How does product activation work?
A3: Product activation validates that the product key has not been used on more personal computers than are permitted by the Microsoft Software License Terms. You can activate your product either over the Internet or by telephone. If you activate a product by telephone, you provide an installation ID code. In return, you receive a confirmation ID number. Activation by telephone is performed through a Microsoft customer service representative. This process takes several minutes. If you choose to activate your product over the Internet, the process is performed automatically. The only information that you must provide is the name of your country and your region. Note If you are activating the Product Trial Program version, you can activate the product only over the Internet.
A4: Product activation validates that the product key has not been used on more personal computers than are permitted by the Microsoft Software License Terms. You can activate the product over the Internet, by telephone, or by e-mail. If you activate a product by telephone or by e-mail, you must provide the product key that was included with your purchase of Money Plus. If you decide to activate the product over the Internet, the process is performed automatically. If you are not connected to the Internet or if Money Plus cannot detect your Internet connection, you will receive an error message that also gives you contact information options. Note If Money Plus cannot detect your Internet connection, there may be a firewall or other security software on the system. Money Plus Service Pack 1 improves the ability to activate the product through firewalls and through proxy servers.
The activation process uses minimal information about the product and system to create a request for a product license. The license request is composed of the product’s activation code, name, version and language along with the operating system name, version and language. In addition, a Hardware ID and Activation ID are created. The Hardware ID is a mathematically computed one-way hash based on your computer’s hard drive geometry and CPU family and cannot be used to identify the make or model of your computer or its components. The Hardware ID is only used as an identifier for the machine and never sent to Wave Systems. The Activation ID is a 64-bit random number, which is then down sampled to reduce the size of the activation request code. The Activation ID is only used to identify an individual activation request and contains no information about the product or hardware. The license request is sent to Wave Systems through a secure (SSL) Internet connection. If the request is valid, a
