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Software Newsletter #39 - February 29, 2016 Topics
If not properly maintained, computers can certainly crash and/or get a virus and that's why they must be maintained, backed up, and then, if necessary, restored properly. In my opinion, the best anti-virus software is Avast (www.avast.com) and it's free for personal use. I've been using Avast for many years and viruses are a thing of the past. Other anti-virus software, such as Norton's, can be extremely problematic and you have to "subscribe" (pay endlessly) for it. Not good! Formatting your hard drive yourself and reinstalling Windows will remove every software license key you had and can render the original license keys inoperable. Then you have to contact each software vendor and obtain new license keys after reinstalling every one of those applications. In some cases, you can be required to buy another copy of the software program. Not good. There are many "safe" ways to repair/restore a computer. Windows System Restore will restore your computer to a previous date when everything was working fine and can be used in non-catastrophic situations. Windows System Restore will not affect any of your files or program installations or license keys. Windows System Recovery however, will restore your computer to it's factory state. With Windows System Recovery you will lose all of your data, programs, and license keys, but the computer "image" will be exactly the same as when you purchased it and that is very important. In this case your originally obtained license keys should still work. The best method is to use a third party product like Macrium Reflect (macriumreflect.com). This is free software that will image your hard drive and restore it to exactly the condition it was when you made the back up.. All of your programs, data, and license keys are restored exactly the way they were. You can save the hard drive image to a flash drive, external drive, CD or DVD drive, or even a different sector on the same drive or a second internal drive. I highly recommend this method. It's quick, easy, and fool proof! So again, if your computer's image is backed up and restored properly you don't need to register software applications over again, because the "Registration Number" issued from the software program will stay exactly the same. Even if you use Windows System Recovery and have to install the software over again, then the original license key will still work, because again, the Registration Number issued from the software program will be the same as when it was originally installed. However, if you are getting a different Registration Number the software has been installed on a different computer, a different or reformatted hard drive, or a significantly different computer image exists because it was not backed up or restored properly. In this case, the original license key will not work for obvious reasons. It's the responsibility of the user to maintain and backup his/her computer. There really is no excuse not to. Most
software venders limit the number of license keys they will issue for a single
software purchase. New software licensing allows the software to be installed
and used on one (1) computer hard drive. It's far different then it was 20 years
ago. Once the program has been installed and activated on one (1) computer hard
drive the license is in effect. If you reformat your hard drive and lose that
license, because you failed to back up your hard drive image, it's over. You need
a new license or a new copy of the software. That's the best reason I can think
of to maintain and backup your computer properly and often. The $$$ you save will
be your own!. --
REAL World Technical Support --
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