The Office that comes pre-installed is often just a trial, and you need to buy a license or a Microsoft 365 subscription to use it. LibreOffice is a good free alternative, if you don’t specifically need the Microsoft applications, and it will read and write MS Office files.
Unless you specifically paid extra for a license of ms office, this is just the trial crap bloatware they include with new PCs. You still have to pay for it if you want to use. I’ve heard you can get really cheap activation keys from certain “cd key” sites.
I bought it from a legit store though, it’s not second-hand or something
The Office that comes pre-installed is often just a trial, and you need to buy a license or a Microsoft 365 subscription to use it. LibreOffice is a good free alternative, if you don’t specifically need the Microsoft applications, and it will read and write MS Office files.
when I open any Office app, the only thing that pops up is that banner, there’s nothing that mentions a trial version though
You say it was a reputable store. But you have no license for office and a warning about it being an illegitimate copy installed.
I would be taking it back to the ‘legit’ store and asking questions.
Unless you specifically paid extra for a license of ms office, this is just the trial crap bloatware they include with new PCs. You still have to pay for it if you want to use. I’ve heard you can get really cheap activation keys from certain “cd key” sites.
If you happen to have a .edu email address, most schools tie it to a license and you can use the school credentials as a license. Ymmv.
do you have a receipt? does the receipt show that it includes office? if it does, take it back to the store.