Question of legality

I've got a laptop with no operating system on it. It has a windows me product key on the bottom of it. I was wondering if it would be legal to download a copy of windows me and then use the product key on the bottom of the laptop.

Hello, I would like to caution you that downloads of any Windows operating system will more than likely be infested with mal-ware. If you download ME from the web it will be corrupt, and full of spyware, and viruses. The legal issue, you have a valid key for this machine so you should be legally able to reinstall ME. I would suggest that you try to find a recovery disc set for this machine, you will have to do some looking but should be able to find a set.