Caught in the OEM trap.  OEM versions (along with any Windows version upgrades) have been married to the motherboards since at least XP.  Retail versions (along with any Windows version upgrades) are transferable to a different motherboard.  As far as I know the hard drive is not critical in terms of license, but hardware changes have occasionally prompted those annoying calls to MS to get the license activated again.  My understanding is that Win10 continues to follow this model.

In terms of this little piece of it, I'd be more aggravated at Dell.  Seems like when they replaced their defective motherboard they should've gotten your Windows license straight.  If it comes up again, at least while the machine is under warranty, I'd bother Dell about it     After warranty, it's probably more begging with MS.

Anyway, it's good that you got it straightened out, and I agree - a Microsoft person should not have been so quick to tell you to buy Windows   and I'm glad you didn't.

I am not on all the time so don't always see the posts.  My job puts me on the road a lot and I sometimes don't get home until fairly late.  The tech tried to generate a new activation code and could not.  Your link is for Windows 8 which was great under the hood but had an terrible interface.  All they had to do was give Windows 8 a more traditional interface than 8.1 had and it would have been a winner.  I had people calling me in tears because they could not figure out how to use it.  It took me over 15 minutes to find the "charm" to do a simple reboot so I totally understood their frustration.

I updated from Windows 7 Pro and there shouldn't have been a problem.  Please read my earlier post today.  Microsoft "updated" the Group Policy Editor as part of maintenance and wiped out my settings.  That is how they could install that update without my permission. To me that is black hat activity but they wanted to install version 1511 and just up and did it.

I received a customer service survey today and let them know exactly how I and others feel about Windows 10.  The only reason I have kept it is because of Start 10 which makes it palatable.  I had to laugh when the tech went to the Windows Club to try a couple of commands - the same one I tried and they didn't work for her either.  This really is my last go round with Microsoft.  This dog is not too old to learn some new tricks or a new OS.  I would have to run Windows products in a sandbox but it might be worth it.  I wonder if I could get away with WindowBlinds that way? 

Thanks everyone for listening to me rant.  It was quite a week on all fronts here.  Hope next week is better. 

Saw  that...imo, that actually should be defined as hacking, but you'd need 30 lawyers, 7 billion dollars and 3 decades to prove it.

What can I say except that actually sickens me. Too bad you didn't put that story on every Forum from MS to Kalamazoo.

Thanks, DrJNHL.  I hope folks here read what happened and understand what is going to happen in the future if they have to replace a hard drive or a motherboard.  Some years back, my old HP was almost dead so I bought a new one.  I called Microsoft and explained the situation and asked if they could inactivate my old computer so I could use Windows on my new one.  They were so nice and it was a big help.  How sad that those days are gone.  I loved that Microsoft.  Customer service like that will bring me back every time.  I said what needed to be said to Microsoft - not that they really care.  Now I am dreading the next version due out in the summer.  I have been assured that I won't have a problem with that one.  Hmmm.  I looked today and they are running maintenance just about every single day and they do not always say what they are doing.  Both Microsoft and Google have NSA contracts and the behavior reeks of NSA but no way to know.  Just used to work in the defense industry.  If they are spying on my machine they will be pretty bored and learn more about grandchildren and Chihuahuas than they ever wanted to know.  All any of us can do is hope for things to get better.  I still have to go through gpedit again to make sure all of my current settings are as they should be.  One thing we can do is defer updates so I have done that.  Just hope it really works.  Thanks again to you and everyone on the forum for listening and make sure to take care with Windows 10 updates. 

Hey Cameochi,

No, it's not sad that we feel the same way, it's sad that Microsoft created the situation so we do.  As for losing your trust for MS, same here... along with my respect and belief it was a company which considered its customers.  As you point out, that is a thing of the past and we are now mere pawns whose wants and needs have been betrayed by a corporation with a self-serving agenda that fails its customers big time. That's why the Chinese demanded a vastly altered version of Win 10, because Microsoft overstepped its mark with surveillance and phone home apps, etc.

If only Linux Distros were more user friendly and people were telling MS to piss off: "We're going with Ubuntu or Mint cos you betrayed and let us down."

As it is, MS aggression to install Win 10 on as many PCs worldwide as it can, even to the point of ignoring 7 or 8.1 users wishes, is creating a 'captive market', and I believe that once its goals are reached, and there are few if and previous versions, Windows 10 will become a subscription model and system32 programs will no longer be able to install/run.  It will all be down to 'pay-for-apps that give MS a slice of every developers pie.

The maintenance issue you spoke of has really pissed me off.  I went and had a look and there were new updates that I had blocked.  I disabled Windows Update because Advanced System Care checks for security patches against what's installed.  If required it will download security patches, nothing else.  I don't want any of the other stuff MS chucks on top [being I don't trust any of it], and if I need drivers/firmware, I go to the manufacturers site to download unmodified versions, unlike those MS peddles.

With regard to Linux, Mint is a good distro and is relatively easy to use [as far as Linux goes, that is], as is Ubuntu and Robolinux.  It might be an idea to try out some different versions until you find the right one. Thus far I've narrowed it down to those three, having tried Red Hat and others that seemed more complex and difficult to use.  However, I will continue to research other distros just in case there's a 'goody' I've missed.

agreed.  And I do do the critical updates.  PC is set to require me to permit each update. 

Here is a very interesting development.  Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against the federal government due to what they consider excessive requests to access customer information and their inability to inform those customers that their data has been accessed.  The Apple case involving breaking into an Apple phone is also ongoing even though the feds found someone to break into it.  I do not remember ever seeing both Apple and Microsoft on the same general page ever but both are not pleased with the excessive use of federal authority.  Here is today's article from Arstechnica.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/microsoft-sues-us-government-over-secret-requests-for-customer-data/

Now there's the pot calling the kettle black!   Obviously, what's good for the goose ain't okay for the gander.... and I don't recall MS ever informing me that it had accessed my data, so I'm wondering why it finds it so necessary to inform people the government has been prying into it.

The whole sorry sage reeks, no matter which way you look at it... and MS is as pusilanimous as it gets.

LOLOL The whole thing is quite sad, isn't it?  At least Apple doesn't have an NSA contract.  I read some more "stuff" today concerning updates but nowhere did Microsoft mention anything about "maintenance" issues. What they did was replace one version of gpedit with another as part of "improving our computer experience."    Actually, I think they deleted the old one and plopped in a new version which "coincidentally" allowed them to do as they pleased.  At least I am almost done reinstalling software.  They made "improvements" to Office 2010 too so now none of the rules I set work and they cannot be recreated.  The one plus is that the screens now resize correctly.  So glad I have Start 10 and WindowBlinds.  It makes Windows 10 palatable.  

The 'maintenance' thing is criminal in my book.... that MS can come in, change things around and then do pretyy much as they want on your PC.  If a builer came into your home uninvited and installed a brand new kitchen you didn't order or want, he could be charged, so why is MS being allowed to enter peoples computers and make unwanted changes?

I installed a 3rd party program to disable Windows Update, yet here I am, getting updates via 'Maintenance'.  Hopefully the 3rd party people will come up with another way to prevent unwated crap being downloaded and installed.  I don't want MS' modified drivers or firmware... I don't want updates from MS to other items I can get from manufacturers sites.... yet there is MS, ramming them down my throat.   Among the crap delivered yesterday was Microsoft's keyboard and mouse drivers and software.  Like why do I need that when I'm using Logitech?

What Upsets me most is that Windows 10 is a disaster for user choice and freedoms, yet there are those who are embacing it as the best thing since sliced bread and saqying that me/people who don't like the turn of events are paranoid.... conspiracy theorists.  I don't know what it's going to take for these people to change their way of thinking about MS and Windows 10, but I believe it will be too late to reverse things by the time they wake up and smell the roses.

Now I don't know how true this is, but I was speaking with someone the other day who told me that he shut down his Win 7 PC overnight and woke up to Win 10.  Having read about the security and other concerns with Win 10, he rolled back to Win 7, but a few daqys later he ran his PC to discover Win 10 was back on it, with no option to roll back.  If true, and given MS' recent behaviour, I have little or no reason to doubt it, it means that my plan to run Win 8.1 with 3rd party the aforementioned 'preventers' isn't going to work for too long.

Yes, they make 10 a little more bearable, but 'palatable' is stretching it a bit.  What with enforced updates; 'core' phone home devices; key changes being made to user settings without consent; uninstalling/disabling users 3rd party programs, Windows 10 is the most insidious, least user friendly OS ever created. I'm sure going to miss the Stardock customisation programs when I switch to Linux, which seems to be inevitable as more horror stories surface about MS and Win 10.  I have been somewhat reluctant to make the full switch before now, but I value my privacy and MY control over MY PC, and things are getting just too risky to remain with 10.

I do have a couple of copies of XP Pro that I could use on non-net connected machines to play around with customisation, but then I don't know how many of the more modern skins would work on it.  Then again, I could always run a non-net Win 8.1 machine instead of or as well as.

So, I'm on win 7 home prof.  How do I stop this 'maintenance' sleezeware from MS from getting on my PC?  I don't want their firmware of drivers on my PC. 

I'm not sure on Win 7, Elana.  I know of 3rd party programs for Win 10 that can prevent some of MS' shenanigans, but this new method of attack through 'scheduled maintenance' is a new one on me.  I certainly hope that somebody comes up with a way to block it, and soon. Otherwise I'll be moving over to Linux a bit before I'm ready.

Sorry I was of no help... but if I learn of something I'll be sure to post it here, okay!

Elana ...ignore hear-say from the paranoid.

When they say "I don't know how true this is" it means even the paranoid don't believe it.....

I should have read this but missed it.  Please note that it talks about upgrades NOT updates.  On Windows 10 Pro the only way to stop automatic updates is either through a registry hack or using gpedit.  The article below does explain why things get weird. 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-block-windows-10-upgrades-on-your-business-network-and-at-home-too/

For anyone interested I have kept an updated list of crap MS tries sneaking in on Windows 7 users. I always check this list against any updates I get.

KB2506928
KB2545698 (IE9)
KB2592687
KB2876229 SKYPE
KB2976978
KB2977728
KB2978092
KB2923545 RDP
KB2970228
KB2990214
KB2994023
KB2660075
KB2952664 x2
KB2726535
KB3021917
KB3022345 Replaced by KB3068708 Telemetry (Caused false sfc result)
KB3035583
KB3044374
KB3050265
KB3065987
KB3068708 Telemetry
KB3075249
KB3080149
KB3095649
KB3102810

KB 2952664 - Labeled a compatibility upgrade for upgrading Windows 7, its purpose is to "make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows".

KB 2976978 - A compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 which "performs diagnostics on the Windows system [..] to determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows operating system is installed.

KB 2990214 . Does the same as KB 3044374 but on Windows 7.

KB 3021917 - Does the same as KB 2976978 but on Windows 7.

KB 3035583 - According to Microsoft, this update enables "additional capabilities for Windows Update notifications when new updates are available".
    
KB 3044374 - This update for Windows 8.1 enables systems to upgrade from the current operating system to a later version of Windows.