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How can I determine if my Windows 10 license is retail or OEM? And what is the difference between them in terms of carrything them over after a motherboard update?
Back in 2013 when I bought this computer (it was not pre-assembled, I picked the parts and it was built at the shop) I bought a Windows 8.1 Pro, although they gave me no CDs with it. When the update came last summer I free upgraded it to Windows 10 Pro.
So, now if I want to upgrade my motherboard, would my system recognize the change and automatically activate without any issues, or would I have to buy another Windows 10 copy?
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According to what Microsoft wants you to do, you are supposed to buy a Windows 10 license.
In practice, I think it's still possible to upgrade to Windows 10 right now. They disabled the normal free upgrade page on their website, but have a special page that's supposed to be used by people needing the assistive tools in Windows (things like the screen-reader or magnifying tool). That page leads to the normal Windows 10 Upgrade tool, I think.
About the technical details, I wrote down everything I can remember:
+ Show Spoiler [a lot of text] + Right now when you are running your upgraded Windows 10 that was previously a Windows 8.1, you are not using a key. Your system is activated because a "fingerprint" of your hardware is saved with Microsoft's activation servers. When you wipe your drive and install a clean Windows 10 (without upgrading from Windows 8), you are supposed to install it without typing in a key. It should activate without key because the Microsoft servers will remember your hardware.
It's not known what exactly that fingerprint about your hardware is, but people say that the motherboard is the main thing about it. If this is true, you cannot change your motherboard without losing activation.
You need to get the activation back through using a key that will get accepted, or going through the free upgrade process again to get your new hardware fingerprint saved with the Microsoft activation servers.
The newer versions of Windows 10 started accepting your Windows 8.1 Pro key when you used the "change product key" button in the "System" screen after the installation. You could try to see if this still works now after the free upgrade offer has run out. You would then not need to go through the upgrade process. This was different with the earlier versions of Windows 10. Those would not accept a Windows 7 or 8 key, so you can only try this on a Windows 10 that's fully updated. If this does not work, this would then be a technical reason that forces you to buy a Windows 10 Pro key.
The upgrade process should still be technically available, like mentioned (the thing about handicapped people and assistive software). This would make it so you can get back to Windows 10 by first installing Windows 8.1.
About actual keys and the difference between OEM and Retail and Upgrade versions of the keys, I don't really know about Windows 10. I'm just assuming that it still behaves the same as in the past. In past version of Windows, there was no technical difference behind the scenes. Microsoft's activation machinery treated all keys the same.
Changing the motherboard without preparation meant you'd lose activation in a way that you were forced to call Microsoft on the phone. Windows would not accept your key, and the phone activation process would fix this.
One thing that was possible to do is remove activation and wipe your key from your Windows before you change the motherboard. This would contact Microsoft's activation server and free your key on there. Then after changing the motherboard, you'd add your key again, and it would activate. That's how it was possible to change hardware without having to go through the phone activation process.
This thing about removing the key is also how you can free it up to start using it on a different PC without having to use phone activation. To find a guide about this topic, search for "slmgr.vbs uninstall key" with Google. This might be interesting for you if it turns out that Windows 10 still accepts Windows 7 or 8 keys for activation like it did in the months before the free upgrade offer ran out.
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32bit still better than 64bit in SC2? Win7 64bit.
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I get this bug all the time where fullscreen flash videos (Chrome) are missing the top and left edges of content. It's not shifted to the side since it doesn't bleed over onto another monitor. Any idea how to fix this?
+ Show Spoiler [Screenshot] +
Discovered this happens with HTML5 player also. Fine in Firefox.
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United Kingdom20157 Posts
On October 11 2016 01:08 Dingodile wrote: 32bit still better than 64bit in SC2? Win7 64bit.
IIRC the 64-bit performance got better around launch time
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will a 4 antenna wifi router, put exactly at the same spot of a 2 antenna wifi router, increate wifi speed noticeably?
AFAIK antenna number is only about maximum bandwidth so if you can't hit maximum with 1 antenna (150 mbps) you won't get better download speed with 4, but I wanna be sure by getting confirmation from you guyz
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Depends on the technology. 802.11ac and 802.11n make use of spatial streams, so more antennas can give higher bandwidth due to better reconstruction of the signal. Antenna gain and receiver sensitivity are generally more important though. Make sure to also pick a clear channel with few other users on it.
If you really want good wireless, I'd recommend a hAP AC: https://www.wi.com.tr/mikrotik-hap-ac-rb962uigs-5hact2hnt?search=hap ac&category_id=0 - dual band, 3x3 MIMO on both bands (triple chain), good receive and transmit power.
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How do I disable/fiddle with thermal throttling settings. My laptop is throttling my cpu to 0.8 GHz at all times. Temp is currently at 36C and it's still throttling.
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fiddle with windows power settings then bios. Bios would throttle around 70 C so it must be related to windows power settings. Be sure to install chipset drivers if you recently formatted the pc.
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html5 eats more mbps than adobe? I can not watch on twitch streams on [source] since this week. I noticed that source was mostly around 3.5 - 4.5 mbps, now far over 5 mbps. ALL streamers. It seems that [high] has gained too, from ~1.2 to ~ 1.5 mbps.
My WLAN can "only" catch 5 mbps, I have advertised 6mbps.
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HTML 5 is bursty, it will download as fast as your connection can handle then be idle until the next chunk, it's not a continuous stream like Flash. Overall the bitrate is a bit higher due to poor encapsulation (MPEG-TS) but not significantly.
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feels exaclty like you mentioned. On [source] all 1 min I get a 10sec load/progress bar because it was far over my capable 5mbps for few seconds.
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There was a storm last weekend and in the morning when I tried to use my laptop coming out of sleep mode it would just turn off. I'd keep turning back on, it would get to boot screen, hang for a few seconds and then die.
Does this sound symptomatic of a power surge - given that there were brownouts during this storm? Could it be the power supply, hard drive (I have a SSD and I heard power surges can damage those), or something worse? What's a good way to test this? I'm hoping I can just buy a new power supply and everything will work again. Ideally I'd like to know if my power supply is still good. It is 180w and I don't have any other laptop I can try it out on though.
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United States24342 Posts
Anyone know a good guide for fixing your pc after losing power? Mine turns on then immediately off. It tries again a few seconds later then gives up
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United States24342 Posts
I found my old power supply and was able to get my computer running off of it (I'm not sure how long this will last though lol).
How do I test my new power supply which I had to bypass to get my computer to work? I'm not sure if it's actually damaged from the power surge earlier today or not. Is there somewhere I can bring it that the store can just plug it into something to test it?
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At that price, why not just buy a new PSU?
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On October 22 2016 11:05 micronesia wrote: I found my old power supply and was able to get my computer running off of it (I'm not sure how long this will last though lol).
How do I test my new power supply which I had to bypass to get my computer to work? I'm not sure if it's actually damaged from the power surge earlier today or not. Is there somewhere I can bring it that the store can just plug it into something to test it?
there's a way to bring online a psu without connecting it to a motherboard by wiring two pins, which pins exactly I need to google. this is first test to know if it's totally dead. if it's running, you can test voltages (12 and 5v) psu gives with a cheap multimeter, 5-10 bucks I guess in US.
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United States24342 Posts
I have a multimeter, so I suppose I can test the pins if someone knows what voltage each colored wire should be at.
So I just plug the psu into the wall, jump the two appropriate pins, and then compare the voltage of every pin? I suppose I'll try that before going to a store. Although I'd think it would be in Microcenter's (or another store's) best interest to take one minute testing my psu for free. If it turns out my psu isn't working due to the power surge, I'll just buy another one while I'm there (probably another V750 as well as... a surge protector lol).
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