Windows 8 Pro Media Center Build 9200 Activation after reinstall problem

Read this think for some background: http://www.eightforums.com/system-security/29874-windows-8-says-avast-protecting-my-computer.html

I bought Windows 8 Pro by credit card when it was on special in December 2012 and installed it on my Lenovo custom-built Dual-Core computer, which is not UEFI capable.

After that - Windows offered a Windows 8 Pro with Media Center Product Key for free under a time-limited offer: <Removed Product Key information>


So I installed it before the end of the expiry period and happily ran Windows 8 Pro with Media Center on my machine for many months until Windows offered Windows 8.1 Preview for free. My mistake was activating this completely unstable system -- which is absolutely no improvement on Windows 8.

Windows 8.1 eventually crashed and I could only run the computer in SAFE MODE. So I had to go down the hall to my landlord's computer and spend 6 hours downloading the stable release of Windows 8 Pro onto a flash drive for reinstallation onto my disabled machine. As you must know -- you cannot do most important functions in SAFE MODE -- so I could not use the Upgrade Option to keep my files and settings.

So then I reinstalled Windows 8 and am still working on transferring the files from Windows.old...when I realized that i had lost the Media Center and that WMP was not working. So I reinstalled Windows 8 Pro with Media Center Build 9200 and tried to activate it with the Product Key that I had saved in my little Brown Book and was verified in the e-mail from last January 2013 that Windows had sent to me.

Then I find out the Key is BLOCKED! So I spent the better part of a day on the phone talking to Windows Support all over the bloody planet -- only to be told at the end that they will not help me re-activate the free Media Center! You can imagine how upset I am with Microsoft after all of that! After all -- I was in effect being a 'Guinea Pig'...working for free for Microsoft by trying their 8.1 software preview...and when that system crashed they won't even unblock or give me a new key??? I'v just about had it with windows and I am considering moving over to Linux or Apple after all of these years. Microsoft Customer Support is not up to the standard that I am accustomed to and I am severely disappointed, to say the least!