Lost Software Registration Number

I have a $40 thumb drive I bought from Toshiba to reset the operating system on my Toshiba laptop, not realizing the number being exposed on the side of the thumb drive that oils on the skin would cause it to rub off over time. Question, is there anyway to retrieve this number from the stick? PJ

The information would be encrypted to prevent unauthorized use I'd think. And if they do it like I see in the business systems it may only be a hash value of the passcode and not the code itself. By that I mean the code you input may be encrypted then that value compared to the stored encrypted one and if the same assumed to be the correct code. So there's nothing physically there to use unless you have a decryption algorithm for the stored value. Course they my take the easy way and just keep the actual code somewhere on the stick, but I'd be surprised. So probably easier to get a new one if you can.

might be worth contacting Toshiba - you can't be the first person this has happened to

What amazed me was, not that they printed it on the face of a smooth sticker, but that it was not protected from handling or a warning that this might happen. Probably just get another one, but I'll make sure to write the number down this time! :sour:

Best backup on the planet: Pencil and paper!

For what it's worth, I use an application called "1Password". See: 1Password

It stores all your passwords, log in info, secure notes, software licenses, etc., (several categories) in "the cloud" as a highly encrypted bundle. You log into your password "vault" with a single "master" password, so you only have to remember one password to access all your other passwords. That way, if your computer is stolen, no one else can access your passwords but you can still recover them since they are securely encrypted and located in the cloud. It also has "Watchtower" which will alert you if any web sites that you have passwords for have been hacked or otherwise had data breeches. It's a subscription-based service but it's only about $3 a month.

And to think I just wrote all of mine down in a notebook.

Well I've decided not to worry about it, as it would restore the computer back to windows 8 as it was when new. I have a legal win 8.1 disk if I wanted to go back, but now it has Linux in it. I bought the latest edition of win 10 in the fall for the HP and it works perfectly with the latest upgrades and no bugs. The Toshiba with Linux in it, no issues at all. I have two Dells, one laptop and one desktop, but their incredibly slow and I don't use them anymore. Time for them to undergo surgery ( :hammer: )!

My Toshiba laptop, runs linux and is rock solid; my Alienware desktop runs windows 7 and is rock solid, my work HP laptop runs windows 10 and is a POS.

Funny, my HP laptop is one of the latest models, but came with a 1 TB spinup hard drive, which I replaced with a 400+ SSD and it is lightning fast! I makes everything else seem much slower than they actually are. The HP boots between 3.5 and 4.5 seconds. I have no idea why it varies.

Today's computers processors are near impossible to upgrade except changing the whole motherboard, but back in the 80s, I think it was a Phoenix desktop I bought that the processor was a plug in and could be changed just by popping it out and plugging in a new one. Must have had a thousand needles sticking out the back of it which plugged into the mother board. I upgraded it twice. Came with a 5 inch floppy, a modern 3.5 floppy and a big hard drive of 169 Meg, not Gig, MEG! :highly_amused: