XP Plus

Pat Glenn · Feb 22, 2008

I've noticed that MicroSoft has discontinued "The Plus" for XP and has made
most (if not all) of the extra products and features part of Vista and/or
free web downloads for users of XP.

Does anybody know how this will affect license keys for those who bought the
retail version of "The Plus"? Is free activation available on the web for
multiple installations? After all; If I can download everything for free,
does it really make sense to say I can only load the CDROM version onto one
computer?

Just wondering. (I have a couple computers that I'd like to add "The Plus".
I only have dial-up, so I'd rather not download 150 MB each time.)

Carey Frisch [MVP] · Feb 22, 2008

The retail version of Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP is
licensed for one (1) computer only.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------

I've noticed that MicroSoft has discontinued "The Plus" for XP and has made
most (if not all) of the extra products and features part of Vista and/or
free web downloads for users of XP.

Does anybody know how this will affect license keys for those who bought the
retail version of "The Plus"? Is free activation available on the web for
multiple installations? After all; If I can download everything for free,
does it really make sense to say I can only load the CDROM version onto one
computer?

Just wondering. (I have a couple computers that I'd like to add "The Plus".
I only have dial-up, so I'd rather not download 150 MB each time.)

Pat Glenn · Feb 22, 2008

Yes, I realize that. But as I asked; If I can download everything the CDROM
contains for free anyway, does it really make sense to say I can only load
the CDROM version onto only one computer? The logic simply doesn't make
sence. Do you know if MicroSoft is planning on releasing a key activator
program for this particular product?

Shenan Stanley · Feb 22, 2008

Pat said:
I've noticed that MicroSoft has discontinued "The Plus" for XP and
has made most (if not all) of the extra products and features part
of Vista and/or free web downloads for users of XP.

Does anybody know how this will affect license keys for those who
bought the retail version of "The Plus"? Is free activation
available on the web for multiple installations? After all; If I
can download everything for free, does it really make sense to say
I can only load the CDROM version onto one computer?

Just wondering. (I have a couple computers that I'd like to add
"The Plus". I only have dial-up, so I'd rather not download 150 MB
each time.)

First off - where can you download the components for the "Microsoft Plus!"
or "Microsoft Plus! SuperPack" Windows XP that you speak of?

The main page for the "Microsoft Plus!" product states, "Many of the
features and tools that have been enjoyed for years now can be found in new
Microsoft titles and services including Windows Vista™." I don't see any
mention of "now can be downloaded for free for users of Windows XP..."

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/default.mspx

In other words - since you said the "Plus!" pack and not the "Plus!
SuperPack" - where can you download these items for Windows XP:

Plus! for Windows XP includes:

- Plus! Themes
- Plus! Screen Savers
- Plus! Voice Command for Windows Media Player
- Plus! Personal DJ
- Plus! MP3 Converter
- Plus! CD Label Maker
- Plus! Speaker Enhancement
- Plus! 3D Visualizations for Windows Media Player
- Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player
- Plus! Hyperbowl
- Plus! Russian Square
- Plus! Labyrinth

Just because they are now included (as the web page says) in "new Microsoft
titles and services" does not mean the old stuff is now free. ;-) If you
can show me where most (3/4 or more?) of the above stuff can be downloaded
for free (legitimately) for Windows XP users - then you have a pretty valid
point. Otherwise - those products are still not freely available, are they?
;-)

Secondly - you may be dial-up - but I bet you have a friend/family member or
know someone that works someplace with high-speed internet who could
download them for you ONCE and then you have them Burn them to your own CD,
copy them to a USB thumb drive, etc...

No one says you have to download something over and over - and with CD/DVDs
as inexpensive as they are and as easy as they are to burn - it makes no
sense you would think you had to do that. ;-)

Pat Glenn · Feb 23, 2008

In other words - since you said the "Plus!" pack and not the "Plus!

SuperPack" - where can you download these items for Windows XP:

"It would appear that I perhaps confused a couple of products. They are
quite similarly named. Thanks for the clarification.

Secondly - you may be dial-up - but I bet you have a friend/family member
or know someone that works someplace with high-speed internet who could
download them for you ONCE and then you have them Burn them to your own
CD, copy them to a USB thumb drive, etc...

Too bad you didn't bet money on this one. I'd have a nice wad 'bout now. I
live in a small rural community. High speed is not an option. It simply
isn't available here.

No one says you have to download something over and over - and with
CD/DVDs as inexpensive as they are and as easy as they are to burn - it
makes no sense you would think you had to do that. ;-)

Except that with the 'Genuine Advantage" verification procedure, how do I
get the install (patches and updates) to work on a second machine? Wouldn't
this be an issue? And where exactly do they hide on my HD after they have
been installed? The other machines may not be necessarily be connected to
the internet. (Periodically I plug in a modem and update them directly.)

Shenan Stanley · Feb 23, 2008

"It would appear that I perhaps confused a couple of products. They
are quite similarly named. Thanks for the clarification.

But that did not answer the question of where to download said items...
Can you not copy/paste the links here?

Too bad you didn't bet money on this one. I'd have a nice wad 'bout
now. I live in a small rural community. High speed is not an
option. It simply isn't available here.

So your entire family and everyone you know lives in your town?

If you have a friend/family member/someone you can call or email with
high speed Internet Service and can tell them the various links to get
the products you want - I would bet they could spend $3 for the CD
and the mail to get it to you.

Except that with the 'Genuine Advantage" verification procedure,
how do I get the install (patches and updates) to work on a second
machine? Wouldn't this be an issue? And where exactly do they hide
on my HD after they have been installed? The other machines may not
be necessarily be connected to the internet. (Periodically I plug
in a modem and update them directly.)

Once you have the download - you already passed the genuine advantage.
Installing them should not be a problem.

Pat Glenn · Feb 23, 2008

As I said previously, I misunderstood what was being said concerning the
product. As for the rest, you should know the following: For themes:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...Criteria=popularity&sortOrder=ascending&nr=20

For Wallpaper

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=wallpaper&DisplayLang=en

As well as many other utilities, add-ons, Etc, ad verbatum, ad naseum:

Are they exactly the same as the PLUS? No. They are not the exact same
downloads. It would appear that I was in error. (as stated in the last post)
But regardless, there is still a rather nice selection on MS's own download
site.

So your entire family and everyone you know lives in your town?

Not quite. My parents have high speed where they live. But they don't have a
burner and if they did, I'd probably have to spend more time instructing
them how to use it than downloading stuff myself. They are just not that
computer savy.

Once you have the download - you already passed the genuine advantage.
Installing them should not be a problem.

That's a comfort. Now to find out where it hides them on my HD when it
downloads stuff...

Shenan Stanley · Feb 23, 2008

This conversation, archived indefinitely:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...e74a763f368/b71a951201c2bb71#b71a951201c2bb71

Pat said:
I've noticed that MicroSoft has discontinued "The Plus" for XP and
has made most (if not all) of the extra products and features part
of Vista and/or free web downloads for users of XP.

Does anybody know how this will affect license keys for those who
bought the retail version of "The Plus"? Is free activation
available on the web for multiple installations? After all; If I
can download everything for free, does it really make sense to say
I can only load the CDROM version onto one computer?

Just wondering. (I have a couple computers that I'd like to add
"The Plus". I only have dial-up, so I'd rather not download 150 MB
each time.)

Shenan said:
First off - where can you download the components for the
"Microsoft Plus!" or "Microsoft Plus! SuperPack" Windows XP that
you speak of?
The main page for the "Microsoft Plus!" product states, "Many of the
features and tools that have been enjoyed for years now can be
found in new Microsoft titles and services including Windows
Vista™." I don't see any mention of "now can be downloaded for
free for users of Windows XP..."
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/default.mspx

In other words - since you said the "Plus!" pack and not the "Plus!
SuperPack" - where can you download these items for Windows XP:

Plus! for Windows XP includes:

- Plus! Themes
- Plus! Screen Savers
- Plus! Voice Command for Windows Media Player
- Plus! Personal DJ
- Plus! MP3 Converter
- Plus! CD Label Maker
- Plus! Speaker Enhancement
- Plus! 3D Visualizations for Windows Media Player
- Plus! Skins for Windows Media Player
- Plus! Hyperbowl
- Plus! Russian Square
- Plus! Labyrinth

Just because they are now included (as the web page says) in "new
Microsoft titles and services" does not mean the old stuff is now
free. ;-) If you can show me where most (3/4 or more?) of the
above stuff can be downloaded for free (legitimately) for Windows
XP users - then you have a pretty valid point. Otherwise - those
products are still not freely available, are they? ;-)

Secondly - you may be dial-up - but I bet you have a friend/family
member or know someone that works someplace with high-speed
internet who could download them for you ONCE and then you have
them Burn them to your own CD, copy them to a USB thumb drive,
etc...
No one says you have to download something over and over - and with
CD/DVDs as inexpensive as they are and as easy as they are to burn
- it makes no sense you would think you had to do that. ;-)

Pat Glenn wrote (responses were snipoped/inline, so I left the quote that
way):

"It would appear that I perhaps confused a couple of products. They
are quite similarly named. Thanks for the clarification.

Too bad you didn't bet money on this one. I'd have a nice wad 'bout
now. I live in a small rural community. High speed is not an
option. It simply isn't available here.

Except that with the 'Genuine Advantage" verification procedure,
how do I get the install (patches and updates) to work on a second
machine? Wouldn't this be an issue? And where exactly do they hide
on my HD after they have been installed? The other machines may not
be necessarily be connected to the internet. (Periodically I plug
in a modem and update them directly.)

Shenan said:
But that did not answer the question of where to download said
items... Can you not copy/paste the links here?

So your entire family and everyone you know lives in your town?

If you have a friend/family member/someone you can call or email
with high speed Internet Service and can tell them the various
links to get the products you want - I would bet they could spend
$3 for the CD and the mail to get it to you.

Once you have the download - you already passed the genuine
advantage. Installing them should not be a problem.

Pat said:
As I said previously, I misunderstood what was being said
concerning the product. As for the rest, you should know the
following: For themes:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...Criteria=popularity&sortOrder=ascending&nr=20

For Wallpaper

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=wallpaper&DisplayLang=en

As well as many other utilities, add-ons, Etc, ad verbatum, ad
naseum:
Are they exactly the same as the PLUS? No. They are not the exact
same downloads. It would appear that I was in error. (as stated in
the last post) But regardless, there is still a rather nice
selection on MS's own download site.

Not quite. My parents have high speed where they live. But they
don't have a burner and if they did, I'd probably have to spend
more time instructing them how to use it than downloading stuff
myself. They are just not that computer savy.

You seemed to say in the last posting that you were confused by the
"Microsoft Plus!" vs "Microsoft Plus! SuperPack", not that you were confused
about the status of the product or what was said on the web page... But we
can write all that off to misunderstanding and move on.

Send them a thumb drive in the mail, have them copy and paste to it and mail
it back. It's no different than sending them a floppy diskette, etc at that
point. Drag and drop. ;-)

BTW - looks like you would have lost that bet you were saying you won...
*grin*

Ed Covney · Feb 24, 2008

Actually, I think your OS license validates Microsoft Plus!
and has since Windows 95. Prior to Win 95, the Plus
stuff was on the OS CDs - just not installed by defult.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Plus!

For each version of Windows since '95, MS created an
OS "enhancement package" for those interested - free
download or send for the CD at a token charge.

Businesses never wanted 'Plus' (mostly games etc.) so they
were never included on the OS CDs since '95. But were
always available online free, or on CD nominal charge.

Even their Digital Media Edition was available for d/l (free)
as was their "Super Pack" which included both the XP Plus
and Digital stuff.

MS stopped the free downloads the day Vista was released
as everything in Plus for prior OS's and in the DME are std
in Vista. MS stopped it because, they don't want their old
OS's competing with Vista!

First, read the license on your XP Plus CD ROM. I think
it will tell you you can install it on any "genuine" XP PC.
If restricted, you couldn't pass the authenicating process
once installed.

But to be sure, contact Microsoft directly.

See: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/aa948864.aspx
and read the part that starts:

How many devices can I install the products on?

Ed

XP Plus

Pat Glenn

Carey Frisch [MVP]

Pat Glenn

Shenan Stanley

Pat Glenn

Shenan Stanley

Pat Glenn

Shenan Stanley

Ed Covney