We Talk Coding - What is the way to use Windows operating systems?

What is the way to use Windows operating systems?

hi peeps, i am all set and go to launch a new computer repair and upgrade business, however, my ideas are being hindered by the fact that i do not know how i will profit if i have to buy a new Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP retail package every time i repair or upgrade a computer/laptop harddrive.. ..at the moment, i have two pretty old toshiba laptops which i am upgrading the hard drives up from 6.4gb to 10gb each. they both have windows 98 COAs (certificate of authenticity) on the bottom.. ...after installing the hard drive, formatting it and partitioning it, it is time to install the new Windows 98 operating system, i have bought the original Windows 98 retail pack and now do not know what to do.. can i install the OS on BOTH laptops? can i use the product key on the bottom of the laptops (both different) when installing the OS? how many times, on different computers cani install the OS that i have just bought? i will be refurbishing laptops to sell, how do i stay legal? help!

Public Comments

Methinks you're not quite ready to go into business yet.
Get a permission from Micro soft it cost about $25.00
Pass those expenses on to the customer. If they BRING IN a disk, you can try to install that. Some computers show the Key Codes on the back, side or bottom. But this only applies to the disk that your customer provides. Consider holding lectures to parents with children on how to keep their computers safe, but also clean of problems. A class of two or three might be profitable.
If you don't know how to use any operating system, better you go into the 2nd hand car sales business. At least that way you won't XXXX-XX peoples PC's
echoing other's sentiments.... you need to do a bit more boning up before going off and being a computer service cowboy... get an ECDL, A+, MOS kind of qualifications. The books and lessons for these are free online if you look in the right places, and the exams would be a few hundred pounds all in for all of them. Also, perhaps look into joining an existing computer repair firm as a rookie for a couple years and get a bit more experience. for starters, before upgrading those discs (is going from 6 gig to 10 gig really an upgrade worth both your time and any money spent, given the low price of discs from 40gb upwards?*) you should have backed up all the stuff on them - if they came with windows 98 pre-installed as the certificates suggest, they quite likely would have had the reinstallation files stored somewhere on the disc, either in a folder (e.g. c:\windows\cabs) or in a separate partition (D:\, e:\, f:\, possibly "hidden" and only accessible by a toshiba restore util or a general hard disc utility)... backing this up before wiping everything, swapping in the other disc and formatting that, would have allowed you to copy the files back and quickly and legally start reinstallation - in fact if your installation was still in a good state of repair and you used the right method, you could simply clone the existing drive onto the new one and expand the partition to fill the extra 4gb. If these files are/were not in place, hopefully the machines would have been supplied with the original "recovery" floppies/CDs that should give you some way of getting the operating system, complete with all the right drivers, reinstalled quickly and painlessly. However, in this case, it's probably acceptable - particularly given that windows 98 is officially "out of support" as far as Microsoft are concerned (counting ME, 2000 and XP, it's 8 years and 4 generations out of date), and you have certification stickers - that you use any old Windows 98 disc to reinstall the operating system onto these drives. It's at least quasi legal, you'll be acting in the spirit of the license if not working to the letter of it, and certainly no-one's going to chase you for any possible infraction in this case... it's just not worth it. However, you can't take that disc and it's product key and go installing a squillion different machines with it - both because even 98SE is out of date (it hurts me to admit this, as i still have one machine happily using it, but it's no good for connecting modern USB devices or using the latest software), it's advisable to be able to supply an original disc when selling the computer, and it's illegal even given it's age. You'll need some kind of legal copy for each computer. Luckily, these can be had super cheap off eBay etc, as it's as dated now as Windows 2.0 (not 3.0!), the Amiga and Atari ST were when Win98 was released. The biggest problem you will have if you've wiped everything without backing up is getting hold of the myriad specialist drivers that will be needed for the mobile video and sound chips, the hard/floppy/cd drives, laptop motherboard chipsets and power saving circuits, etc. They should still be available from Toshiba, but you'll have to figure out the right versions etc. (Regarding the product key, you'll have to use the one that's locked to the disc you use; if there is a key listed on the certification sticker, it will only be valid for the pre-installed copy / reinstallation files that are on the pc or it's recovery disc/s, and won't be usable to reinstall the OS) It's a moot issue any much newer machine, as you have to contact microsoft by phone or internet to install each copy of XP, and if it's not legit, you won't be able to use it. What I said about experience etc... this is one of the simpler things you'll run across when doing PC service, repair, and maintenance. I'd hope this is just one small, anomalous gap in your knowledge - but if your computer experience is largely on the same level, toss the idea of starting your own business in the bin (consider - would you try to be a self employed central heating engineer if you knew you had large gaps in your plumbing experience? you don't have to be doing home building work to be a cowboy) until you're a lot more informed and confident. Small businesses are far more likely to fail than succeed, your ability, the loyalty and confidence of your customers will be three of your greatest assets, put it all together and you've got a recipe for disaster and possible litigation. * i appreciate your efforts to keep the old machines running, however ... til i bought my new (well, ok, now "nearly new" as i've had it some months) pentium-M laptop, I was mostly-happily doing my word processing on a pentium-1 clunker from 1996 that I bought for £40. still perfectly good for word processing and printing the results (or copying them out to a computer with usb sockets), so long as i accepted that it was never going to be any good as an mp3 jukebox.
Sorry my friend, Windows 98 was born in the last century and nobody except grandma uses it any more as it's not compatible with todays 32/64 bit software and it's not debugged for the Millenium either. Furthermore a 10Gb hard drive is about as useful as a wet paper bag. Today's laptops come with 100Gb drives and desktops with around 250Gb or more so I don't know anyone who would want to buy except perhaps a museum for posterity. When you wake up, maybe you can rethink your business plan