How do I extract my Microsoft Office product key from my computer?

I'm getting a new hard drive for my laptop because the old one is corrupted (or something like that). However, I can't find the Microsoft Office product key that I used to install Microsoft Office way back when. And of course I don't want to have to pay for Microsoft Office all over again when I get the new hard drive. When I asked the tech guy at Best Buy if they have a way to get the product key off of the computer, he said, "WE can't get it because it's illegal... but YOU can..." But he didn't have specific advice on how to do it other than to find methods by Googling. Does anyone know a reliable way to do this that works and won't give my computer a virus or something?

• Open Word. HELP - ABOUT - Write down the key # in the window.

• My copy of MS office does not show the old Help-about VERSION tag. cupcake go read this:

  http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/tp/topkeyfinder.htm

• "Cupcake"? Who the fuck are you, bitch?

• Throw that shitty software and the computer that runs it in the garbage, get a Mac, and load iWork on it. Better computer, better software, and you'll have a better life, including your sex life.

  Apple%20Corporation

• It should be in the registry. At the Start button, click on Run and then type regedit.exe and then hit enter. On the Registry Editor (be care not to make any changes), look under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then SOFTWARE and then Microsoft and then Office. Once you do all that, on the right window, you should see the key although I'm not sure what it might be labeled as (it might say userkey or something similar). When done, just close Registry Editor.

• .

  http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productkeysactivation/tp/office-product-keys.htm

• Does anyone have knowledge about or experience using any of the Product Key Code Finding programs in the r6 link? My ex loaded Office on my laptop a few years ago so now that he's gone I don't have the software discs or any of the registration info. Now I got a pop-up message saying that I can open Office twenty more times but I'll need to enter the product key code to keep using it after that. So I'm thinking about using one of the programs in the R6 link to retrieve the code, but I'm not the most computer savvy and worry about downloading unknown programs onto my computer.