I bought this only for the registration key. I didn't even use the DVD. Here is the story (and I thank the Amazon users who posted previously and clued me in that you could do this): If you go to Digital River's website, you can legally download any modern version of Windows as an ISO file. Then, you can burn this ISO to DVD, install Windows onto any compatible computer, and buy the appropriate key afterwards. I tried to buy the registration key directly from Microsoft but the customer representatives kept insisting that I had to buy the entire DVD. I told them nah I'll just order it from Amazon and the guy kept saying, we can send you the DVD from Microsoft and you will have it in 2 days. Since I was away on a business transfer and wouldn't be home for more than a week anyway, I didn't see the point. Besides, there is a major UPS depot only about 20 miles away from me in Northern NJ, so most items ordered from Amazon, even those ordered using free shipping, arrive within a day or two anyway.
Windows 7 allows you 30 days to activate your installation. I don't know what happens after that, but it's not the end of the world, as you can just re-install from the DVD-R and re-activate. When I came home from my business transfer, I opened up my mailbox, read the key inside the Microsoft Windows 7 box, and activated my installation. If you use this technique, just make sure that what you downloaded from Digital River matches what you ordered from Amazon (Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit with SP1).
Also be aware that sometimes the Repair Windows function does not work when booting from the DVD-R, if you ever have to repair your installation as the result of a corrupt file or a hard drive glitch. I think this has more to do with the 64-bit aspect than with the DVD-R aspect. Each time I've had to repair 64-bit Windows 7, I've had to use the factory 32-bit Windows 7 disk to do the repair. Neither the factory 64-bit Windows 7 DVD, nor my 64-bit Windows 7 DVD-R, would do the repair. They both would report something like, "This is the wrong version of Windows" - even though they were the same version as what was on the computer. Go figure.
I love this OS. I installed it as a second partition on my company ThinkPad. I also installed another copy to remove all of the assorted fluff and spyware installed from the factory on my Acer laptop. I installed a third copy on my aunt and uncle's desktop computer in their guest room. For all three installations, I used the same exact DVD-R, burned from the Digital River Windows 7 64-bit SP1 ISO file. All that matters is the KEY. Each installation must have its own key. (The exception is if you buy a 3-pack license, then you can have the same key on three computers.) For my Acer, which did not come with any Windows 7 setup disks, I found the key on the bottom of the laptop. You can also use a program called Belarc to find your key, if you don't know what it is. However, in my case, the key that was on the bottom of the laptop was not the same key that Belarc Advisor reported to me. I tried both keys, and the one Belarc reported did not work, whereas the one on the bottom of the laptop did. I don't know why the laptop has two Windows keys. Does anyone know the reason? Is one the OEM key, and the other is the end user key?
For my aunt and uncle's desktop, I used the key that was in their 3-pack license. Windows doesn't seem to care which DVD you use as long as the Windows on the DVD matches the Windows that the key was purchased for. I used the DVD-R that I burned, not the DVD included in their 3-pack license box. All that mattered was the key. If you want to switch the key to another computer, then you can call Microsoft Customer Service and explain what you're doing. I've never had to do this, so I don't know how easy or how difficult it is.
Installation of Windows 7 64-bit is quick and nearly foolproof with one caveat: There is something called UEFI that can stop Windows installation in its tracks. This is some kind of new BIOS that will replace the existing BIOS technology. I learned, just by luck, that if I wait an extra second while the DVD is trying to boot, there is a second, nearly identical message that pops up, also saying, Press any key to boot from the DVD, just like the first message. The only difference is that the font changes. The trick is to ignore the first menu (which is UEFI) and wait for the second one (which is the normal BIOS). Otherwise, if you hit the space bar too quickly and enter the first menu, you will see something like this:
Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.
If you see this message, reboot and wait for the "secret second menu", or if possible, go into your BIOS and modify the boot order to put UEFI further down in the list.
Windows 7 has some annoying flaws with WiFi ad hoc networking, namely, that Windows sometimes loses or cannot identify other computers in the network, but its WiFi ad hoc networking is far superior to Windows XP's. Windows 8 doesn't include ad hoc WiFi networking anymore, from what I've heard. I also sometimes have difficulty with permissions, so that when I try to access a shared folder on another Windows 7 computer (belonging to a family member, with a different username), a login box pops up, and even when I enter in the other user's login and password, Windows still won't let me access the shared folder. This apparently has something to do with having different user profiles on each computer, with different usernames and passwords. Whenever I set up networking between my own Windows 7 laptops, with identical usernames and passwords set up on each, the networking works beautifully.
This laptop, with Windows 7 installed from scratch, is so much faster and more responsive than it was when I first picked it up from the store. Windows 8's interface is, in my opinion, unkempt and not well integrated. I'm sure there are great advances underneath Windows 8's interface, but as long as they have that unwieldy interface, I see no reason to upgrade. I've spent YEARS coming up with a collection of applications that work well together and with their OS. Now I have work to do. I'm not about to turn my life upside-down again.
M. A. Anderson