whatever the message was/is. I hope my future calls are short and sweet, but the fact that I'm having to call in the first place really upsets me. I paid $99 for my OEM version and now I have to call? That's not fair. Thanks to all the jerks out there who steal for this one -- and MS, too. Why should I have to pay in the form of phone calls? Just so frustrating to pay that much and have to "prove I'm clean".

On the flip-side, I do like Windows and there really isn't a viable alternative for gamers.

Buy 5 MS products and get into the open volume key program. Alternatively, subscribe to technet or msdn.

I had an issue about my key at one point as well. Of course when you get a Dell, this is all done for you if i remember. Now what happened to me was, that my Dell died and I was putting WinXP on my new system. I try the key, and it connects to the net and says its not valid. Im going, wtf in my mind at this point.

In calling up tech support (aka some place in India), I was told this little but of info. "Your key is dependent on the hardware designs of your computer. So if the hardware is different the key is no longer valid. Since your Dell system died, that key is no longer valid." Of course Im enraged at this point, so I tell them a nice string of bad words, and how they are just money hungry people who dont give a *beep* about people.

They wanted me to go out and spend another $150 on the OS. In which if this system were to died, $150 down the hole. Thankfully they have this 30 day thing..and I did something that Microsoft really hates. I got a patch for the validation thing and boom, no problems anymore.

I would use linux but my graphics and games wouldnt run then So screw your Mircosoft, ya power and money hungry *beep beep beep beep beeeeeeeeppppp*

NeoSpawn said:

Thankfully they have this 30 day thing..and I did something that Microsoft really hates. I got a patch for the validation thing and boom, no problems anymore.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have that patch too, but I only use it for my home systems because I, like you, paid for the OS -- whether it be OEM, or in your case, from DELL. The thing is, my "patch" breaks one feature that I really like (Not to mention this patch will lock you out of Windows Update). I'll explain. When I use a limited account I can no longer use the "switch users" feature. I really like that option because when I get up from the computer I can just hit that and it will prompt anyone for a password without actually having logged me out of the account, i.e., without it closing down all my applications.

I have also purchased a few systems from DELL (all sold away, now), though I never experienced what you did. I never really changed out any hardware in those days. Once I found out that the DELL Windows CD was useless for future builds I flipped out, not knowing the way that whole Ponzi scheme worked at the time. I simply figured that the Windows CD would work since I paid all that cash for the Dell and all. Reality check.

Basically it boils down to this for me. If the call takes me over 15 minutes I'd rather just patch the machine and be done with it -- despite actually having a legit OEM copy of Windows. I'm gonna give it a whirl in a minute here and see how long it takes MS to give me a new number.

Buy a copy of windows 2000. No product activation, and lower memory usage!

PingSpike said:

Buy a copy of windows 2000. No product activation, and lower memory usage!

Click to expand...

Heh heh heh. Very true indeed. And you can burn yourself a backup CD, change one number in a text file, and turn your retail CD into an OEM CD that requires no annoying CD key to be entered. Although, then when you register for Windows Update, it will ask you what system manufacturer made your computer. I prefer typing in "Dull Craputer".

mdameron said:

Wierd, all my activations calls are less than 4 minutes, most of the time its recieving the numbers thats the longest part. I have to activate a lot too.

Click to expand...

Same here. I exceed my legal number of activations a looooong time ago. I have to call in every time I activate now, but it is never a hassle. This is a major glitch to ma as far as Xp is concerned. It is basically a built in shelf life.

Do you guy's know of a decent online vendor that still sells Windows 2000? I'm seriously considering buying a copy.

Thanks.

After swapping a motherboard in a friends Dell Dim2400, I noticed that the CD wouldn't work anymore. I dug around a bit on the CD and eventually got rid of the OEM directory and modified a few other files which turned the CD into a standard OEM home disc. Activated just fine. Not sure if this is against any EULA's since it was on the same computer and was not being used anywhere else, but it worked.