Refurbished PC Licensing
When purchasing a used or refurbished Windows PC that has the Windows 7 operating system on it, it’s important that you understand what it is that you are paying for. There are some vendors in most communities that will sell you a computer that isn’t correctly or legally licensed. I want to specify that I am speaking specifically about vendors, local PC Repair shops, that sell used or refurbished computers at what seems to be a very nice price.
While most companies operate legitimately, there are some that take advantage of an unknowing public. Windows 7 PC’s will have a license affixed to the PC, for a “tower” computer, that’ll most likely be located on the side, top, or back of the machine. For a notebook PC, that license sticker will be on the bottom of the notebook in most cases (if it isn’t, remove the battery and see if it’s located there). If you don’t see it, it’s likely been removed intentionally.
If it doesn’t say Windows 7 on it and it says either Vista or Windows XP, there is a good chance you have purchased a system that has an illegal and unauthorized version of Windows installed. For it to have Windows 7 LEGALLY installed it MUST have a Windows 7 Refurbished License sticker affixed to the system. I’ve included an example here for you to see (I’ve blurred the license number for obvious reasons). The license sticker for the previous OS must also have a X placed on it, thereby indicating it is no longer the license assigned to the computer.
Happy Computing!