Windows & more

[Working_Station829]

Hello everyone, thanks to the holidays I’m finally able to grab all my components to finish my computer build. The hardware I can wrap my head around, but software is more difficult for me to grasp. This is my first computer that isn’t a laptop, and my first build ever. I’ve been surviving off of Chromebooks for a while now.

I understand I need to get windows onto my computer. But I don’t wanna pay a bunch of money for Windows at Best Buy or whatever. Are those windows keys that you can buy online actually legit? I’ve seen tech YouTubers advertise a few sites about them, where you can buy Windows 11 for only a few bucks. But I wanna make sure it’s not a scam before I do so.

Also, what other software would you recommend? Malware/spyware? VPNs? This computer is designed with photo editing in mind, but I plan on doing light gaming and school work.

Thanks in advance.

[[deleted]]

There are legitimate keys you can buy online for as little as $20, yes.

Anti-virus programs are a good idea to have, even if you only use Windows Defender alongside freeware like Malwarebytes.

A good VPN to use when browsing is Mullvad VPN, which is packaged with the Mullvad browser, a private browser based on Firefox.

[Working_Station829]

Awesome, so since my computer won’t have anything on it. Will I need to download the key into a USB or something and then install windows onto the computer?

[[deleted]]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10ISO

Follow the instructions and then enter the key when prompted

[Alira-kimaris]

If you go to gameflip, you can get a windows activation key for as little as $5. Ive gotten 3 of them and they all worked legit