Last week I gave you a better way to prep your Android devices before getting rid of them. Dana wrote and asked me a great question related to that process. Although I am well aware of it from personal experience, I had never thought about mentioning here. So thanks, Dana, for the idea; I think many people may benefit from this.
Many different applications/services on your devices (PCs and MACs included) have a limit as to how many times you can use and install them under your account or username.
For instance, I got a new computer several years ago. I installed iTunes on it to take care of my musical needs on that computer. I had done this several times before, even on my work computers which had been replaced over time. Once I logged into the iTunes program it said that I had authorized over five computers and I could not allow another. So, at that point, iTunes was off limits for me.
Fortunately, Apple (iTunes owners) allows you to deauthenticate or deauthorize your computer. In my case I could not since several of those authorized computers were now in a dump somewhere or donated to charitable organizations. Even though I had uninstalled the iTunes app, that computer was still in existence and authorized to run the program according to their records.
If you forget to deauthorize your computer but need to, iTunes has a fix. You can deauthorize ALL of your authorized iTunes devices at once. Then go back to your current computers and authorize them individually so all will be well.
Several others you may not have thought about are Netflix, Microsoft Office Mobile, various Adobe applications and Google Play Music…just to name a few of the more popular ones. Some like Dropbox have no limits; however, I would advise you to deauthorize systems before you get rid of them just in case.
You will have to look at each application for the specific, "How to" but many apps need this done. If you cannot find out how by looking at the program itself Google and Bing are sure to help. Some are much harder than iTunes requiring you to contact the company’s customer service to authenticate a new device. After contacting them you may need to provide identification like the last four digits of your charge card, mother’s maiden name, etc. These are usually the ones with a paid application.
Make sure when discarding an old system you deauthorize as needed. It will make your new system that much easier to set up the way you like.
