Is it safe to buy windows xp on ebay?

Question

i want to get a cheaper version to put on my mac book pro. any answers are greatly appreciated!!

Answer 1

Yes, but make sure that this a genuine copy of this OS then you can use Windows Updates without any problem, if it is pirated then you have a problem, I have bought software on eBay and it works just fine.

Answer 2

no because someone might have installed the disk and used the access key code on their computer so when you install it it will tell you to enter the access key code and it will say that it is already in use and wont let you install it. you should just buy from the store, downloading any Microsoft products from p2p sites such as lime wire, frost wire, Morpheus, bear share and kaza is also highly dis-advised since Microsoft has came up with a new way to help stop cracking key codes and getting there software for free, such programs can be tracked by the FBI and you could face fines and do a jail time. If you insist on buying from eBay make sure the buyer has a good rating and good reviews, once receiving the product install and see if it works, if it doesn't you can report him to eBay and they will ban his account and try to get you a refund through his pay pal account, don't wait to long to install the software because papal is only secured for 2 weeks, meaning that if you got scammed you have 2 weeks to notify them, or else you wont get your money back.

Answer 3

See if the seller has positive feedback. There should an indicator that shows how many (percentage) think he sells good items.

If you find a trustworthy one, ask him about it. Will it be in a sealed package and never opened? How did he come across it? Why is he selling it? Etc. Find questions to ask him to see if anything is fishy.

Personally, I would never do this but if you need to save money it may be better for you. Software is a very touchy thing, especially since it comes with a registration key you can only use once. If he used it, then there's no going back I guess.

If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. :)

Good luck.

Answer 4

I wouldn't do it. You can't really verify that these sellers are Microsoft Partners selling legitimate licenses. The software may not even install for you. Some Ebay seller may not even care if it doesn't work.

Your best bet for cheap software that is legitimate is www.softwaremedia.com. A company I worked for bought all kinds of software there really cheap and survived a Micorsoft audit.

I also endorse the idea of installing Linux. Windows Vista is basically Gnome anyway. I like Ubuntu or SUSE. They install very easily.

Answer 5

Why oh why would you do this to a perfectly healthy Mac?

If you want to run another OS, try any of:

http://fedora.redhat.com
http://www.opensuse.org
http://www.debian.org
http://www.ubuntu.org
http://www.slackware.org
http://www.freebsd.org
http://www.opensolaris.org

Any of these will be more reliable, less susceptible to
viri, uses your hardware more efficiently, and they're
all free.

If you REALLY want to run Windows, I would recommend
not installing it on a second partition, but instead installing
VMWare and installing it as a virtual machine. This way,
you install it once and then move the virtual machines from
real machine to real machine as required.

I didn't say "copy", I said "move". To copy it would be illegal.

And fun.

Answer 6

Get the recovery CD for the laptop. You can usually get it form the manufacturer, you might have to pay maybe $10-20 but you will get a good CD. Once you get that, you can just boot to it and it will install the OS and all of the programs that originally came with the laptop.

Answer 7

You need to ensure it is genuine, rather difficult on line. If it is not you could end up with a dead copy after attempting the updates.

Answer 8

Buy from a power seller that has a good rating. You will be fine.

Answer 9

yes just make sure you check the sellers feedback and double check for a return policy

Answer 10

I would say so. Just make sure you are buying from a reputable seller.