Activate Windows – The Cheap Way
Having a fully activated Windows copy does not improve your performance but it does unlock the full OS experience and feels like a natural thing to do. For some reason, however, Microsoft decided that the barrier of entry should be extremely high for activating their product setting people back a solid 200$.
Nobody in their right mind wants to spend 200$ on a single Windows key so what should you do then?
OEM Keys for Cheap
After you realize Microsoft is trying to rip you off, the next most plausible thing to do is to try to find an alternative marketplace for a Windows key. Luckily there are plenty of such sites that sell keys for 20$. The main concern people have when purchasing these keys is whether they are real or some sort of scam.
These cheap keys are real but they are a bit different than the normal key you would buy from Microsoft. The cheap keys you can find online are OEM keys which are tied to your hardware. This means that on hardware changes you might need to buy a different key for your machine.
A retail key (the kind Microsoft sells you) is not necessarily tied to your hardware meaning you can use the same activation many years after you build your first PC.
With this in mind, I am in a funny situation with my own Windows key. I bought a simple OEM key in 2019 which is many years ago, and have swapped components entirely (entire set of components) multiple times, and my Windows is still activated.
I am still determining how Microsoft deactivates the licenses, or if they do it at all, but I should have been cut off many years ago. Furthermore, a retail key from Microsoft costs around $200 which means you would need to change your PC 10+ for it to make sense. If I can buy an OEM key for 20$, and have that carry over multiple times as well, why would anyone spend hundreds of dollars for the same experience?
Temporary Activation
If you want a free key quickly you can use a generic Windows activation key that Microsoft themselves provide and get full functionality that way.
These keys work for half a year only and then you will need to try to find a different way to activate your installation or purchase a key (hopefully an OEM one).
Script Activation
There is no better price than free but you must be careful when using any sort of script or utility to activate your Windows because these might be less than secure and might compromise your machine. There are safer scripts than others but in general, unless you know exactly what you are doing, you are better off spending 20$ on an OEM key.
The most important part here is to not download random EXEs or click on random links because this is a quick ticket to malware infections which will take you more time to fix. You also do not need to activate Windows for it to work, so you might as well leave the Activate Windows sign alone instead of installing some rootkit or keylogger.
TL;DR
Instead of 200$ you can spend 20$ on an OEM key, try using a generic key for a temporary activation, or leave the Windows installation as in since you do not lose any vital functionality with it not being activated.