Windows activation by phone..... a bit of an oddity.
 

I recently had to replace the motherboard on my Vista PC and was required to use the automated phone system to re-activate it.

Having progressed about threequarters of the way through the procedure, I inadvertently pressed the wrong key and the previous block of letters was repeated. I had assumed that I had pressed the key for the next group and just ploughed on regardless. In all honesty, I wasn't paying sufficient attention. This resulted in having two identical groups in adjacent boxes, and at the end I was therefore left with a 'surplus' group and nowhere to type it.
A hurried attempt to cancel and start again was ignored and I was informed that the system had been successfully activated.

Is it reasonable to assume that the whole procedure is something of a charade, or is there some rhyme or reason to it?

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Is it activated then? The idea obviously isto stop people using one copy over & over, in my experience, they generally activate it ok, even if there is a question mark, for example if the machine blows up & you drop it into a new one.

All that I've had is the odd decline & then been put through to an indian guy who asks whether I'm using it on more than one machine, then dishes out the numbers when I confirm I'm not. I'm not btw, I'm an honest geek.:8

I see where you're coming from PP. My sentence could have been construed as saying that the system had been activated when in fact it hadn't.

Yes, it was up and running immediately. I am just puzzled as to why it accepted wrong letter blocks (ie a duplicate entry and subsequent blocks being shunted 'one along') without question.

Given the importance that Microsoft attaches to the procedure, it all seems a bit shoddy.

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