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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: August 16th, 2023

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  • It’s not entirely true that you can’t identify him from that Facebook account. It’s just really, really hard.

    Facebook almost certainly knows who he is. Like specifically, name and all. Their data mining is VERY extensive, and he likely has other accounts.

    Anyway, with a lawyer’s help, you can (possibly) get a court order for Facebook to reveal what they have on the guy. They certainly have things like IP addresses and timestamps, but they also probably have name, other associated accounts, viewing history across the web (from those “share with Facebook” icons/links, even if untouched), and hundreds or thousands of additional pages.

    Is it worthwhile? Probably not. But it can be done.



  • While the AG has a number of options available, most common are civil suits. But even before that, simply having the AG in the middle is putting them on notice that they need to really, REALLY be confident that they are in the right. In most circumstances, they will simply approve your warranty claim to avoid the risk.

    When you see headlines of “[state] AG sues XYZ Corp for not honoring warranty claims”, it means there have been a ton of complaints, or a lot of complaints where they still refused. You should never purchase from a company that’s had one of these headlines recently.


  • Adding onto this, every state AG regularly pursues companies for not honoring their warranty. It takes some paperwork (usually original purchase receipt, original warranty terms, and your desired resolution), but it’s usually not too bad. Yours might even list it as a common category for your complaint. Probably takes about 20 minutes.

    Companies don’t usually fuck around when the AG is watching. You probably aren’t the only one to complain, and too many complaints can lead to a full-blown lawsuit from one of the most capable organizations in the state. The penalties can include your entire company - including parent, children, and sibling companies, being banned from doing business in the state.


  • This one is tough. A longer warranty is a way to reassure customers that it’s made better, with the promise that it will be repaired/replaced if it breaks. And if they honor their warranties as promised, it’s probably valid. Warranty claims are expensive, regardless of industry, so they go to great lengths to minimize claims. Whatever the warranty is, you can reasonably be sure that it will last that long, but probably not a second longer. Again, assuming a trustworthy company that will honor the warranty.

    Otherwise, anyone can shit in a box and mark it guaranteed. If it’s from Amazon/AliExpress, the company probably won’t even exist in 6 months (but a strangely similar new company will).

    The flip side is that an unusually short/weak warranty, below that of its competitors, is almost certainly a shit product. They aren’t even going to pretend it’s up to industry standards.








  • Part of this is exactly why your boss exists. Raise your concerns with them, and get them on your side. They can also (vaguely) let you know if you are alone on it, or if it’s affecting the entire department.

    Your boss is also in a much better position to talk to the other guy’s boss, or someone further up the chain. It also removes the emotional component (similar to how even lawyers should not represent themselves in court), and keeps it focused and level.

    There are a lot of other good comments in this thread. Bring them to your boss as possible solutions, and let them fight the battle for you. It also shows you have a desire to solve this (rather than just gripe), and gives them options they may not have considered.




  • Are you able to physically replace the HDD (preferably with an SSD)? If so, you can use the (Win10) Media Creation Tool to create a USB installer.

    When it prompts for a key, just skip it. If you have an OEM mass activation laptop (i.e. anything from a major brand), it’ll activate automatically after. If, for whatever reason it still doesn’t activate, you’ll have a nag screen telling you to activate. It won’t significantly limit what you do.


  • It’s nearly certain. OEM activation has been stored on the motherboard since XP. XP-7 required a matching OEM cert (easily found online), while 8+ have a unique license in the BIOS. For these, you just reinstall the OS, skip the key during setup, and let it connect afterwards for all of the updates and whatnot.

    Now, licenses to other apps, such as Word, are not so simple.