http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9230399/Microsoft_ends_activation_grace_period_with_Windows_8

http://www.myce.com/news/windows-8-will-not-allow-a-30-days-grace-period-for-activation-63386/

Windows 8 will not allow a 30 days grace period for activation

Microsoft has removed the 30 day grace period for installations in Windows 8. Previously, in Windows 7, customers were given this period of time to provide a legitimate product key and register the operating system. With Windows 8, everyone installing the operating system must enter a 25 character key, else the installation process will stop

If the computer is connected to the internet during installation, Windows 8 will automatically check the key and confirm its authenticity. There doesn’t seem to be any information available yet for those computers that aren’t connected. Only those using a systems builder version or upgrade version of Win 8 will be affected. Computers made by OEM’s like Dell and HP will come pre-activated.
At least one site has already listed some instructions on how to get around this need for a key during installation. You can see their fix here.

http://www.windowsvalley.com/install-windows-8-without-product-key/

Lower end hardware to get a boost from Metro

A new Microsoft blog talking about win8 graphics enhancements has a bunch of marketing BS & [over?] simplification, but it does point out, emphasize that Metro on win8 is designed primarily for tablets & other lower powered devices.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/07/23/hardware-accelerating-everything-windows-8-graphics.aspx

I don't think that much of this particular blog, being IMO essentially a marketing exercise with what little tech info it contains dumbed-down quite a bit.

My lower-fat version: 1st there was DOS, & higher end graphics cards were just for displaying 24 bit color -- I remember paying several hundred 90's dollars for a high end graphics card just to work with still images. Microsoft wanted you to play your games in Windows, rather than exiting to DOS [which most all games did], so they came up with Direct X -- DX was/is a way for games etc. to talk to hardware like graphics cards, bypassing a lot of Windows code that otherwise made the process Much less efficient, and Much slower. DX evolved until today it's a set of directions for specific tasks that ideally are performed strictly by hardware, bypassing as much as possible the CPU & Windows. Graphics cards evolved too -- higher end graphics cards are not only faster at what they do, but can perform more of the available DX instructions or tasks... today a game might not play on the lowest end graphics hardware because that hardware can't perform the basic level DX tasks that game absolutely needs -- it might play on slightly more expensive graphics hardware, but since some DX features are missing, without all of the game's visual features or enhancements -- while on high end graphics hardware you'll see everything since that hardware supports all of the DX instructions that the game uses.

Cell phones & tablets use lower horsepower CPUs because they have to -- even if cost was not a factor, size is, & PC CPUs take up quite a bit of room physically, as well as needing yet more room for whatever cooling solution since they generate a lot of heat. The electronics slightly higher end &/or newer cells & tablets use have something similar to DX because, with their lower horsepower they have to... You can get by on the average PC/laptop without DX graphics hardware because there it's just an enhancement for stuff like games -- on a cell or tablet something similar to DX is often required just to reach the level of usability you expect from your apps/games. That's where Metro comes in...

While most Windows games use DX, most Windows apps don't -- the benefits of DX come at the cost of several constraints on how you have to code to use it... in a nutshell it's often just not worth it. Rather than worrying about getting coders to use DX in Metro apps instead of coding the same way they're used to with Windows, Microsoft built Metro & its ie10 browser around DX. Flash uses hardware acceleration with my AMD/ATI graphics card whenever it can, regardless the Flash app or video running/playing -- Metro does the same sort of thing. Both Flash & graphics card drivers are tuned to/for the graphics processors that most all PC/laptops use -- this blog talks about how Microsoft is tuning Metro for the lower powered hardware Metro was designed for. Still unknown [at least AFAIK] is whether Microsoft will bother tuning Metro/DX for hardware that's already out there running win7, in particular the lower powered stuff. They have been working hand-in-glove with the manufacturers designing/building win8 tablets & such, & have said win7 phones will not, cannot run win8, so right now I think full Metro support for existing hardware a big *IF* -- higher powered PCs/laptops won't need it but they're less likely to rely on Metro for more than a Start Menu replacement anyway.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/this-new-version-of-windows-i-love-it-oh-yeah-i-hate-it/4601

This new version of Windows? "I love it." "Oh yeah? I hate it."
Summary: There's no middle ground in the early reactions to the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Reviewers either love it or they hate it. Why the strong positive and negative response?

http://www.geekstogo.com/2422/was-it-smart-to-remove-the-start-button-in-windows-8-consumer-preview/

Was it smart to remove the start button in Windows 8 Consumer Preview?
windows-8-logoIt’s painfully obvious Windows 8 new Metro apps are not designed for multi-monitors, or large monitors. However, it’s a necessary evil for a unified operating system designed to work on 10-11” touch enabled tablets, as well as desktops.
What’s not so obvious, is the reason for killing the start button on the desktop.

http://www.geekstogo.com/2361/no-microsoft-security-essentials-for-windows-8/

. If you install a third-party antivirus, Windows Defender will detect it has installed via the Security section of the Alert Center and quietly disable itself. Should you uninstall the 3rd party protection Windows Defender will quietly re-enable itself. Even the Windows Genuine Advantage requirement has been dropped.
The Microsoft Security Essentials you’ve come to know and love may be missing in Windows 8, but it’s been replaced by an even better, and more capable Windows Defender.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/the-metro-haters-guide-to-customizing-windows-8-consumer-preview/4610

The Metro hater's guide to customizing Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Summary: Why has there been such a negative initial reaction to the Windows 8 Start screen? Maybe it's because the default presentation is so ugly and impersonal. If you hate Metro and want to use the Windows 8 Consumer Preview mostly with desktop apps, try my five-minute makeover and see if it helps.

https://blogs.msdn.com/b/robmar/archive/2012/03/09/windows-8-keyboard-shortcuts.aspx?Redirected=true

Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

http://www.ghacks.net/2012/07/01/top-20-keyboard-shortcuts-everyone-should-now/

http://www.techedified.com/2012/06/skip-around-youtube-videos-with-these-keyboard-shortcuts/

http://www.ghacks.net/2008/05/25/ten-windows-keyboard-shortcuts-i-cannot-live-without/

http://www.ghacks.net/2006/04/24/windows-keyboard-shortcuts/

I actually want one of those touch screen converters at least for my main monitor as some of my flight sims allow touch screen tech; for example most of the switches, buttons and levers on my Digital Combat Simulators (Black Shark and Warthog) as well as Take On Helicopters actually work. For me it is just one more step towards total immersion in my games. I also use one of those head cam devices (Track IR v5) which really gives an extra dimension to my sim games and even some FPS and racing games (all of those with six degrees of freedom) such as ArmA I & II, both of the latest Operation Flashpoint games as well as Dirt I, II and III (not tested it on the latest dirt game though) as well as loads of other game. I also use a Novint Falcon that gives force feedback to around 30 of my games.

http://www.businessinsider.com/windows-8-tablets-plus-office-2013-might-actually-fly-2012-7

Windows 8 Is For Touch Screens. Period.

The Bottom Line

Microsoft is going to have a hard time selling Windows 8 on regular laptops, and will probably have to allow PC makers to keep selling Windows 7 on those devices for years to come.

Windows 7 the new XP.

Whiterabbit-uk can not get to help only order now ,Enter Code, or Exit.
one user ok so copy over to the 2 users and ti fix now reg on 3 Users PS Thanks to all ):-

Did you check the about button once the program had been installed and supposedly activated? Usually you can see whether a program is registered by going to the help button and selecting about. I always check giveaways that I want to keep to make sure they are registered becasue i've had the same thing happend previously. Mine said registered to giveawayoftheday, and is still registered today.

Mine is also saying my test expired also. Yesterday I downloaded, installed the software and ran the exe file and it said that it was registered. Today I ran the program and it said test period expired.

Did you run the activate.exe file given in yesterdays giveaway? I installed it yesterday and ran the activate.exe file as admin and it still says it is registered.

Glary Utilities Pro Test period expired

it said you wear able to test the full functionality of the Software for 30 days,

order now ,Enter Code, or Exit.

got it!
thank you.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/1548

Hope that helps.

hi-maybe i'm missing something, but i thought that this site gives you a brief period to download a full version of a game for free. the few games that i have installed are telling me that they are just 1 hour trials and that i need to buy the game to get a registration code.

i tried to look to see if this topic had already been answered, but couldn't find anything when i did a search and browsed the forums.

could someone please explain what the deal is?

p.s. sorry if i seem like a complete idiot. :)

This Giveaway on July 6, had a Registration name and code that was provided to be entered into the program by the user.

Can you just enter the code and name again to reapply the settings?

I enjoyed the software, but it says that the trial period is up. What do I do?

As someone said here today,

Or time limits that are getting increasingly short with shareware these days, like 10 days instead of 30 days or even 60 minutes! Didn’t even bother downloading to try ones that had such tight time limitations.

It makes me wonder when I see a program or game that has only a 60 minute evaluation period before purchase is required. Does the developer have such a lack of confidence in the program being able to maintain interest beyond 1 hour, that the evaluation time is cut to such a brief period.

Does the company selling the program, feel that if the user is allowed to use the software for maybe just 5 or 7 days, the novelty would wear off, or the program would appear to be a lot less "polished" if given the opportunity to have a really good look, or "to sleep on it".

Perhaps the program only has a useful life of a few hours. If the user was permitted to run the software for a few days, there would be no need to purchase the software at all?

My pet peeve is utility software (crippleware) that only half fixes a problem (ie. repairs 50% of the errors) - you need to purchase for the program to complete the job... or software that only confirms that you have a problem - and a purchase is required for the software to help you any further (I downloaded the program because I ALREADY KNEW I had a problem)

Perhaps all of this is a reflection of the lack of trust consumers feel is shown by software companies, or is this necessary because ultimately software users are cheap and undeserving of trust?

Is it any wonder that today, so many people when shown a program with some evaluation limits (ie. Shareware) will go out of their way to tell the world about another program that "does the same thing" or "is free" even if the shareware is a fantastic program.