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Microsoft Message - counterfeit XP

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Storic12

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 4:44PM

Some two or three years ago, I bought three copies of XP Professional, each with license key. Each was put on a member of family's computer. These have run without problems since installing them. My son has just phoned to say that on boot up today, he is now getting a message from Microsoft to say that he is using a conterfeit copy of windows, that a company has reported as stolen. Apparently, he has been informed that the only way to rectify this, is to buy a geniune copy of Windows 8 at a price of around £175. This seems to be some kind of scam, especially as his virus protection has now been removed. Is this a scam?

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Fruit Bat /\0/\

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 4:48PM

If the message is by email then yes its a scam - ignore it.

If its a message at boot up and its stopping the machine from running then perhaps he needs to phone MS and reactivate.

Sometime Windows Genuine Ad goes wrong my new Medion was once reported as non genuine but was easily sorted.

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SillBill

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 4:54PM

Windows 8 sells for about £50 not £175 anyway, are they pointing him to a site to buy this "Genuine Windows 8"?

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Storic12

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 4:58PM

Thanks Fruit Bat /\0/. The same thing happened to me with XP professional some 18 months ago, and yes I had to reactivate it. Trouble is I'm some 35 miles away and am trying to relay everything by phone. Will suggest he phones Microft helpline as there is no way of reactivation on the message page he is getting. Thanks again. :-)

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bumpkin

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 5:07PM

XP pro I have had this before just phone them and enter your license key it is all automated so easy to do. The screen message should give you the phone number.

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Nontek

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 5:09PM

Storic if you both install Teamviewer on respective PCs, you can give direct help. I use it often to help a particular friend who lives over 200miles away.

download Teamviewer Free

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Nontek

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 5:10PM

PS, while I am working on my friends' PC using Teamviewer, we are in voice contact using Skype.

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Storic12

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 6:03PM

Thanks to all for your replies. :-)

Update: The help line I phoned was hopeless, never mind helpless. They have only pointed me to 0844-800-2400 (Tech help) at 5p a minute, Monday to Fridays. My son is adament that that the website he is pointed to is "www.microsoft.com" and that he will be charged £150.00 for Windows 8 as a replacement for his "counterfeit copy of Windows XP professional". Re-installing from the CD he has, only results in a screen coming up that denounces his O/S not only as "counterfeit", but also as "stolen". I should reiterate that he has been using this without problems for three years. Neither Skype, or Teamviewer is installed on either machine. Any ideas would be gratefully received. :-)

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SillBill

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 6:16PM

Is thi link > http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cuscprodact_master any help?

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onthelimit1

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 6:17PM

For phone activation, Google came up with these numbers:

Automated activation in UK

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SillBill

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Posted January 12, 2013 at 6:18PM

Broken link : copy and paste from http to _master

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