how do you check to see if OS is a beta version?

[howiess2000]

the shop said it was my copy of XP. i didnt believe them at first, but after they told me and i called microsoft they confirmed everything the shop told me. and that was:

i basically have a crap version of windows XP pro. It is something called a "beta" version. and that means its experimental and unlicensed. it also doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the version you'd get in the store. I got this version from school for free. no wonder its free, huh? i'm going to check to see if this "beta" version was given to me by accident or if this is what my school is supposed to be giving out.

anyone know how to explore a Windows XP Pro disk to see if its a "beta" version?

thank you all for your help
Howard McRae

[EzyStvy]

If the pc is running, go into control panel->system->the general tab will probably say if it's beta or not.

Or you could download TweakUI (microsoft power toy). It has a show windows version on desktop option. It'll look like the attached pic.

[howiess2000]

ezystvy

its funny you should say "if my pc is running". cause this thing will boot up only every so often, and how long it will stay running is all up to chance.

do you know anything about these "beta" versions of XP? any info would help.

thanx alot

[howiess2000]

so after all the problems, it wasn't the more obvious things that could go wrong with a computer. no, it was the one long shot. somehow, someway i got a bad version of windows XP Pro. it wasn't my CPU overheating, wasn't bad RAM or bad video card, just a bad copy of XP.

thanx for all you help!!!