New
#51
I think we are all a little skeptical given what's turned out to be the case in the past when
"a friend" has provided someone with Win7. Did you ever see the packaging with official COA sticker on it so that you know to your satisfaction it was genuine windows, or was it just the disk? Does the Product ID string that appears at Computer>Properties activation link have an "OEM" in it? If not then its probably genuine.
If you are confident it's Genuine retail Win7 then you can audit the Product Key with Belarc or Magic Jellybean. I'd use both to double check. Then that key should work to activate it. If not you'll need to buy a new one.
I would delete all partitions during the booted install, since on Acer the Recovery partition will not work after reinstall, and there are no Diagnostics or other partitions worth keeping. Be sure to back up your files first. Everything you need to get and keep a perfect install is here in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7