Hello everyone,

Many of my elderly clients still use and love Windows XP. They want to try out the new Windows 7, but they are afraid of the learning curve thinking that maybe Windows 7 will be too difficult to figure out. They ask me: “Can I try out Windows 7 to see if I like it before spending $100 to buy it?”

Well as you may know you can use an installed copy of a fully functioning Windows 7 for only 30 days (grace period). After 30 days you must enter a valid product key to officially activate Windows 7 or you will lose functionality.

For some people 30 days is not enough time to become totally familiar with the Windows 7 Operating System. But did you know that you can add an additional 90 days of grace period (giving you a full three months of evaluation) before you have to activate?

Here’s how:

1) Open a Command Prompt window using the Run As Administrator option 2) Type the following command: slmgr -rearm (that’s slmgr [space] -rearm). 3) When the command completes, restart your computer and instantly you’re good for 30 more days.

You can run this command a total of three times before you actually have to activate Windows 7 . You now have up to 120 days of free evaluation! Pretty cool huh?

I’ll install Windows 7 on a clients computer as a Dual Boot or in a Virtual Machine and they can take their sweet time (three months) checking it out before they commit.

Professor Randy says: Try before you buy! Using the above command, you can evaluate Windows 7 for a full three months before having to make a final decision.