Re: 2nd hand PC- Licence issue on XP

MikeR-Oz wrote:
I have purchased a 2nd hand PC from a company and XP is installed on the PC - All the stickers etc are on the PC cover.

Do I now have the rights to the licence?


Yes. There's no need to do anything further.


How do I get the registered users name changed on the system and any thing else I need to be concerned about if I update via MS check for updates?

Mike


With second-hand computers, especially if acquired from strangers but perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest course of action would definitely be to format the hard drives and start fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.

To fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP, you can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some read the registered owner information dynamically, while others read it only during installation.

The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username) _cannot_ be renamed, even if the associated user account has been. So, your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username desired. You can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151


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Relevant Pages

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