Sonic DigitalMedia Plus 7

[nloding]

Alright, here is the pickle I've been placed in:

 

A very good friend of mine recently had his system reloaded at a local computer shop. When she got it back, it had a copy of "Sonic DigitalMedia Plus 7" on it, and she has never owned that software, at least that she knows. She never provided the tech with any restore cd's, and the system did not have a restore partition on it (I know because I removed it).

 

She was still having issues with Windows, and took it to another technician, who stated that it was illegal for her to have that particular version of Sonic on her system, because it is exclusively OEM.

 

So here's my question(s) ....

 

Can it be downloaded for free? Can it even be purchased? It is exclusively packaged with HP systems?

 

I can't find any information on this anywhere online.

 

Now for the real question ...

 

If she has a Compaq computer, never provided restore cds, and that was installed on her system ... is that installation against copyright law and needs to be uninstalled ASAP?

 

Anyone???????

 

I'm lost here!

 

THANKS!

[Kevin J]

The product is not free. I wouldn't jump to saying something illegal is going on unless you've looked at the bill. If no restore CDs were provided, installing a windows license that wasn't hers that she wasn't charged for was illegal. But you never know if they charged her for Windows and a software bundle.

 

There isn't much abiguity here though. Software isn't free. If she didn't pay for it it's illegal to have it installed. No one's going to come after her so she's going to have to decide what to do.