Is this Legit???

[Hellbinder]

look at this software site..

http://www.oem-software.biz/

I bought a Windows XP PRo and Office 2003. Which i did get valid download links for and product keys. The product keys are obviously Volume licences. They both installed fine. I was billed accordingly with an additional 10$ charge for "downloading service" and an additional $1.65 for "money exchange" that posted a day later. Neither charge was listed anywhere on their site.

They have no real contact information whatsoever.

The kicker is i went to Microsoft and used their new Genuine Validation tool and my Copy of Windows XP FAILED validation. Yet i found the link to this site from MSN.com Its one of the SPONSORED LINKS when you search for Doanloadable OEM software!!

What is the deal with this.. any thoughts??

 

[carpediem]

Not legit of course. You can generate thousands and thousands of legit VLK keys with a keygen. Microsoft probably bans a key that spreads by the thousands, and not when a single or a couple of users use it.

 

[Hellbinder]

But how can they do this out in the open like this? How can they be listed on MSN as a sponsored site???

 

[Guden Oden]

I've seen complete MAME arcade ROM sets for sale on CDs advertised on google sponsored links, google ads on emulation sites etc. Hardly legit just because of the adlink from a big company like google...

One might question the legality of making advertising money from these kind of business ventures however...

Your MSN example is a bit blatant however, hehe! I'd contact microsoft if I were you, as well as your creditcard company/bank and complain you've been swindled. Possibly police as well, if that is neccessary to get your money back.

 

[Chris_T]

1. When you installed WindowsXP did it ask you to "Validate" ?

2. If not goto System Properties and look under
Registered to:
(Your Name)
(xxxxx-640-xxxxxxx-xxxxx)

What is the 2nd set of numbers in your pid# string?

 

[Hellbinder]

1. When you installed WindowsXP did it ask you to "Validate" ?

2. If not goto System Properties and look under
Registered to:
(Your Name)
(xxxxx-640-xxxxxxx-xxxxx)

What is the 2nd set of numbers in your pid# string?

xxxxx-649-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Chris_T]

Heeyy. dont need the whole number, just that second set of 3 digits.
You might want to edit that. Even tho the number is no good.

Since you are using a pretty much pirated version of XP with a bad product id string you either need to report the vendor and go through that process with Microsoft to try to get a legit copy of WinXP. They have some type of program now dealing with that.

OR

Just get yourself a new XP activation key.
Microsoft only sold corporate activation keys that generate a pid# with the 2nd set of digits falling between 640-642. SP2 made sure they could check that number against their database. You just have a bad key. Microsoft even tells you how to legitimately change such keys.

 

[Hellbinder]

This is depressing... *sigh*

 

[Purple Stuff]

Thing is that OEM software legaly has to be sold with hardware. Could be a cheap $1 IDE cable, but the OEM software cannot be sold alone.