If you've had it for 6 years and you've been using it regularly in that time, I doubt the copy of Windows isn't legit.
Maybe you have a virus or some type of malware maybe?
There are several software programs that can check for malware and viruses so I'll leave that for you to research but if this is something that has happened recently, I'd be looking at maybe doing a full re-install of windows.
The reason I say this is because my brother in law just had a problem with his Dell laptop with Windows 7 Pro 64Bit installed on it.
The day that hack attack happened to Amazon.com (maybe a couple of weeks ago or 3-4 weeks ago), his laptop started running real s-l-o-w. As in-all of a sudden slow, he said the laptop had been running great since I did the Windows 7 install on it.
He brought it to me to take a look at as I was the one who installed the Windows 7 pro on it from the start on a newly formatted hard drive several months earlier.
This time, I couldn't load a program without it taking forever to try and load. Microsoft essentials wouldn't do a scan, when I tried opening that program, I got a DOS window that opened up saying something in regards to Microsoft Essentials couldn't perform this operation.
Then I right clicked Computer, and clicked Properties, I scrolled down to where the Windows Activation is shown, and that too was showing no activation.
I ended up doing a full install of Windows 7 Pro again. Computer is running fine now.
Off topic now.....He has a standard 750GB HHD in it and I told him to buy a SSD for it when the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals are out, I'd install that and re-install windows again but this time he'd notice the increase in speed with the SSD.
Good Luck and I hope you can get you problem resolved.
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