Activation is Microsoft's way of verifying that you're running a legal copy of a Microsoft program. Running Project without activating it turns the program into little more than a viewer and, even so, starts the program only 25 times. When you activate Project, Microsoft doesn't ask for personal information, so there's no harm in doing so.
Power Users' Clinic: Other Ways to Install Programs
Installing Project from a CD is fine when you have just your own computer to take care of, but wandering from computer to computer with CD in hand gets old fast. Whether you install on one computer or many, you can speed up the process by installing from other locations. By keeping the installation files on a hard drive, everyone can maintain his programs more easily. Check out the 2010 Office Resource Kit at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303401%28office.14%29.aspx to learn about all kinds of fancy software deployment features.
Here are a few alternatives to installing from a CD:
Using a local installation source. You can keep installation files on your computer or on a network drive to simplify installing and maintaining your software. When you install Microsoft Office 2010 programs, the Setup program copies installation files to your computer, which the Windows Installer then uses to install your programs. These files also let you repair, update, or reinstall programs right from your computer without digging out your software CD.
Using an administrative installation point. As a project manager, you're not likely to set up an administrative installation point (a folder containing installation files that sits on the network, so you and your colleagues simply navigate to that location and then run Setup to install a program). However, your system administrators may use one so everyone can install software from one copy of the installation files. Similarly, updates and program maintenance come from the administrative installation point instead of local installation files. Navigate to the Office 2010 Resource Center and check out the "Plan, Customize, and Deploy" content (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/ff519674.aspx) to get the 411 for IT pros deploying Office 2010.
Using a compressed CD image. A CD image is like a combination of a local installation source and an administrative installation point. This approach is helpful even for managing software on a couple of home-networked computers. You copy the compressed files from the Project CD to a network drive. Then, instead of inserting a CD into a CD drive, you install from the file on a hard disk. Opening a CD image or burning a CD image to a CD or DVD requires special software, which Microsoft doesn't provide. Search the web for "burn ISO image" to find freeware to download.
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