Don't Upgrade Your Vista Computer! You Might Become a Windows Pirate!

We all know that having a genuine version of Windows Vista comes with support from Microsoft, updates and lots of other goodies but sometimes, all you need to become a software pirate is a simple Vista error. At least, this is what happened to James Bannan who described on the APC Magazine website a pretty weird situation which almost blocked his computer. It all started when James changed his graphics card on the computer equipped with Vista. "There were some new DirectX 10-based titles out and I couldn't get the benefit on my old DirectX 9 card. The swap-over went well and I went on my merry gaming way," he wrote on the APC Magazine page.

After a few days, Windows Vista woke up and asked James to activate the operating system or else the computer would enter the Reduced Functionality Mode which allows the users to browse the web for only 30 minutes. The interesting fact is that he already activated Vista before the hardware upgrade so now he had to re-activate it using the same key.

"I was able to reactivate easily enough, although as the product key was already in use (by me!) I couldn't reactivate automatically, but had to speak to a Microsoft customer service representative. I got the code easily enough, but it didn't explain why Vista had deactivated, so I got in touch with Microsoft about the problem," he noted.

After installing several utilities provided by the Redmond-based company, James finally discovered that the deactivation was triggered by the video card change bundled with disk controller modification. "The only problem? I had never changed my disk controller at any point. Apparently because I had upgraded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager application, this was reported as a major hardware change event."

This is a serious matter especially for the beginners because they might find this re-activation process pretty difficult since you have to use the same key you entered before while Vista sustains the code 'is in use'. However, you can also contact a Microsoft customer service representative which may help you with your problem. May the activation be with you!