Another Poota Question...

[Glutton4...]

Hello again - I need to pick your brains again

My Dad has just bought a vehicle service manual on CD/DVD. It is supposed to run on Windoze XP. What I find really weird, is that the instructions tell you to change the date on your computer to March 2003, then re-boot, before beginning the installation.

WTF!!!?

Could someone explain this to me, so I can relay it to him, before he changes all his settings and b*ggers sommat up? Ta very much!

[broadway]

Sounds like an iffy copy, did he buy it from a legit supplier (no offense meant)

Has he tried installing it anyway?

Assume he has an anti virus package, just in case it is iffy

[HotStuff]

When I read the OP I had to check the date on my own computer, to make sure it wasn't April 1st!

I remember ages ago people having to put the dates on their computer back in time because they wanted to run something that had a built in drop dead date, but why a vehicle service manual would have one I can't imagine. And when I say ages ago I'm talking back in the dim and distant pre-windows era.

Is it for a particularly old vehicle? Where did he get it from?

[Glutton4...]

It's a genuine Volvo Service Disc, from Volvo. It covers 2003 year cars and several years either side.

My Sister's OH is a mechanic, and she occasionally buys Vehicle Service Discs for him, and has also come across this quirk. OK, I know I'm not a computer whizz by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm having real trouble understanding why you would need to do this date change.

[HotStuff]

Back in the bad old days before the Internet one way software publishers would protect their investment would be to build a drop dead date into the software. So, if you didn't pay them a yearly subscription or "maintenance" fee the software stopped working. When you paid your subscription the publishers would send you a new coded string of digits which you'd have to key into the software which would then change the drop dead date.

One way of circumnavigating this kind of measure was to reboot the machine to a date where the software still worked.

[Glutton4...]

Back in the bad old days before the Internet one way software publishers would protect their investment would be to build a drop dead date into the software. So, if you didn't pay them a yearly subscription or "maintenance" fee the software stopped working. When you paid your subscription the publishers would send you a new coded string of digits which you'd have to key into the software which would then change the drop dead date.

One way of circumnavigating this kind of measure was to reboot the machine to a date where the software still worked.

Thanks HotStuff - I knew if anyone could come up with a sensible answer, and a simple explanation, it would be you!

I think he's given up and bought a newer disc, but I will explain it to him, to put his mind at rest.

You are a star!

[oldie]

If you do change the date to use the disc you must then change it back again.