Buying a ligit copy of Win7

[KarlJay]

If you buy a sealed copy of Win7, how would you know if it's ligit or not until you register it?
What would happen if someone installed, updated and currently runs Windows 7 and then puts it back in the box and sells it.

Does MS stop all updates? I understand that XP won't update IE past version 8 if the running copy is not ligit.

If you have one of those 3D MS stickers that go on the box, does that mean you have rights to that serial number?

 

[Ijack]

Buy your copy of Windows from a reputable retailer and then you will have a comeback if there are any problems. If you buy a copy on eBay at half the normal price then don't be surprised if it fails to work.

 

[KarlJay]

I guess I'm trying to find out if someone can sell all right to thier copy of Win7. If someone sells a computer that has it installed, they don't have to uninstall, they just sell the whole thing.
My concern would be someone running a scam, selling the disk and keeping the OS installed on their system.
I wonder if I can check the numbers with microsoft before buying.

-Edit - Just thought of another problem, what if the seller uses the serial number later, then my system could stop getting update.

 

[Ijack]

I don't think there is any way to check whether a copy has been activated. That's why I advise buying from a retailer rather than an individual.

 

[4745454b]

AFAIK having possession of the physical disk is what gives you the right to that key. If it ever got flagged in MS's systems a call to them and giving them numbers found on the disk is what will get your system unflagged. If you explain to them the background of how you got the disk they may invalidate that number and give you a new one. I have no first hand knowledge of this so I'm not sure if it truly works this way or not. It's only $100 to upgrade your old windows to Win7, so just buy it. I bought the family pack for $150, so I got to do both my computers at home and still have one left over.

 

[KarlJay]

Maybe I need to call MS on this one, but I have a feeling they'll just tell me to go buy one @ retail. The sad thing is that all the XP and older W7 systems out there could be re-used.
Not real happy about paying for Vista and not being able to update it to a good solid OS.
If you think about it, the people that purchased Vista got left out in the cold, they could have offered updates to Vista to make it more solid usable OS, which is what the buyers paid for.

 

[Ijack]

Not real happy about paying for Vista and not being able to update it to a good solid OS.
If you think about it, the people that purchased Vista got left out in the cold, they could have offered updates to Vista to make it more solid usable OS, which is what the buyers paid for.

I'm not quite with you there. Buy an upgrade version of Windows 7 and it does exactly what you want. How is that leaving people out in the cold?