trouble

[XWrench3]

so as many of you know, my son and i are in the middle of a gaming computer build. right now we are waiting for Christmas to come along. anyway, yesterday, he wanted to borrow my laptop (that i purchased used a year ago) to play some game that his current desktop would not play. so i lent it to him. he tried for over an hour to get the game to play on my computer, and finaly gave up. now, out of the clear blue, i get this pop up window that says my laptop is not running genuine Microsoft windows software. i have no idea for certain. but, there is an activation code showing in the system, and i have been getting updates (windows 7) from Microsoft all of this time. it says its running Microsoft windows 7 in one of the windows in control panel. so i am kind of at a loss. i did at one point press the button that is supposed to take me to Microsoft to "correct the problem", but it just sat there like it was loading, for more than 5 minutes before i closed out the window. until this happened, i thought it has genuine ms windows, but now i am not so sure. how can i tell for absolute certain? and if it is genuine, how do i get this pop up window to go away for good?

 

[carnageX]

Look on the bottom of your laptop for the product key. Write it down.

Go to Start -> right click Computer -> Properties -> at the bottom, click Activate Windows -> choose to activate online

If it doesn't activate online, it should give you the option to call it in and activate it. Do so, and you'll have to speak/enter in the code shown on the screen. It may ask you how many systems this copy of Windows was installed on - just say 1. Then it will have you enter in a series of codes. After that it should be done.

 

[XWrench3]

well, the sticker on the bottom is for windows xp, not windows 7. i knew it had an updated o.s. on it when i bought it. but since i never had any problems (until now), i never gave any of it a second thought. the product id that shows up in system properties, is an " OEM " number. so i am not sure what is going on there. did the previous owner stick a system restore disc from another computer in this, and then use his original product id to register it? i don't know for sure why it would have an OEM number in an update. and unfortunately, i didnt think anything about it when i bought it.

 

[carnageX]

Well, try the instructions I gave to you. It shouldn't ask for the product key if you activate it online or via phone.

If you get it reactivated, then retrieve the key using Magic Jellybean KeyFinder, WinKeyFinder, and/or Belarc Advisor (may be a good idea to run all 3 and make sure they all retrieve the same product key).

 

[XWrench3]

while i was waiting for your reply, i ran several free anti spyware, mal ware etc. programs, and the pop up window has quit. must be a fake Microsoft site trying to get you to follow a link where they bleed you for money? if so i dodged a bullet, and most likely only because it took to long for the website to load.

 

[carnageX]

while i was waiting for your reply, i ran several free anti spyware, mal ware etc. programs, and the pop up window has quit. must be a fake Microsoft site trying to get you to follow a link where they bleed you for money? if so i dodged a bullet, and most likely only because it took to long for the website to load.

Would be a good idea to run through HiJackThis (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hjt/) and post the log here as well, so I can look through it.