Office 2013 hides the product key quite well. I couldn't extract it from the Office 2013 installation I had. I needed to figure out which license I used for the two computers I had Office 2013 on. One of the computers was corrupted with malware and I had to reinstall Windows 8. When I was trying to reinstall Office 2013, I couldn't figure out which product key went with which computer. Finally, I found that the install file stub you download when you first install Office 2013 is unique to each license. Luckily, this download file was saved from the computer that was reformatted! You don't need to type in the product code when you run that install stub.
So, make sure you save that install file stub that you first download when you install Office 2013. You should also keep track of which install file goes with which computer! This is why M$ is going with the subscription style of Office 365. Adobe Create Cloud is a clear money grab with its monthly subscription fees. Hmm... that's why I root for an underdog like Serif Suite! Their free versions are found here.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
Why I like building my own computer!
I had the displeasure of dealing with an HP Pavillion Core i3 Desktop this past week. The computer was corrupted with malware that prevented anything from being installed. This happened even though the user was logged in as a non-admin user. I had burned the four recovery DVDs in case Windows 8 needed to be reinstalled. This particular computer had already been upgraded to Windows 8.l via the Windows Store (a really STUPID and time consuming way of upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1). The problems started when I couldn't reinstall Windows 8 with the restore disks - there was a problem with DVD 4. The dumb thing about HP/Compaq computers is they only allow you to make ONE COPY of the restore disks! Not so with Dell. Dell also lets you download new versions of the restore disks from their support website once you are logged into your account! Luckily, I could 'refresh' the HP Pavilion from the restore image on the hard drive.
More problems ensued. It downloaded and installed 99 Windows 8 updates. Then it tried to install another 46 after that. However, it hung on update 35 of 46 and I had to shut down the computer. I tried again and it still hung up. I eventually got most of it to update, but I could never update to Windows 8.1 from the Windows Store. I gave up on that. To be safe, I cloned the drive onto another drive sector by sector with ToDo Backup Free Edition. This took about 5 hours. This cloned drive is my backup for this STUPID HP COMPUTER.
Now, having given up trying to update to Windows 8.1, I needed to reinstall Office 2013. Office 2013 hides your product key though! I tried some possible fixes (ProduKey 64 bit, Belarc Advisor, and the VBScript OSPP.vbs tool that comes with Office 2013 itself). However, when I was poking around my son's Lenovo Core i7 ThinkPad, I noticed that the Office 2013 install file that I had downloaded for that computer had the serial number.
THIS IS WHY I LIKE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AND USE LIBREOFFICE!
Now, I had built a Core i5 Windows 8.1 Desktop last fall and the problems with the HP computer noted above would not happen since that was a generic build. However, as noted above, Dell has a much better recovery disk policy than HP! So, I would buy a Dell over an HP any day (if I were to buy a name brand Windows computer).
More problems ensued. It downloaded and installed 99 Windows 8 updates. Then it tried to install another 46 after that. However, it hung on update 35 of 46 and I had to shut down the computer. I tried again and it still hung up. I eventually got most of it to update, but I could never update to Windows 8.1 from the Windows Store. I gave up on that. To be safe, I cloned the drive onto another drive sector by sector with ToDo Backup Free Edition. This took about 5 hours. This cloned drive is my backup for this STUPID HP COMPUTER.
Now, having given up trying to update to Windows 8.1, I needed to reinstall Office 2013. Office 2013 hides your product key though! I tried some possible fixes (ProduKey 64 bit, Belarc Advisor, and the VBScript OSPP.vbs tool that comes with Office 2013 itself). However, when I was poking around my son's Lenovo Core i7 ThinkPad, I noticed that the Office 2013 install file that I had downloaded for that computer had the serial number.
THIS IS WHY I LIKE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AND USE LIBREOFFICE!
Now, I had built a Core i5 Windows 8.1 Desktop last fall and the problems with the HP computer noted above would not happen since that was a generic build. However, as noted above, Dell has a much better recovery disk policy than HP! So, I would buy a Dell over an HP any day (if I were to buy a name brand Windows computer).
Friday, June 13, 2014
Géza Anda, pianists and Schumann
In my pantheon of favourite pianists, Géza Anda and Maurizio Pollini are two who I listen to regularly. Something common to the pianists I admire the most seems to be that I like how they play Schumann. I just had a student ask me "what's this" as he wandered into my classroom to get a kleenex. I said it's Géza Anda playing Schumann's Symphonic Etudes (pointing to a picture of Anda on my bulletin board). A little later, a colleague heard Schumann's Fantasie playing and said "that's too cultured for us here". I told him - not at all, a student just asked me what was playing earlier. Last year, another student had asked me "what's that" when I had Perahia's recording of the Brahms' Handel Variations playing. He actually wrote down the name of the work!
Anda died on 1976 June 13. It was Maurizio Pollini's recording of the Symphonic Etudes that started my adoration for Schumann's music. I ordered that CD from Templar Records in London, England when I was in grade 10. Indeed, Schumann's Fantasie, Opus 17 is my favorite solo piano work. In think during spring final exams in my 3rd year undergrad, Paul Robinson and Bruce Surtees were discussing Opus 17 on a Sunday afternoon (the station was CJRT - then Toronto's community station). Bruce Surtees said the ending was like an open question. Very beautiful and passionate - Romantic music to the core! Many years later, my sister happened to be listening to Pollini's Symphonic Etudes CD playing and said she liked it. So, that CD passed onto her. My older son has been humming along to this CD as well the past few days as I return to listening to old favourites that haven't been playing very much recently!
Anda died on 1976 June 13. It was Maurizio Pollini's recording of the Symphonic Etudes that started my adoration for Schumann's music. I ordered that CD from Templar Records in London, England when I was in grade 10. Indeed, Schumann's Fantasie, Opus 17 is my favorite solo piano work. In think during spring final exams in my 3rd year undergrad, Paul Robinson and Bruce Surtees were discussing Opus 17 on a Sunday afternoon (the station was CJRT - then Toronto's community station). Bruce Surtees said the ending was like an open question. Very beautiful and passionate - Romantic music to the core! Many years later, my sister happened to be listening to Pollini's Symphonic Etudes CD playing and said she liked it. So, that CD passed onto her. My older son has been humming along to this CD as well the past few days as I return to listening to old favourites that haven't been playing very much recently!
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