Product Key finders - reliable?

[poachedeggs]

This is not Windows 2000-specific but I've found the knowledge here a
bit more hardcore and the Windows 7 group I've used is absolutely
useless.

I've used Jellybean and Speccy, the latter not primarily for Product
Key finding, and wonder if it is without doubt always the true Product
Key it finds. This was questioned yesterday in a computer shop, Currys
in the UK, after I had caused to suggest lightly the possibility that
I'd been sold a refurbished computer as new. This was because both the
programs I mentioned show a completely different key to the one
stamped on this new laptop's base sticker. Having done a complete
recovery from four dvds, twice, and also having used my Windows dvd to
install a bloat-free version, I had found that Speccy would show the
Product I'd entered, the one stamp on the sticker, but when new and
post-recovery using the 'official' discs the key is different. (To be
clear, Speccy showed the same Key when new as when recovered - only
after using the Windows dvd and manually entering the stamped Key did
this 'correct' Key show in Speccy.)

It may be a minor and deceptive point that couldn't help my case
regarding this far too 'quirky' laptop but I am interested to know if
the various Product Key finders work, i.e that they don't show
incorrect Keys. It does seem strange, if they don't, that Jellybean
and Speccy show the same result. As I understand it, the Key is in the
registry, encrypted, and the finders get this and decrypt it. If they
are faulty programs then it strikes me that they would not get the
correct key that I had manually entered, and which is therefore easier
to ascertain than the second one that I've suggested may have come
about during a sneaky refurbishing endeavour.

Thanks for any thoughts/experience.

[Johny B Good]

The mismatch between the key used by the OEM when creating the master
disk used to clone the HDDs used in any one product line and that shown
on the CoA stickers is quite normal.

The only time they're likely to match is if the OS had been reinstalled
from a standard oem CD/DVD, forcing the user into using the key on the CoA
sticker or the key change function in the Jellybean keyfinder had been
used to enter the CoA key (this doesn't work for win2k - no perceived
need, sadly).


--
Regards JB Good