Finding Serials and Products Keys

[Calie]

Ever try to reformat or update and somewhere along the way you lost the serial or product number needed to make the program work? Well fortunately there are a number of programs (free) that can help with that. In most cases these numbers are kept in the registry of you operating system. The registry is typically a no no place to go, due to the fact you can completely mess up your computer if you delete or change the wrong thing. The great thing about these key finders is you don't have to go to the registry to get the information you are looking for, they do it for you and they do not do anything to your registry, no deletions or changes, so your safe. You simply install (some run without an installation) and run the program, it searches the registry and finds the information you are looking for. When done, some will give the option to save a text file, while others you have to grab a notebook and pen, to make sure you write this information down and keep in a safe place for future use. These nifty little programs will even get you the product and serial key of your windows program so you can do a format or clean install.

I found a site that lists several of these program, just google the how to for the program of your choice. I personally have used License Crawler and have been very happy with it.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/tp/topkeyfinder.htm