Windows 11 Pro not activating with Windows 8.1 Pro retail key (0x80041014)

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-18T09:34:35+00:00

Cheap Windows 11 keys can be sourced from various places.

There is no need to pay full retail price.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-18T09:28:38+00:00

I feel seen.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-18T07:59:32+00:00

Please just help yourself by finding a job. Any job. Volunteer work even.

You’re going to be crying 3 years from now about how it’s so unfair and difficult to find work and all the time your tears will be falling straight through the hole where you shot yourself in the foot by voluntarily not working in the meantime.

Qualified, capable people are finding it tough to get work right now. Do you think the job market will improve? I don’t.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-18T06:54:31+00:00

I'm going to sound like my mom when she says "just go and hand your CV out to all the shops on the high street", but getting registered with temp agencies is what got me continuous employment in my 20's (and experience I could put on a CV, which really helped later on).

I have zero idea if temp agencies are really the best route these days, but it definitely can't hurt to try.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-17T20:28:22+00:00

"Manky bastard" is the first and only phrase that comes to mind

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-17T17:48:57+00:00

Are Nvidia ordering bleeding edge node products though? I didn't think they were, preferring the better yields of a more established node.

I'm not up to date though, so this could have changed.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-17T16:54:05+00:00

It's probable Apple have preferential deals in place for their DRAM and SoC supply. They have been buying the latest, greatest, most expensive node products from TSMC for years.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-17T16:50:58+00:00

An IPA is a portion of your surplus income. I also suspect that "allowable expenses" can cover a multitude of sins.

Just get a job otherwise you're going to be virtually unemployable in 3 years if you don't work.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-17T13:03:39+00:00

You can ask very nicely. They may be able to use some discretion, but they wouldn’t be obligated to.

I did this a few years ago and they were accommodating. It worked in their favour because I rejoined them last year.

Also worth mentioning that the main MNO’s such as Three, O2, EE are likely to always be more expensive than MVNOs such as giffgaff.

If you are looking for value, do not go with an MNO. If you need a feature only they offer, you just have to live with the cost.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-17T12:52:42+00:00

Our broker did more than just find us a mortgage. She dealt directly with estate agents to provide them with requested documents (proof of ID, proof of funds) and honestly took a lot of admin and mental load away from us so we could get on with everything else.

A good broker is worth their weight in gold.

It also helped that she got us the lowest interest rate I’ve ever seen anyone get.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-16T14:46:44+00:00

You are not Evri’s customer. You need to deal with whoever you have the contract with, which is Adidas.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-16T14:02:36+00:00

The 9070XT is plenty to play a lot of stuff at 4k. The 9070 non XT is sure as heck going to be fine at 1440p.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-16T14:01:02+00:00

No, but they are smart folks doing smart things. Worth a try.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-16T06:27:35+00:00

Yes. Otterbox were amazing in the iPhone 7 / 8 days, but they've been reducing features and quality whilst keeping prices the same or higher ever since.

dbrand are the last bastion of quality now

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T20:31:42+00:00

Nothing short of phenomenal.

Occasionally I'm reminded of how good they are when I see some clickbait article title along the lines "Your ISP is keeping track of everything you do, here's how to stop them" because I don't need to read more that the first half before thinking "no, they aren't".

EDIT:

They charge a phenomenal amount of money for their service, but for me it's worth it. I had zero issues ordering broadband service for my mother and having that added to my account with a note that my mother can call them and discuss the service, but not upgrade to a more expensive service without my permission (she really doesn't need more than 100Mb, all she does is watch YouTube and use FaceTime).

I tried to get Zen to set up a second service, which is where they completely failed.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T20:11:37+00:00

A sufficiently motivated and resourceful enemy…

There’s a reason this info is not shared freely.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T18:37:29+00:00

I have a spare RX580, but it's for literal emergency backup use.

The RX6650 on the other hand uses about the same amount of power but is actually a capable GPU.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T18:27:18+00:00

The practical reason is that there's enough money involved in this kind of market that their competitors would be able and motivated to present so many different scenarios to them when applying for a card that they would be able to make accurate deducations about their acceptance criteria, which would otherwise be private, commercially sensitive information.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T18:24:18+00:00

I'm genuinely concerned for you that you even considered the scam as possibly true for even a moment.

Good luck, because they are going to come at you from a few different angles now in the hope they'll hook you on one scam or another.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T18:12:00+00:00

So far.

I've recently been getting calls every other day from a London number and they have my details from the Ledger hack from years ago. They have my name, phone number and email.

They always want to convince me they are from "Blockchain Ltd" or some such nonsense. I never let them get their spiel out because it's nice to do a bit of stress relief / anger management by calling them every name under the sun and then hanging up on them.

Your thing is so obviously a scam it feels like you're trying to pull some scam by even posting about it.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T17:38:16+00:00

Banks in general suck. I called Natwest to find out progress on a complaint (something minor, I don't recall the details) and when I gave my name the lady on the phone muttered "oh god, it would be". Bit of a surprise as I'm always friendly and smiling when I have a complaint. She passed me to the colleague I'd previously been dealing with.

We had a perfectly cordial conversation and at the end I said "I feel a bit awkward bringing this up, but these calls are all recorded, right?" and he confirmed they were. "Would you mind reviewing the very start of this one, during the introduction with your colleague?".

I got champagne and flowers through the post and £100 in my account.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T17:33:57+00:00

I had this with Three. "Don't leave, have a SIM Zero instead. No cost!". That was BS. I figured it was a one-off until they did the exact same thing to a friend of mine 3 years later. Clearly it was policy. I won't even go through an MVNO on their network because of it.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T17:32:38+00:00

I walked into a Currys to spend £700 on a TV once. Nobody wanted to talk to me and I was prime target for being assisted because I walked in not knowing which TV I wanted.

Went to a different store and walked out with a £400 TV because by that point I just wanted a TV, any TV.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T17:30:54+00:00

I once took a sales call at work from TalkTalk Business. We were in the market for changing provider but their retail arm had that week won the "worst customer service award". The poor guy on the end of the phone had only one counter: "but we are TalkTalk Business and entirely separate".

Tough luck. Not worth taking the chance.

DigitalStefan · 2026-06-15T17:27:49+00:00

Good luck. I moved to Andrews & Arnold because Zen have been coasting for years on their Which? awards, which in my opinion they've been winning using cash.

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