It’s all over the Web – “Microsoft Releases Windows 8 RTM – Get your free 90-day trial now!”
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Getting a 90-day free trial of the final release version of Windows 8. Install it, use it, buy Windows 8 when it comes out in October this year — and upgrade the trial with the version you purchased. Sounds like a really good deal. Right?
There’s a catch. Once you install the RTM version of Windows 8 on your computer — it will expire in 90 days and your computer will shut down every hour on the hour until you remove the trial version and install something else. That means you’ll lose everything you installed on your computer and you’ll be doing a clean install of Windows 8 or reinstalling your previous operating system.
Articles about the great free 90-day trial of Windows 8 RTM were all over the Web this week — and most left the information out that is the most critical of all — when that trial it expires. There’s no upgrading it with a purchased version of Windows 8.
Hopefully none of you have jumped on the Windows 8 RTM free trial bandwagon — or if you did you were aware that you can’t install the final version over it and you can’t use it after it expires.
If you really want to try it out, run it on a virtual machine or set up a dual-boot. See this article if you want to learn how to do a dual boot. http://lifehacker.com/5840387/how-to-dual+boot-windows-7-and-windows-8-side-by-side
Good information! Thanks for the warning!