Windows 7 on my laptop I bought from pawn shop

JacoLesFlea · #1 01-26-2012, 12:41 AM

Well I traded my bass for it. I can surf fine watch dvds youtube imdb talkbass ebay all my usual stuff but when I boot it says this windows 7 is not genuine. who ever owned it before me must have been a big time gamer cause I still have alot of space but I wanted to delete alot of stuff I did not need on it. when I did that alot of stuff that normally worked would not I did a system restore and luckily every thing is working ok. If I by windows 7 home premium brand new and install it will it get rid of all of the previous owners files and stuff?

Jazz Ad · #2 01-26-2012, 12:45 AM

If it's a laptop it was likely sold with a system installed.
So you should have a sticker somewhere with the serial number of windows.
Using this number, you can fresh install win7 from any cd, enter your code and be done.

Ayce · #3 01-26-2012, 09:53 AM

Windows will ask if you want to do a full install (clean) or just reinstall windows. Go with the former and do a complete reinstall. This will reformat the drive before install.
Another option would be to look up the specs on the laptop and see if it should have a recovery partition. Most clones these days don't ship with an OS disc, but have it on a special section of the HDD. If that's been wiped or otherwise removed, you will have to get a new copy of the OS.

klejst · #4 01-26-2012, 10:13 AM

If it still has the install of Windows 7 and all the files from the previous owner on it I would just do a fresh install to clean it out and basically start over. You don't know what else may be on the laptop. Until you reformat and re-install Windows I would not do any banking or personal things on it. Just saying. As for the Windows 7 not genuine message, it could be a pirated copy of the OS or activated with a pirated key. If you look at the sticker where the key is and make sure it is not for Windows XP or Vista. I would just go buy Windows 7 and go that route.

hbarcat · #5 01-26-2012, 11:16 AM

Go through the previous owner's files and see if you can find any valuable information or, better yet, something embarassing you can blackmail him with.

newbold · #6 01-30-2012, 10:40 PM

or better still, throw a copy of Ubuntu on the thing.

Blind Rat · #7 01-31-2012, 12:39 AM

Ubuntu is the go.

fdeck · #8 01-31-2012, 06:00 AM

+1 for Ubuntu.

L-A · #9 01-31-2012, 07:00 AM

It will be fine if you buy your own copy of Windows. Make sure you note down how to format the drive before you start installing it.

Erasing all previous files is a standard option when you install Windows.

**Eric Perry** · #10 01-31-2012, 07:33 AM

Whatever you do, it'd be in your best interest to wipe that sucker absolutely clean and reinstall whatever OS you want. Who knows if the previous owner installed a virus or trojan on there to suck your personal info. Whenever I get a used computer, it's the absolute first thing I do. Reformat and clean reinstall.

JacoLesFlea · #11 01-31-2012, 07:53 AM

for got to mention this in my op, a window would pop up periodically saying windows 7 activation key has expired click here to resolve and would direct me to windows home page it ran some scans determind what my os is and what would be best for my lap top I did the download they sent me anactivation key which I was then prompted to go into my system under properties or something like that( I did this yesterday morning) enterd the new key rebooted the this is not genuine message is gone and the windows 7 spyware and anti virus software that came with windows 7 home premium started looking for automatic updates. So it is all good. Thanks for the help.

I did have to pay for it but it was only a few dollars difference then if I would have bought the disc install at walmart.....windows does mail me out a back up disc.

JacoLesFlea · #12 01-31-2012, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Perry

Whatever you do, it'd be in your best interest to wipe that sucker absolutely clean and reinstall whatever OS you want. Who knows if the previous owner installed a virus or trojan on there to suck your personal info. Whenever I get a used computer, it's the absolute first thing I do. Reformat and clean reinstall.

did what I just posted take care of this?.....not that pc savvy.

Ayce · #13 01-31-2012, 08:22 AM

I hope you wrote the activation key down, cause reactivation would not reformat the drive. You will need the DVD to do it anyway. I wouldn't advise doing anything sensitive (ie personal, or financial info) until you get the dvd and do a full reformat and reinstall.
Get back to us when you get the dvd, we can walk you through the process.

MIJ-VI · #14 04-04-2012, 12:55 PM

Windows 7 Forums

1958Bassman · #15 04-04-2012, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacoLesFlea

Well I traded my bass for it. I can surf fine watch dvds youtube imdb talkbass ebay all my usual stuff but when I boot it says this windows 7 is not genuine. who ever owned it before me must have been a big time gamer cause I still have alot of space but I wanted to delete alot of stuff I did not need on it. when I did that alot of stuff that normally worked would not I did a system restore and luckily every thing is working ok. If I by windows 7 home premium brand new and install it will it get rid of all of the previous owners files and stuff?

That was an enterprise version and the explanation I got is that so many computers were being built by some stores/people with enterprise versions, they just turned off the license acceptance. Apparently, it should be more annoying than anything, but, like mine, it's a bit more than that. Once I get everything onto my external HD, I'll go in and have an accepted version installed. The build number of Windows will show up when you reboot- is it 7601, or something like that? It will work but Microsoft will eventually stop updating it and Security Essentials won't work at its top potential.