geekhack
geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: phinix on Sat, 16 October 2021, 16:25:48
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Do you guys buy any software keys from those sites like for example Godeal24?
Are those legit? Legal?
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Some work.
Are they legit... It's a gray area in some cases, not really in others.
Some places are selling Chinese licenses, though many of those have been cracked down on. While technically legal it's not exactl illegal either and are pretty difficult to catch and prove.
Other places, and is the most common either selling the same key multiple times (MS often allows 5 installs) or they are offering you a volume license, I.E. a corporate license, these are illegal but not easy to catch. Many of them are stolen, others are acquired through brokers, legal or otherwise but may have been actually bought, the problem is you aren't supposed to have that license. When MS catches one of these guys all the licenses they sold get revoked. They won't come after you, and if you're lucky you can just message them and get a different one, if you're unlucky, and is most often the case, you won't be able to contact them because they will have gone dark and started a new account selling them. I've seen them last years, I've seen them last months.
Keep in mind who you're dealing with, they aren't exactly legit. so if you do this, use something like a 3rd party processor, not direct from them (Ebay, Pay Pal, a site selling for many people), that way they won't get any payment info they can use later. Losing a $15 key is one thing, them hacking your account is another.
On the other hand...
You'd be surprised how many legit keys are out there and how easy they can be to get. One system I setup for someone had Win 10 Pro when I sold it but when the PSU and drives all failed it had Win 10 Home. Not knowing where it came from, and the customer (who has issues), I picked up a key from one of the sellers because I was unable to recover the original Pro or the Home key. I installed Windows and it activated with Pro without any effort on my part. Maybe it activated using the original license, unlikely since so much was changed (the GPU wasn't even installed) or maybe it activated with someone else's license, I have no way of knowing, but it activated on it's own and without any account credentials. I've seen this happen on quiet a few systems. So maybe just try a fresh install? If it works use a tool to extract they key for safe keeping.
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Some work.
Are they legit... It's a gray area in some cases, not really in others.
Some places are selling Chinese licenses, though many of those have been cracked down on. While technically legal it's not exactl illegal either and are pretty difficult to catch and prove.
Other places, and is the most common either selling the same key multiple times (MS often allows 5 installs) or they are offering you a volume license, I.E. a corporate license, these are illegal but not easy to catch. Many of them are stolen, others are acquired through brokers, legal or otherwise but may have been actually bought, the problem is you aren't supposed to have that license. When MS catches one of these guys all the licenses they sold get revoked. They won't come after you, and if you're lucky you can just message them and get a different one, if you're unlucky, and is most often the case, you won't be able to contact them because they will have gone dark and started a new account selling them. I've seen them last years, I've seen them last months.
Keep in mind who you're dealing with, they aren't exactly legit. so if you do this, use something like a 3rd party processor, not direct from them (Ebay, Pay Pal, a site selling for many people), that way they won't get any payment info they can use later. Losing a $15 key is one thing, them hacking your account is another.
On the other hand...
You'd be surprised how many legit keys are out there and how easy they can be to get. One system I setup for someone had Win 10 Pro when I sold it but when the PSU and drives all failed it had Win 10 Home. Not knowing where it came from, and the customer (who has issues), I picked up a key from one of the sellers because I was unable to recover the original Pro or the Home key. I installed Windows and it activated with Pro without any effort on my part. Maybe it activated using the original license, unlikely since so much was changed (the GPU wasn't even installed) or maybe it activated with someone else's license, I have no way of knowing, but it activated on it's own and without any account credentials. I've seen this happen on quiet a few systems. So maybe just try a fresh install? If it works use a tool to extract they key for safe keeping.
Naah, sounds dodgy. I thought that if it was advertised on site like TEchPowerUp, it should be legit, but I feel now like dont want to use it.
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I have bought a windows key from a gray site and its worked with no issues so far.
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I have bought a windows key from a gray site and its worked with no issues so far.
Same here, and it is so much cheaper.
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I have bought a windows key from a gray site and its worked with no issues so far.
Same here, and it is so much cheaper.
what site was it?
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I have bought a windows key from a gray site and its worked with no issues so far.
Same here, and it is so much cheaper.
what site was it?
They come and go constantly because of the nature of what they offer.
I'd also not recommend dropping links in open chat for the same reason.
Side note, you can run Windows without a license these days.
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Normally for games I use GreenManGaming and Humble bundle. I used to use sites like G2A and Kinguin, but I no longer feel like worrying that the key is legit or not (I have been sold a few bad keys but got my money back).
SCD Keys is one of the few I have bought Windows license through before getting a KMS Activation tool that I use for work (works in w10 and w11).