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So a number of you left comments on our recent video

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introducing AMD's Threadripper 2 2990WX CPU

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about the overlay on the bottom right corner of my screen

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prompting me to activate Windows.

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Now, some of you were amused and some of you were upset,

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but you all had one thing in common.

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You couldn't imagine why an organization

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like Linus Media Group,

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one with sponsors like Cablemod,

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whose configurator now includes

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a customizable RGB backplate option

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that can enhance the look of your GPUs and SSDs,

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it's compatible with RSync, RGB Fusion,

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Mystic Light Sync, and Cablemod's own RGB kits,

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and you can find out at the link below,

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why an organization like Linus Media Group

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with sponsors like that

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would need to save a hundred bucks here and there

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on a legit copy of Windows.

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Well, why don't we talk about that?

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So let's begin by grabbing a Windows license

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out of the pile,

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preferably one that isn't in use by Dennis.

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So, by the way, I got these at NCIX,

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so I clearly didn't just run out and buy them

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for the purpose of making this video.

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So this would be the official procedure

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for installing Windows on a PC.

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In this case, it's my personal test bench,

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the one that I usually have in my office here.

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Now, I'm basically going to be burning this license

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for the purpose of creating this video,

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which kind of sucks,

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because it's actually a Windows 10 Pro license,

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but it's important for me to demonstrate my point here

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to show you guys actually activating Windows

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and how that might work on a test bench.

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And hey, there we go.

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Activation Windows 10 Pro.

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Windows is activated with a digital license.

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Now, let's say that I was working on something

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like a video card review.

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So typically what we do in those cases

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is we get our pile of graphics cards ready here,

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and then after we've run our benchmarks on one card,

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we shut down the system and swap out to a new one.

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There's only one small problem with that.

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Microsoft's activation servers create a unique identifier

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for your PC based on the hardware that's installed in it.

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So you can see we actually survived

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one graphic card swap here,

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but if too many things change,

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let's say you keep swapping graphics cards,

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you wanted to see

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how the system runs with half as much memory.

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You change out the CPU,

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or worst of all,

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you need to change out the motherboard,

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either to try a different platform

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or as a troubleshooting measure.

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What can happen is that identifier can change,

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and I don't fully understand exactly how it determines

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when it changes,

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but if it does, it can prompt Windows to deactivate.

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So,

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we had checked this before we started,

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and it wasn't activated yet.

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So that's pretty funny because on this one,

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I had even gone as far as to swap out the boot drive

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I was using,

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but it still managed to grab something about the hardware ID

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and managed to migrate the license.

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But the point is that at some point,

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you will get that prompt back.

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Now, in the olden days,

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and I guess this was probably about seven, eight years ago,

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the solution to getting an activation prompt,

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was to call up Microsoft's activation hotline,

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try the automated reactivation process,

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have that error out twice,

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so this was like a 10 minute project,

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then press a button to be put through to a representative,

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explain that you had changed out some of your hardware

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and you needed a reset on your license.

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But this was time consuming,

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and it wasn't even a sure thing.

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I actually remember getting into a fairly heated argument

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with a rep who was telling me that I had run

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out of reactivations and for my use case,

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which is swapping hardware out all the time

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in order to test it,

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I had to just buy a new license every time I got prompted

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with that activate Windows watermark.

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And I mean, she said there was nothing she could do,

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and at some point I went,

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I called up Steve Ballmer himself.

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It was a pretty awkward conversation,

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but my point is, even if she was right,

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according to Microsoft's terms for the license,

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I'm also right too.

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I can't be expected to do that.

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I can't be expected to run out

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and buy a new license for Windows

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every time there's some new hardware launch

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and I've got to do something with my test bench.

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Fortunately, around that time,

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I got a subscription to TechNet,

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a software subscription service that allowed you

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to use pretty much any Microsoft software

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in a non-commercial environment with unlimited activations.

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Now that actually worked great for me,

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even though technically my use was commercial

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since it was a form of software,

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it was a for-profit endeavor that I was doing this testing.

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At least it was great until they shut down TechNet in 2013.

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Now, the new legit way to transfer your license

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is the activation troubleshooter.

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So you can see what I've done now

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is I just linked my digital license to a Microsoft account.

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So I've never done this before,

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but theoretically what happens here

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is we should be able to even swap the drive

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and go into that settings menu,

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and migrate the license to another computer on our own,

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which is pretty cool and a lot better than the old system.

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So let's give that a shot, shall we?

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So we're not gonna get to show you guys exactly how it works

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because the Microsoft activation servers

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work in mysterious ways,

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but overall it sounds pretty painless.

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There's supposed to be a prompt transferring your license,

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blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, et cetera, something along.

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Yep, they don't have any screenshots either.

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What are those?

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Anyway, eventually,

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no matter how you're moving your license around,

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their terms do state that you will run out of activations

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at some point.

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But with that said, through this method,

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and then maybe some of those cheap $20 Windows keys

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that you can get from gray market sources online,

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there should be no justification then

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for having that activate Windows watermark, right?

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Like we should just,

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we should just bite the bullet

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and go through this process.

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Except for one problem.

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Those $20 keys that you buy online

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are not intended for the North American

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or the European market.

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And they are therefore not actually legit.

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So if having the watermark removed from your system

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is where you draw the line

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and that's what helps you sleep at night,

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then that's great.

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But the thing about software

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is that the license terms are defined by the EULA.

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The read this first stuff.

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Not by whether a key activates or doesn't activate

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with Microsoft's servers.

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For example, the Windows 10 VM that I have set up

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for remote access for one of our offsite workers

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is technically against Microsoft's license terms.

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Yeah, I actually found that out just yesterday

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while I was prepping this video.

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Regular Windows 10 is technically not allowed to be used,

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exclusively for remote access.

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The more you know, right?

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In much the same way,

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if you've got a buddy who's got a volume license agreement

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or a site key,

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that's not legit either.

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It'll activate for you

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and it'll get rid of the watermark,

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but that is still software piracy.

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So at the end of the day,

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there are inexpensive and even free ways

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for us to make sure that that watermark

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never shows up in one of our videos again.

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But they involve either gray market software

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or violation of the license terms anyway.

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So for a use case that's unsupported anyhow,

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our whole thing where we're using test benches

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to validate hardware,

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the best solution that we've actually found

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is just to leave the software unactivated forever.

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So here's the regular installer.

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And you might not have ever noticed this before,

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but Microsoft actually has a built-in way

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to run Windows for testing purposes.

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So here's the regular installer. And you might not have ever noticed this before, but Microsoft actually has a built-in way to run Windows for testing purposes.

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So here's the regular installer. And you might not have ever noticed this before, but Microsoft actually has a built-in way to run Windows for testing purposes.

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So check out this button here.

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Depending on the version of Windows,

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the amount of time that you're allowed differs.

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But if all we do is click skip,

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instead of entering a product key,

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the Windows installation will proceed

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exactly the way that it normally would.

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We still get Windows updates.

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Performance of our hardware isn't impacted whatsoever.

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We don't have to waste time tooling around

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with any activation nonsense.

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And for my part,

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honestly, I sleep just fine at night.

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Knowing that my pile of Windows keys downstairs

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more than covers the test benches that we have deployed.

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So if you ever see our activation watermark

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in one of our videos again,

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you will understand why.

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I'm just avoiding some paperwork.

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It has nothing to do with saving a buck on Windows 10.

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Speaking of saving a buck,

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Anchor's upcoming Soundcore Flare Plus

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is not gonna help you save a buck,

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because you might want to buy it.

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It's a wireless speaker

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that allows you to amplify the atmosphere

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with their 360 degree sound.

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So there should be no concerns about positioning.

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You've got the ability to pair two of these speakers

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for stereo sound,

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and their beat-driven light show

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will sync up to your music.

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It's got IPX7 protection

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that keeps it pool party approved,

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and it can effortlessly withstand spills, rain,

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and even complete submersion in water.

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The large capacity battery will keep your music playing

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for up to 20 hours,

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and help charge your device at the same time.

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So check out the link below

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to learn more about this speaker

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and get a chance to win one.

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So thanks for watching, guys.

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If you disliked this video,

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you can hit that button.

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But if you liked it,

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hit like, get subscribed,

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or maybe consider checking out

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where to buy the stuff we featured

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at the link in the video description.

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Sure, go buy Windows 10.

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While you're down there,

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you can check out our merch store,

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which has cool shirts like this one,

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and our community forum.

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You should definitely join that.