It was not unusual for me to browse through the games section in a computer store whenever I visited for some reason, and I occasionally picked up a game that looked promising.
I don't do this anymore. You guessed it: it's because of my fear that the product may be Activation-protected.
Food for thought. Update November 23, : Recently, I began buying computer games again. Online, no less. That's because of a new site, GOG. Their games catalogue contains year old titles as well as some fairly recent games.
I hope they stay in business for a very long time. To help others avoid similar nasty surprises, I decided to start this Web site, listing all products I am aware of that incorporate Product Activation. It is, without a doubt, only a teeny fraction of the programs that are on the market today and are protected by an Activation-style feature; if more are not seen here, it is because I nowadays avoid purchasing software unless I know in advance that there will not be an Activation "surprise" waiting for me in the box.
The table below summarizes what I know about the Product Activation features in specific products either from first-hand experience, or from what I've been told by users of the software.
Included are links to the manufacturer's Web site, the product Web site and if available and the relevant Web site describing the Product Activation feature. I expect that this list will grow over time, much to my regret. The presence of a product on this list is not meant as an indicator of quality or lack thereof. For instance, StarNet's X-Win32 is one of my all-time favorites; thank goodness an activation-free version is available! Please send your notes about errors or ommissions, or about any products that should be added to this list to vttoth vttoth.
Disclaimer : as a software author myself, I am a strong opponent of software piracy. I use only products that I paid for, and I urge everyone to not use, or give away, unauthorized copies. My opposition to Product Activation is based on my conviction that this feature "punishes the innocent" legitimate purchasers and limits traditional "fair use" rights through a misuse of technology.
Toth Powered by Joomla! Support my research and science communication efforts through Patreon. Just Say No Would you purchase a music CD that you cannot copy to tape that you use in the car, or the contents of which you cannot download to your personal MP3 player? Would you buy a book that can only be read by a particular person, and not by others?
Would you buy a product that you cannot resell, or even give away, when you no longer need it? Would you, by way of an example suggested to me by a kind reader, purchase a car if the dealer reserved the right to tell you when you can drive it, where you can drive it, or to whom and if you can resell it? The answer to these questions, presumably, is no for most of us. Why is Product Activation wrong?
For several reasons: A product that you purchased may not be installed and used without further permission from the manufacturer. If for any reason you are unable to contact the manufacturer e. Your costly CD is a useless coaster. Privacy policy. Computers that activate with a KMS host need to have a specific product key.
Computers that are running volume licensing editions of Windows Server and Windows client are, by default, KMS clients with no extra configuration needed as the relevant GVLK is already there.
There are some scenarios, however, where you will need to add the GVLK to the computer you wish to activate against a KMS host, such as:. If you want to activate Windows without a KMS host available and outside of a volume-activation scenario for example, you're trying to activate a retail version of Windows client , these keys will not work.
You will need to use another method of activating Windows, such as using a MAK, or purchasing a retail license. Get help to find your Windows product key and learn about genuine versions of Windows.
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