Strange….

Last Saturday, I decided to wipe my replacement tower (basically when I got it all I did was pull the hard drive from my other computer and just put it into this one, and it booted). Since my previous computer was a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 500-214, and my new computer was a Hewlett Packard Pavilion 500-314, the hardware was sufficiently similar that I could get away with it. I decided to try using the system restore set from my previous computer to see if I could reset this computer. No, actually. It turns out that the system restore sets are actually matched to your system’s serial number. Anyway, a quick Google search revealed where I could get the system restore set, so I ordered it. For only $32.

So, it arrived today, and I went ahead and reset my tower to Windows 8.1. Basically to download all the Windows 8.1 apps that I’ve purchased, and will work on Windows 10, but I can’t download them from windows 10. Immediately after they were installed, I put the USB thumbdrive in (BTW, Windows 10, 1809 version came out today), and proceeded to install Windows 10. I had my product key ready (remember I overdrew my checking account buying a license for Windows 10 Pro last week). But I wasn’t prompted for it. After Windows 10 installed, it even let me upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. And it says it is activated via a digital license on my Microsoft account. So, basically, Microsoft still thinks that I have the same computer as before. So I apparently didn’t need to buy my Windows 10 Pro license last week. C’est la vie. I figure they’ll eventually catch on, and if and/or when they do, I’ll be ready. Until then, I’ll just hold on to this product key. It may come in handy later….

BTW, the 1809 update is out, and I’ve already installed it on my laptop. The one thing that I like about this one is the Your Phone app. I like being able to read my phone’s texts on my computer, and be able to text from my computer again….