Ever heard of an expiring OS?

[mgdavis]

I just got off the line with a Toshiba rep named "Joe". "Joe" had an interesting accent, but was very helpful. He found a similar instance in the Microsoft Support forums, and told me that re-installing SP1 would likely solve my issue. Seems I got some sort of evaluation copy of SP1 the first time around. I'm going to download the software and try the fix.

[mgdavis]

Ok, next hurdle: It looks like I need to uninstall the old SP1 before I can install the fresh version. How do I uninstall Service Pack 1

Edit: Never mind, Google helped me out.

[mtnbkr]

I'm not techie enough to desire Linux, so I'm not going to go that route.

FWIW, the latest version of Ubuntu is pretty slick.  I just installed it on a 4yo Dell laptop and the only thing I had to do during install was choose my keyboard type and timezone.  Everything worked fine immediately except the wireless card (older PCMCIA card).  I was even able to sync my Palm Centro via USB.  All the software a normal person would need in order to be productive was preinstalled.  No broken shortcuts, missing, yet required software, etc.  The update manager is pretty slick too.  I have been pretty vocal about Linux being not quite ready for the average user, but this may prove me wrong.  I started with the version that used Gnome, now I'm testing the KDE version. 

Chris

[mgdavis]

A final update:

Installing the appropriate copy of SP1 seems to have done the trick. If your own computer says "evaluation copy" in the corner of the screen you might wind up going through this same process. Looks like, once again, MS was using us as Beta testers without our consent.

[old school]

Make sure it isn't phishing spyware.
[/quote]

This was my first thought when I read your post.

[Monty]

I looked at installing XP a while back, but decided I didn't want to screw with redoing all the drivers. I'm not techie enough to desire Linux, so I'm not going to go that route. I'm trying to see if this might be some strange fluke, I'm really hoping I don't have to put down more money for this horrible OS.

You would be surprised how un-techie you can be and still do Linux.  Download a couple Distros, burn them to a CD, try them out as live-cds (see if everything works before you install), you may be surprised what you find.  Installation can usually be completely through a graphical interface, no command line.  Quite often everything works right out of the box and if not Google is your friend. 

My 7 and 9 year old don't seem to have any trouble using it   

Recommended Starting Distros:  PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu (or Kubuntu) or Mint.

Monty