About a week ago my laptop came up with the message “This copy of Windows in not genuine” with a secondary message “you may be a victim of software counterfitting” offering a link to resolve.

I have ignored the messages as I consider my software genuine and the link to be potentially fraudulent but I’m getting a bit peed off with seeing it now.

Coincidentally my McAfee protection has just renewed – and I have long suspected that these scares tend to align to renewal dates ‘just to make sure you stay dependent’…

Does any one have any similar experiences and advice? Do I follow that link?

You can get this when you reach a certain number of things like hardware changes, therefore the computer thinks it’s a different computer .. etc.

The link makes me think it’s more of a virus/malware issue though.

Happened to my work computer a week or two ago after a new motherboard was fitted, the IT company had put in the product key for the old motherboard and while it unlocked it Windows detected the code had been used on old hardware and so assumed it was fraudulent. New product key sorted it but probably nothing to worry about.

Do you have a license number sticker on your laptop? If you have the correct license then you probably just need to input it and activate it.

Check your time, date, timezone are correct for a start.

Look in Control Panel / System and Security / System – does it mention anything there about activation? (I’m assuming Windows 7 here)

Does sound a bit virusy. I’d get rid of McAfee and put MSE or Avast on there and see if that helps. TBH I’d get rid of McAfee even if you weren’t having this issue.

I would check for malware and certainly not click on the link. If you haven’t made any hardware changes recently then something has likely infected your PC.

Okay, thanks all. I will go check.

I had to re-activate WinXP after fitting a new motherboard, but the message was informative enough that I realised that the hardware change was why I had to do it. Not just some general guff. And the reactivation was by phone!

Also worth mentioning, the message was most definitely not in a browser or a browser popup.

Also, I recall Windows activation does not need a link clicked, just an online connection. Although the link could legitimately lead to some information about why this might have happened to you and how to buy Windows.

I think someone else using the same windows key as you could cause something like this, but never been there.

All good advice regarding hardware changes and running a malware. Where did you get the laptop from and what brand is it?

If its somewhere like PC World or John Lewis its probably illegitimate if it was from a small build to order place or Ebay the risk is higher.

Malwarebytes is a good system check tool

Advice from Microsoft

Doesn’t sound virusy to me – sounds Microsofty.

If you go into System Properties you can see if Windows is activated.
(Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System)
Down the bottom.
You might just need to re-activate using the link provided in there.

If it does say “Windows is Activated” in there, then it may well be malware/virus.

Not on Windows system at the moment – but as above, can you run the Microsoft licence checker / Update utility – from Start menu – to get a definitive answer rather than a popup message?

I’d suggest that if the error message misspelled ‘counterfeiting’, then it might be the error message which is dodgy.

dazloader

Have actually fixed this before by calling Microsoft after following the links. But not good advice if you think it might be phishing.

One of our Dell Windows 7 Enterprise machine we have in our control room shows that all the time.
According to our IT its because its not on the network and as its not comunicated with a microsoft server for a set time it reports this fault?
TBH its a bit of a pain as every time it prints a job report it plonks that message up.
IT have said hook it up to the network and it should sort itself out, production wont allow it as they were told that the PCview software has an issue with updates fubaring the system.

Anyway perhaps your problem is an invalid check address that was OK when it was set up on a big network but won’t work at home?

Let me guess, is it a Dell? We have to regularly re-authorise my sons Windows 7 on his dell laptop. Bonkers. We just phone up and go through the automated process. Takes about ten minutes. We have to do it every six months or so. Very common problem.

Command prompt, slmgr.vbs /ato should force an activation attempt – do it whilst connected to the internet via you router or whatever..

There is a gui way too if you click around in System Properties somewhere