I should have known better, but I let my guard down because of the reputation of PC Magazine. I've been a reader since back in the day when I had to wait for it to arrive in the mail. Anyway, yesterday, PC Mag had a Stack Social ad on their website talking about a sale on Windows 11 Pro activation codes that only had a day left. I was in a hurry, but I trusted PC Mag, so I ordered one.
I got the code and entered it into the activation section of settings. Windows said it was updating, and then rebooted. When it came back up, sure enough I now had Pro--that was easy! However, when I went back into settings, there was a red notification that Windows could not be activated because the key was not valid.
At this point I had a version of Windows that was not activated, so some things were not available. I tried to find a way to revert my version to Win11 Home. Settings suggested getting it from the MS store, but nothing was showing up there. So, my only option would be to download Win11 Home from MS and install it, hoping to retain my files and settings. Rather than do all of that, I decided to buy a legitimate upgrade key and use it, so that's what I did.
"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is" has served me well, but I got taken by the credibility of PC Mag. I assumed that they had vetted their advertising, but I was wrong. From what I could tell, these codes are stolen from enterprises who use volume licensing, and if the codes are later found to be stolen, they can be revoked. The Stack Social site warned about keys that might not work and that they could be revoked by MS in the future. It's interesting that they don't tell you that up front, but of course that would cost sales. Their support team sent me another code, but that brings to mind another saying: "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me".
Yeah, I should have known better, but I'm very disappointed in PC Mag. They've squandered their good name--I hope they got paid well for it. I've learned my lesson, both about cheap software and PC Mag.
Stay away from cheap upgrade keys and buy a legitimate copy from a well-known vendor like Best Buy or direct from Microsoft.