SPECCY

Dan99 · Nov 8, 2015

Clifford Cooley points out in this thread;

https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/windows-10-update.4670/#post-21403

that the OS serial number shown on Speccy is not always correct. If that is true, then all the information shown on Speccy is suspect. So it would not be in my "toolbox" .

davehc · Nov 8, 2015

". We say things like kilowatt, microvolt, gigahertz, megabyte, etc. As such in this digital world of computing, we use the metric system. As I noted above, the industry standard for measuring and displaying computer temps is Celsius."

Yeah. I heard about that - lol

"don't understand what you are saying here. If you had IE as your default, Edge should not have popped up. And when you changed your default to Edge, Edge should have popped up, and it did. In other words, it works as it is supposed to."

In turn, I do not understand what you are correcting here.?

I have IE as my default. So far, so good. So, I assume that meant that I did not get a popup, when using Belarq, that it could not find IE. When I changed the default to Edge, and ran Belarq again, it still worked and opened in Edge, without the complaint.
fwiw. I have been using Windows 10 and earlier builds, with IE as my default. It has not, so far, reverted without my help to Edge. I do have Chrome and FF installed. I use them infrequently, but this has not caused any problems with IE as my default

Digerati · Nov 8, 2015

Dan99 said:
that the OS serial number shown on Speccy is not always correct. If that is true, then all the information shown on Speccy is suspect. So it would not be in my "toolbox" .

Speccy reports what the system is telling it. So Speccy is illustrating a problem with Windows. That is not a problem with Speccy. Note that factory made computers have the ID burned into the UEFI bios. That is required by Microsoft as part of the OEM license agreement they have with Dell, HP and other factory builders. So that is what Speccy is probably reporting. That does not make other data in Speccy suspect.

davehc said:
In turn, I do not understand what you are correcting here.?

You said you did not understand why Edge did not pop up when IE was the default. So I was pointing out it shouldn't.

Dan99 · Nov 9, 2015

Digerati said:
So that is what Speccy is probably reporting.

probably is a pretty vague term. Actually, Clifford Cooley said very clearly that Speccy was incorrect which is not vague at all.

clifford_cooley · Nov 9, 2015

Dan99 said:
probably is a pretty vague term. Actually, Clifford Cooley said very clearly that Speccy was incorrect which is not vague at all.

All I know is I upgraded an HP Notebook from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro. I used Speccy to get the key, then performed a clean install. The install did not activate. After falling back on a system image, I then upgraded once again. It wasn't until then I noticed the Key was being reported differently between ProduKey vs Speccy. Using the key reported by ProduKey, I was then able to activate my clean install. I can't say why Speccy was reporting differently, in the past I had always used Speccy with great success. Even now I think Speccy is reporting correctly on my Main.

Perhaps Digs is correct in that Speccy is reporting the BIOS value. And this may be taking precedence over any other value, which prevents Speccy from reporting a new Windows installation key.

Digerati · Nov 9, 2015

I said probably because I am not there. I can say that of the 5 systems (4 self built) here, Speccy and Belarc are in agreement EXCEPT for my factory built Windows 7 Toshiba notebook that was upgraded to Windows 10. Belarc is incorrectly reporting I have Windows 8 Home Premium installed on it and is listing the product key that came with the notebook. Speccy is correctly reporting I have W10 installed and is listing a totally different "Serial" Number.

On another PC that was upgraded from W7

So I am to assume the rest of Belarc's information is suspect? No.

After further research I am finding this issue has been discussed back to W8, typically with factory built computers.

BUT - as I indicated above, note in Speccy, what you see is the "Serial Number", not the "Product Key". There seems to be much confusion about which is which and much depends on if the computer was factory built with an image of Windows installed, or custom built with Windows installed directly from a disk. The serial number is generated by Windows during the installation process and is based on the hardware found too. It may or may not match the Product key, depending on how Windows was installed.

You may also notice that many Windows 10 computers have the same key: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T. This is because W10 keeps track of legitimate licenses differently. That key is for W10 Pro. You may find if you have Windows 10 Home, your key is YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7.

http://www.belarc.com/msproductkeys.html

http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-retrieve-windows-8-oem-product-key-from-bios/

davehc · Nov 9, 2015

You said you did not understand why Edge did not pop up when IE was the default. So I was pointing out it shouldn't.

I was commenting on Dan's earlier complaint, and, in the earlier part of the para, referring to belarqs popup, in that post. But forget it.

Dan99 · Nov 9, 2015

Digarati, your last post was very clear, thank you.

My S/N is XXXXX (key removed by admin) not YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7. I have Windows 10 32 bit System Builder OEM which, I assume, explains the different number.

I am unclear; however, on what the importance of maintaining an accurate record of this S/N is. I have never had an occasion to use it. Davehc, in another post, said it was very important.

clifford_cooley · Nov 9, 2015

Dan99 said:
My S/N

Your Key is for you, you shouldn't advertise. Next thing you know it will be blacklisted and deactivated.

Dan99 · Nov 9, 2015

clifford_cooley said:
Your Key is for you, you shouldn't advertise. Next thing you know it will be blacklisted and deactivated.

I thought the S/N was common to many pc's and not specific as in Digerati's comment;

" You may also notice that many Windows 10 computers have the same key: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T. This is because W10 keeps track of legitimate licenses differently. That key is for W10 Pro. You may find if you have Windows 10 Home, your key is YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7.

clifford_cooley · Nov 9, 2015

To avoid the confusion (if in fact there is a difference), I'd prefer not to post either.

Digerati · Nov 9, 2015

Dan99 said:
I thought the S/N was common to many pc's and not specific as in Digerati's comment;

If you upgraded to W10 from W7 or W8.1 via Windows Update or via an ISO image downloaded from Microsoft, you may very well have the same number as millions of other users.

Again, with W10, that is not how Microsoft is preventing illegal copies.

If you buy a W10 installation disk to install on a new computer, it will come with a unique key.

Dan99 · Nov 9, 2015

Dan99 said:
My S/N is XXXXX (key removed by admin) not YTMG3-N6DKC-DKB77-7M9GH-8HVX7. I have Windows 10 32 bit System Builder OEM which, I assume, explains the different number.

Thank you (Administrator) for removing the S/N. I just went to that post to "Report" it and ask for your help in doing that and was amazed to see it had magically disappeared.

Digerati · Nov 9, 2015

Yeah, that YTMG3... key was, I believe, used in many cases for 64-bit W10 Home. Yours being 32 would have a different number.