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Slimebeast said:

So which one should a guy like me buy, if I wanted to build my own system and perhaps have the ability to reinstall the OS on a new HDD down the road?

You were babbling something about registry keys, has that something to do with the choise of Windows version (Retail, OEM or Upgrade)?

Even though I'm a PC guy I never went through this process of actively buying or pirating an OS since the days of Windows 3.11 or something. My current OS is Windows XP which was pre-installed on a computer I got from work, and later I called Microsoft to get it to work on my new (current) system I built in 2008.


I always buy the full version of Pro for system builders.

Technically, you can only install on one computer, but if you all your PCs you'll still be fine. When you call MS just make sure to say its only on one PC and you are simply replacing a HDD or refresh etc. They only know the number of times its been registered... nothing about hardware or user or anything else.