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adding more than 3 PC's to OneCare Circle RRS feed

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    We are a 5 computer household.  I bought a second copy of OneCare. Can I add that product key so I can keep all PC's in same management circle?  -thanks for the help!
    Monday, February 4, 2008 1:15 AM

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    At this time, no.

    The second retail key would be used to activate a second subscription with a second LiveID. The Circle is associated with the LiveID and all PCs on that subscription.

    We are hoping for the ability to add more PCs to a subscription, but that is currently not possible,

    -steve

     

    Monday, February 4, 2008 2:58 AM
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    At this time, no.

    The second retail key would be used to activate a second subscription with a second LiveID. The Circle is associated with the LiveID and all PCs on that subscription.

    We are hoping for the ability to add more PCs to a subscription, but that is currently not possible,

    -steve

     

    Monday, February 4, 2008 2:58 AM
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    Where is the limitation here. Is it a Live OneCare software issue, a ruling by Microsoft till they put in place proper tracking, or an actual OS limitation (XP or Vista -Home - Premium, etc...)? I am in the same situation, and it is confusing to have to take a second LiveID for something everyone else in the industry can do currently.
    Monday, February 11, 2008 7:08 PM
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    As I understand it, this is a limitation of the current Billing system in that a LiveID can only have a single active subscription associated with it for a service. Adding licenses to an existing subscription does not exist, though I would agree that it certainly doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to do.

    -steve

     

    Monday, February 11, 2008 7:36 PM
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    So then I have an interesting problem. I purchased OneCare about a year ago and activated it on February 26 on all three of my household computers. Being happy with the product, I purchased another one for my small business in October, installed it onto a fourth computer, and activated it using the same hotmail account as the previous license. Lo and behold, I got 4 computers in my circle! Somewhat unexpected, but OK.

     

    However, here's where it gets ugly. My first subscription is about to expire (in 15 days). Sadly, it's also telling me that my second subscription is also going to expire on that date. What you say makes sense in that my single LiveID only considers a single active subscription (despite the 4 computers/circle thing).

     

    So now what? I can uninstall the second one and reinstall/activate it usng a different live account, but I'm afraid that since the one I bought was 1.5 and was automatically upgraded to 2.0 that I'm in for trouble if I try this. Any thoughts or suggestions?

     

    -RM

    Monday, February 11, 2008 11:22 PM
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     RM in AZ wrote:

    So then I have an interesting problem. I purchased OneCare about a year ago and activated it on February 26 on all three of my household computers. Being happy with the product, I purchased another one for my small business in October, installed it onto a fourth computer, and activated it using the same hotmail account as the previous license. Lo and behold, I got 4 computers in my circle! Somewhat unexpected, but OK.

     

    However, here's where it gets ugly. My first subscription is about to expire (in 15 days). Sadly, it's also telling me that my second subscription is also going to expire on that date. What you say makes sense in that my single LiveID only considers a single active subscription (despite the 4 computers/circle thing).

     

    So now what? I can uninstall the second one and reinstall/activate it usng a different live account, but I'm afraid that since the one I bought was 1.5 and was automatically upgraded to 2.0 that I'm in for trouble if I try this. Any thoughts or suggestions?

     

    -RM

    The official response is that you never activated the second subscription since you used the same LiveID. You were legally running OneCare on 3 PCs and "illegally" on the 4th PC.

     

    Here is what you do, however, unofficially.

     

    Use the retail key from the second box copy that you have in hand from October, and never used to activate, to renew your original subscription.

    Go to http://billing.microsoft.com and sign in with your subscription LiveID. (Open OneCare and click help/about to view the subscription LiveID)

    Select the OneCare subscription and click on the renew link.

    Choose the option to renew with a prepaid PIN or token which is the retail product key.

    Enter the 25 character key and proceed.

    It can take up to 24 hours for the subscription status to be updated in OneCare.

     

    All *4* PCs, activated with the same LiveID, will reflect the new subscription status since you actually only have a single subscription.

     

    Then, keep an eye out for a retail sale on OneCare. When you find a copy at a good price, uninstall OneCare from one PC and reinstall and activate with a *different* LiveID and the new retail key to start a 2nd subscription.

     

    -steve

    Tuesday, February 12, 2008 1:23 AM
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     Stephen Boots wrote:

    As I understand it, this is a limitation of the current Billing system in that a LiveID can only have a single active subscription associated with it for a service. Adding licenses to an existing subscription does not exist, though I would agree that it certainly doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to do.

    -steve

     

     

    So then who are we able to lobby to get this done? Not for nothing, while the product is good, I should not have to spread out liveIDs if I wanted to protect a larger array of systems.

     

    Tuesday, February 12, 2008 5:12 PM
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     Tom in AZ wrote:
    So then who are we able to lobby to get this done? Not for nothing, while the product is good, I should not have to spread out liveIDs if I wanted to protect a larger array of systems.

     

    I don't think that there's any lobbying needed. During the 2.0 beta, the OneCare team indicated that something was coming for this need. Unfortunately, we haven't heard anything about it since then.

    If you want to submit "official" feedback, select Windows Live OneCare from the list at http://feedback.live.com

    -steve

    Tuesday, February 12, 2008 5:17 PM
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    Hi All,

     

    First, I do remember when 1 license cost $70 (Norton and McAfee).  It is awesome to have 3 licenses for one low price!!!!!  Really Awesome!   Thank you, Bill; MS and Onecare team!

     

    That said, it would be nice to add my 4th system for a prorated price.  As it is I had to purchase the McAfee Total Protection ($0 AR), to cover the 4th one.  I'd rather have given you and extra $10 -15$ bucks just to monitor it from my hub.  Anyway, I would switch today if MS/OneCare can give me an extra license (4th pc) for a fair price.

     

    Thanks, lou 

     

     

    Friday, February 22, 2008 11:02 PM
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     Loucpher wrote:

    Hi All,

     

    First, I do remember when 1 license cost $70 (Norton and McAfee).  It is awesome to have 3 licenses for one low price!!!!!  Really Awesome!   Thank you, Bill; MS and Onecare team!

     

    That said, it would be nice to add my 4th system for a prorated price.  As it is I had to purchase the McAfee Total Protection ($0 AR), to cover the 4th one.  I'd rather have given you and extra $10 -15$ bucks just to monitor it from my hub.  Anyway, I would switch today if MS/OneCare can give me an extra license (4th pc) for a fair price.

     

    Thanks, lou 

     

     

    How's free after rebate? Assuming that you didn't already use a rebate for your first subscription...

    http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-C7S-00135-Windows-Live-OneCare/dp/rebates/B000V6YPAY/ref=rebate_olp_2?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

    You *must* buy from Amazon for this rebate, not a partner retailer. There are some retailers selling it for less than Amazon, but the rebate won't apply.

     

    -steve

    Saturday, February 23, 2008 1:44 AM
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