"Must activate Windows before logging in" - XP Home

[Frick]

Hey.

I put together a modest computer for a friends friends friend. Anyway, I installed XP and everything was fine, I got to the desktop. Then I shut it down for a while as I had other things to do. Later I turned it on, got to the login screen and a messege saying "You must activate your copy of Windows before loggin in". I don't think I've ever seen this before. During setup I chose that "Remind me later" option when it wanted me to activate it. Then I've always gotten that reminder in the taskbar..

Now I think my only option is to do it over teh internet. It is a legal key and everything, but the problem is the computer don't have a firewall (save XP's built in one). And only SP1.

Now, do you think I can connect it and activate it? Is the activation smart enough to shut down everything except the ports and whatnot needed for the process? I'm not very keen on connect to the internet without a proper firewall. :shadedshu

Thanks for looking!

/Frick

 

[aCid888*]

Activate it over the phone.

 

[DonInKansas]

Are you worried that Microsoft's gonna give you a virus?

 

[Frick]

Are you worried that Microsoft's gonna give you a virus?

No, but being connected without a proper firewall can be pretty bad.

 

[Frick]

Ooo, activation over the phone worked. I tried the number a few times but nothing happened. Great! Thanks y'all!

 

[digibucc]

i'm glad it works, but truthfully that would not have been dangerous at all. if all you had done was activate and do windows updates, that would have been plenty safe.

your friends friends friend is not a high value target, it's a brand new pc, that had visited 0 websites. your risk was < 1/10000

 

[Frick]

i'm glad it works, but truthfully that would not have been dangerous at all. if all you had done was activate and do windows updates, that would have been plenty safe.

your friends friends friend is not a high value target, it's a brand new pc, that had visited 0 websites. your risk was < 1/10000

Yeah, but still. You never know when those bots and them crackers and whatnot are knocking on you door! I try to make it a rule to not be connected without a proper firewall. At least I sleep easier that way.

 

[heky]

If someone really wanted to hack your computer, not even your firewall could stop it.

 

[qubit]

Yeah, but still. You never know when those bots and them crackers and whatnot are knocking on you door! I try to make it a rule to not be connected without a proper firewall. At least I sleep easier that way.

Absolutely agree with you.

A PC on the internet is port scanned every few seconds to every few minutes. Without patches, it wouldn't take long to compromise it. When it comes to computer security, some paranoia is a good idea!

I use the free Linux roll-your-own firewall www.ipcop.org which has some very good high end features and takes over a PC. Currently, the log will register 200-600 hits a day. A few years ago that hit the heady heights of about 15k when there was some nasty malware all over the internet.

 

[digibucc]

Yeah, but still. You never know when those bots and them crackers and whatnot are knocking on you door! I try to make it a rule to not be connected without a proper firewall. At least I sleep easier that way.

fair enough, understandable

 

[Polarman]

I don't think you can get infected in the amount of time that the activation process takes to complete.

Takes longer doing all the updates.

 

[Frick]

If someone really wanted to hack your computer, not even your firewall could stop it.

True, but even a pretty simple firewall is better then nothing.