Okay, bought new Win8 discs. Bought new Samsung 250GB SSD. Put SSD in laptop, works. Installed Win8, works. Win8 is not 'activated', because the discs I purchased appear to be for an upgrade, not a c
Scott Best Buy won't accept returns of opened software, unfortunately. Do you have the original XP (or Vista) discs that came with your Dell? It would likely have been sold with an OEM license for on
I do not have the discs that came with the Dell--Dell didn't ship it with discs, and I kept asking Dell for them, they never sent them, and I finally gave up. The Dell does have one of those Windows
I believe the only likely penalty is an inability to use the Microsoft update service. Might be worth a try, on the basis that what they sold you was not suitable for the purpose you told them it wa
Since there are others on this list that will be albe to answer the IT part of this better than I can, all I want to talk about right now is the Best Buy part of this problem.... If you bought softwa
Scott, I have not done anything with Windows 8, but I believe earlier versions had another way to activate by phone. If that is still possible, and the version you have/had on that machine is a valid
The windows activation has been upgraded over the years. Yes, not being able to install security updates is one problem. Not being able to use the OS is another. It times out after a while and forces
In most states, there's an 'implied warranty of merchantability', which means if you're sold something as being suitable for a purpose, it needs to be. They've certainly failed at that, and need to m
Competition - or lack thereof. Back during the 1990s, they ran all the other local chain and mom 'n' pop A/V, appliance, computer, and record & CD stores (remember those?) out of business. They came
Part of the problem is, back in the day you had a few product lines, and each line had a few models, and they weren't all that different in their features, and so a mom-and-pop or small local chain
As a former tech support/ retail sales guy, I probably would have answered the question the same way the Best Buy person did, if I had been that clerk. I am standing up for the sales people who gener
To tell the truth, I'm more perturbed at Microsoft than I am at the Best Buy guy. A lot of that is because I share the same opinion of Best Buy employees that most people do--I fully expect if I held