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A software license is a legal instrument that governs the usage and distribution of computer software. [1] Often, such licenses are enforced by implementing in the software a product activation or digital rights management (DRM) mechanism, [2] seeking to prevent unauthorized use of the software by issuing a code sequence that must be entered into the application when prompted or stored in its ...
On Windows 10 and Windows 11, the activation process can also generate a "digital entitlement", which allows the operating system's hardware and license status to be saved to the activation servers, so that the operating system's license can automatically be restored after a clean installation without the need to enter a product key.
This build treated Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 product keys as Windows 10 product keys, meaning they could be entered during installation to activate the free license, without the need to upgrade first to "activate" the hardware with Microsoft's activation servers. [99]
Product key on a Proof of License Certificate of Authenticity for Windows Vista Home Premium. A product key, also known as a software key, serial key or activation key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Product keys consist of a series of numbers and/or letters.
A product key is required to proceed and use Windows 95. In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented (U.S. patent 5,490,216) by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific to the product's license (a product key) to
System Locked Pre-installation (SLP), also referred to as OEM Activation, is a product activation procedure for Microsoft Windows used by major OEMs of laptops and pre-built PCs wherein a Windows product key is added and locked to the machine's firmware before mass distribution. SLP product keys cannot be moved to other machines.
An installation disc of Microsoft Works 4.0 with Microsoft Money 95. Microsoft Works has built-in compatibility for the Microsoft Office document formats (.DOC and .XLS), including, but not limited to, the ability of the Works Word Processor to open Microsoft Word documents and the ability of the Works Spreadsheet to open Microsoft Excel workbooks.
Traditionally, a product key has been supplied with computer programs. It acts analogously to a password: The computer programs of old ask the user to prove their entitlement; in response, the user provides this key. This key, however, must only be used once, i.e. on one computer. A volume licensing key (VLK), however, can be used on several ...