Share via

What should customers do when they're given counterfeit software?

  • Article

I saw a report internally today of a customer who recently purchased a PC from a reseller, the customer indicated that they were pretty sure that the copy of Windows included with the PC was not genuine. Also, the customer thought that the reseller that sold the PC would not be inclined to help them if they went back and complained. Here are a few recommendations about what cusotmers can do and where they should go for help and more information.

  • First and best (particularly if you paid for your copy of Windows) IS to go back to the reseller and tell them that because you paid you expect a genuine copy. If you've gone through our genuine checking at www.microsoft.com/genuine you can print a detailed report that you can take with you to the reseller that shows exactly why that copy of Windows failed validation.
  • If you know you don't have a genuine copy of Windows but you don't think you can get help from a reseller, you can (if you want to) report them to Microsoft at piracy@microsoft.com then purchase a genuine copy of Windows through our Windows Genuine Advantage program, to do this go to www.microsoft.com/genuine and validate your system, if it fails you will be provided with an opportunity to purchase genuine Windows online.
  • Lastly, if you you can't or don't want to go through the website you can always purchase a copy of Windows from a local reseller or retailer.

For more information see these sites:

Microsoft's Piracy site: www.microsoft.com/piracy

Microsoft's How to Tell site: www.microsoft.com/howtotell

Micrsoft's Genuine site: www.microsoft.com/genuine (home of WGA)

Comments