Im not giving out any links to sites that have the activation method but yes it does work . Its actually not a crack but an activation method used by OEM parties when shipping out the OS on new pcs. It doesnt leave it in the 3 day eval or the 30 grace period but fully activates it.
For inquiring minds here is some reading on the subject...

http://apcmag.com/5512/pirate_crack_vista_oem_activation

Upgrading to Vista this weekend- Wish me luck!

We are using Vista Ultimate and after awhile I dont mind using it. Remember if you have any programs that dont install correctly you can use the "run in xxx mode" to install it. I completely forgot about that since my Win95/98 days. Also you can use a WinXP driver if you dont have a Vista driver. I ran into that quite a few times and the XP driver worked just fine. I did have to updated my Symantec AV as the XP version wouldnt work under Vista as well as a few other programs. Fortunately the upgrades were free from the vendors sites.

My wife loves it since it has a lot of pic/dvd burning/multimedia utilities built in. Let me know your thoughts.

Not going so well. it will not allow me to upgrade (which is all it is supposed to allow me to do) and it is saying I must do a clean install then re-install ALL of my programs.

Ive heard thats what the Vista upgrades are supposed to do. Its not a problem, more of MS not divulging the case that you ran into. With the new Vista, any of the upgrade versions you buy you'll have to load XP first. And just doing an upgrade will just wipe out your programs so you have to reload them. Lol...seems they dont use the old "please insert your XP disk" to see if you have a qualifying product check. I could be wrong but thats the same thing ive heard from everyone else and I think I remember a Technet whitepaper saying something to that effect a few months before release.

Tried again and got the option to upgrade. Took almost 7 hours and I am still getting drivers and updates.

Looks good so far.

CPD, Why? Is there something in Vista you need or really want or are you just upgrading for something to do?

It was free. I am keeping my XP Media Center (Ghosted it to a new partition). I am an uber geek- I now have on one machine- Vista, XP Media Center, XP SP2, Server 2003.

That's what I thought, you're doing it just because you can.

Well its done 12+ hours!

I would not recommend upgrading- a clean install or buy a new PC. The end product is very nice- clean and seems to run more efficiently.

Several programs I had do not run at all under Vista- UltraVNC and Comodo Firewall to name 2. If anyone has suggestions for a VNC-type program and/or a 3rd party firewall- please drop me a line.

Thanks,

Brian

UPDATE: I downloaded Norton 360 and evaluating the 15 day trial. It has a firewall, AV, Anti-phishing, backup and restore and tuneup.

I can take or leave Vista. It came on my new laptop but I am still waiting on the free upgrade to arrive for my newly built desktop. I don't like how Microsoft built Vista to "TRY" and keep idiots safe. If people are stupid enough to open attachments from people they dont know they are stupid enough to ok the annoying Data Execution Prevention popup.

It is funny that Vista won't even allow MSN Messenger to run. LMAO I am happy I found a way to disable it.

UPDATE #2

I uninstalled Norton 360. It worked well but all i really want is a firewall.

I get McAfee Personal Firewall free with my DSL and they have a Vista compatible version so I am using that now. At least untill some others get caught up.

Still no luck finding a VNC that works with Vista.

My U3 enable thumbdrive has a firmware version that is not able to update to a Vista compatible U3launcher. Which sucks 'cuz I just bought it last fall!

Other than that, I am really enjoying Vista- No errors, lockups or other issues.

Thanks man. I finally got my upgrade disc now I can run any version of Vista now from my upgrade disk (except server) and never have to activate it.

I read where there was a lot of issue with Vista. Seems that a lot of people were having problems with it. Since I don't know much about computers, expect for how to turn it on. Think I'll wait awhile to upgrade, then again be easyier just to buy a whole new computer. Took me long enough to learn Windows XP, now we have Vista.

The problem I would have is, A lot of these software programs I have, probably wouldn't work with Vista. I know my HP printer won't, because HP hasn't upgraded their software. I would have to go out and buy a new printer. When I try to upgrade to internet explorer 7, my printer wouldn't even scan. It's only 3 years old, it's a good all in one printer, never had a problem with it at all.

Think, I'll just wait a year or so. Before I decided what I'm going to do.

Vista upgrading is not for the faint of heart. You should at least be comfortable on downloading drivers and firmware upgrades. Plus you should run at least one of the many analysis tools on your PC to see if it's capable of running Vista. One of the analysis tools I ran advised that I should update my motherboard (there are no updates) other than that the 2gigs of ram, 256mb video card and soundblaster card are all capable.

But, I'm still not going to upgrade. Lots of games aren't yet Vista capable.

i dont think i will upgrade,my xp is doing good for me, im going to get a new computer in a few months then ill have vista on that, just trying to deside between a new laptop or desk top, i have both now ,but dont know what to start with,

its best to go and buy it off tiger direct, you could buy both a laptop and desktop for the price of one at the store.

I see where your coming from TagOut, I also want to wait until I need a new computer. Once I buy a new computer, I'm going to have to buy a new all in one printer, as well. By that time, Microsoft can work out all the bugs and other software company can upgrade their programs. My computer still working pretty good, and I only use 10% of my memory on it. I only started using a computer about 4 or 5 years ago. So I'm still a little behind times.

i have 2 computers , laptop and desk top, i use the laptop most sitting here on my chair and its sitting on the stand beside me, i have a wireless mouse for it , it has one usb port and its loss and the mouse dont work good all the time , im thinking the usb port is on a card in there and i dont want to spend the money to put in a new one, its a older computer but a good one lots of memory and hard drive but a 15 something screen , i want a bigger screen, i was thinking getting a desktop and a big flat screen , but dont know yet,

UPDATE:
I got UltraVNC working by disabling UAC and by not running VNC server as a Service.

Can you right click on the program and click run as administrator?

I thought I would like the aero desktop more but I am somewhat dissapointed. I like the way it looks but the screens are all to small. oh well

What size monitor? What Resolution?

After reading my post I think I should have made it clearer...the 3d multiple windows is what I am speaking of.
Its only a 17" at 1024x768 but I thought you would be able to at least size the 3d windows. Maybe you can but I havent found out how yet.

You mean Flip3d?

It is only to help you select the window you want to the front? Much easier to use Alt+Tab in my opinion. LOL

yeah i use alt-tab as well, quicker as well. From the commercials I saw the windows were being manipulated and they were dragging and dropping to each window. It just looked kinda cool. I didnt know it was just to switch between windows and nothing else