Vista Upgrade questions

LIVAN

Golden Member
Oct 24, 2000
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Hi everyone,

My cousin bought a computer at her local computer show from now we know not a very reputable dealer last year, it turns out the XP version she got installed on her computer was either counterfeit or stolen code so she cannot update her Windows for like last 6 months.

Thst is such a security risk so I want to try to solve it for her.


What is teh best way to handle this, if she buys a upgrade copy of Vista, will it upgrade on that machine or does she have to pay for XP again too?

Can somebody 'in the know' point us int eh right direction?


s
 

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,122
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Since Vista has not been released yet, your cousin would buy a copy of XP that has a coupon for a free upgrade to Vista. Take a look at Newegg and you can see that different versions of XP have different upgrade paths for Vista.

Also, since she bought it from "not a very reputable dealer last year," do you know for a fact that it is capable of running Vista?
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
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AFAIK you can't upgrade an invalid version of XP to Vista, so one way or another you're going to need to buy a full copy of Windows.
 

Tegeril

Platinum Member
Apr 2, 2003
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Report the location that sold the counterfeit copy of Windows to Microsoft.
 

LIVAN

Golden Member
Oct 24, 2000
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Originally posted by: ViRGE
AFAIK you can't upgrade an invalid version of XP to Vista, so one way or another you're going to need to buy a full copy of Windows.



It was at a computer show and the computer is a Pentium D dual core so I am retty sure it does Vista. SHe does plan on buying the full Vista but just hoping she doesn't have to buy BOTH!
 

LIVAN

Golden Member
Oct 24, 2000
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I just called her. She doesn't remember the name of the dealer. It was at one of those computer fairs. Computer she said been working well etc. I looked at that form, requires detailed info as to seller. I don't think she can provide that.

I guess her question is if she pays for Vista, full version, can she do an upgrade and keep her files?
 

dfuze

Lifer
Feb 15, 2006
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Believe it or not, but it would be cheaper to buy something like XP Media Center for $109 from Newegg. It comes w/ the upgrade coupon to Vista Premium ($12 shipping/handling charge). This is the way that I went to get it. The place you have to sign up w/ was a bit of a pain in the *)#$ for me, but after a couple of phone calls, it seems to have been validated. I would rather pay the 120 or so rather than the 200+ vista will be in stores as a retail.