New
#11
I was aware of such an option (though I'm not sure it was exactly the same), but I came to the conclusion that removing the OEM Activation data from the BIOS was better since it ensured I would not have to resort to such tricks in the future, whatever may happen (e.g. in case I have to reinstall Windows from scratch in a few years).
That being said, I saved the data before removing it, just in case...
Btw, in case someone is interested, the process of removing such data is fairly straightforward, at least on my Aptio V BIOS, I don't remember the exact command line but it involved the generic BIOS management utility with the /OAD switch to delete OA data. Conversely, there's a switch to insert OA data that takes a file as an argument.
EDIT :
I removed the safeguard hold but it didn't change anything, now I'm suspecting a malware. I tried Malwarebytes which didn't change anything, but I can't shake the feeling there's something fishy. I will do an in-place upgrade soon.
Last edited by NovHak; 17 Sep 2021 at 22:11.