windows 11 Pro $40, Microsoft Office 2021 $30

So the link below is for Windows 11 Pro (product key if I understand correctly) for $40 but there's a big catch

https://deals.gamespot.com/sales/...for-window

First thing to note is that if your PC is capable of running Windows 11 to begin with (which varies from person to person the hardware requirements are in my opinion way too demanding especially if you have an older PC) .. and it will prompt you in Windows Update to run a Microsoft "windows pc health checker" tool ... then no need to buy this $40 deal, your product key will carry over to Windows 11.. but please, please add a microsoft account for signing into the PC/user account purposes and google some way to find out that product key (there's ways you can go into the registry and copy it down or programs you can download to find it out for you) and make a note of said product key to save yourself some headaches.. with luck the microsoft account you are using to log into your Windows PC will recognize the PC and automatically activate Win 11 on it but you want to be on the safe side, and you should, get that product key before doing the Win 11 upgrade.

Also if Windows pc health checker complains you can't secure boot check the specs for your motherboard to see if it's capable of secure booting , making some changes in the BIOS and then doing a clean Win 11 install would do the trick in a situation like that.

So why bother buying this product key to begin with? This could be helpful for a new PC build... just download the Windows 10 iso install file (yep MS still has it available for download), install Win 10, select I don't have a product key during the Win 10 install, then upgrade it to Win 11 after running the Windows PC Health checker which you can download here

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-the-pc-health-check-app-9c8abd9b-03ba-4e67-81ef-36f37caa7844 [mysmartprice.com]

(my apologies for the link above slickdeals is being wonky despite my attempts to edit it... click on the microsoft link and ignore the second, smartprice link which seems to be attached to the first link for some reason or just google search "microsoft pc health check " to find microsoft's website where you can download it)

worth noting you should enable secure boot in the motherboard bios settings prior to installing Win 10 so the Win PC Health checker will give the Win 11 upgrade a green light... my understanding is doing this will cause the Win 10 install to automatically format the hard drive in the GPT partition scheme that Win 11 requires, not MBR.

So long story short if you're building a new PC you can use this method to snag a Win 11 product key for $40 .. not sure if simply installing Win 11 to begin with would work too as far as using the product key purchased but as much of a pain in the butt it is for my peace of mind I'd prefer to run win 10 first and use Win PC Health checker to iron out any problems (and return new PC hardware purchased if need be ) first.

If you'd prefer not to pay subscription fees forever for Microsoft 365 (note that this does entitle you to security updates as long as you're paying those subscription fees) you can pay $30 instead for a one time purchase that installs Office Professional 2021 onto one single Windows PC

https://deals.gamespot.com/sales/...for-window

Again the microsoft account is important here.. make sure you have a microsoft account you use to log into your PC and use that same account to redeem the office 2021 product. You may or may not have to move the installation using the MS online account to Win 11 when you upgrade to Win 11 (assuming you're not on Win 11 already). For heaven's sakes copy that product key down they give you after your purchase and keep it backed up as a text file or something like that so it's still available if say your PC goes down and you lose all the data on it, better safe than sorry.

Worth noting that there are free programs like libre office that apparently aren't bad as far as handling security issues (someone sends you a nasty virus disguised as a word or excel or powerpoint or whatever file) or google docs which will work just fine for many home users so think it through as far as whether or not it's even worth spending the $30 to begin with and remember that being the greedy corporation that they are MS will stop releasing security updates for office 2021 at some point forcing you to be very careful as far as what word, excel and so forth files you open (just make sure it's from someone you know and trust - not always possible if you're say a small business owner - and even then someone you know and trust may unknowingly forward a virus-laden file to you.. no idea if security software like say symantec might help in a situation like that) ...

....in my case I've become so heavily dependent on Microsoft Outlook's calendar/reminder program to tell me what to do that I decided to just snag Office 2021 for $30 though it's going to be a pain in the butt having to manually copy every single reminder I've accumulated over 15 years or so reminder by reminder over to the new Office 2021 (which is what I get for sticking with Outlook 2003 edition for so long because I'm too cheap ) ... and yes I know, in theory you can use the calendar program built into Win 10 / 11 and sync it to the free version of office 365 online but I've found the reminder program to be unreliable in my case and much prefer the pop up window outlook gives you with the "nag list" reminder window of stuff you've been ignoring for weeks or months that you're going to get around to sooner or later (although I've been told tying say the free program google calendar to your phone works well for this purpose too, depends on the user and your needs) .. I switched to using libre office for the time being for word, excel and so forth files which has been working great for me, but I guess I'll install the full Office 2021 suite when I finally and reluctantly do that pain in the butt clean install of Win 11 as we get closer to October 2025 when MS stops releasing security patches for Win 10.

One other thing.. when I purchased the $30 MS Office , annoying they charged a "delivery fee" bringing it up to $33 or thereabouts .. still better than the "normal retail price" in my opinion.. so expect to pay a few dollars extra for the Windows 11 product key too due to a "delivery fee".