When you install the product key and activate you come on here with a report from the MGADiag Tool. Someone here will parse the report and tell you if you have a counterfeit Windows. Scan the other threads on here and you will see the kinds of
issues going on right now.
Do NOT buy any heavily discounted copy of Windows 7. There are tens of thousands of counterfeit copies from China for sale on the online auction sites like eBay and on the Amazon Marketplace as well as dozens of discount sites all over the web.
The only way to get genuine Windows 7 is from Amazon Corp., the Microsoft Store, or other very well-known seller.
As to your two questions, they are not really the right questions. Buy right and never publish your full product key on the web including in emails. The current issue with stolen product keys is with MSDN and TechNet product keys from subscriptions
fraudulently purchased with credit card scams. These keys are then printed in the counterfeit boxes and sold on ebay, etc. These keys allow multiple activations and when they are oversold the unsuspecting buyers begin to get notifications that
Microsoft has blocked the keys.
You don't need to worry about someone stealing your product key if you don't expose it in an email or post it on a website.
Colin Barnhorst Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on DIY with 6GB ram.
