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xpat
Joined: 13 Mar 2008
Location: Kangnam baby
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 Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 5:17 pm Post subject: Microsoft Targets Windows 7 Activation Hackers |
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Microsoft said it will soon will feed Windows 7 users an update that detects illegal copies installed using more than 70 different activation cracks.
The update to Windows Activation Technologies (WAT), the anti-piracy software formerly known as Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), will be posted to Microsoft 's download site on Feb. 17, and offered as an optional upgrade via Windows Update later this month, where it will be tagged as "important."
Out the gate, the update will reach Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise users, said Joe Williams, the general manager of Microsoft's activation and anti-counterfeit group. "I'd like to stress that the Update is voluntary, which means that you can choose not to install it when you see it appear on Windows Update," said Williams in an entry to the Genuine Windows blog .
That's counter to the practice Microsoft used in 2006, when it force fed Windows XP customers a WGA update by labeling it as a high-priority security update. Several users sued Microsoft over that behavior; the lawsuit was officially dismissed just last week. Since then, the company's anti-piracy software updates have been less aggressive.
According to Williams, the WAT update sniffs out more than 70 "activation exploits," Microsoft's term for what others call "cracks" that sidestep the product activation process, or use stolen keys to illegally activate counterfeit copies of Windows 7.
After the update has been installed, PCs running cracked copies will begin displaying a black background and the usual gamut of nagging notifications that mark the operating system as bogus. "Machines running genuine Windows 7 software with no activation exploits will see nothing," promised Williams.
Microsoft regularly refreshes its anti-piracy technology to identify new activation exploits -- it did the same two years ago in a Vista crack crack-down -- but the number of exploit "signatures" in the upcoming WAT update is magnitudes larger than any previous.
Among the 70-some cracks shut down by the update are a pair that surfaced last November , just weeks after the launch of Windows 7. At the time, Microsoft said it was aware of the cracks -- "RemoveWAT" and "Chew-WGA" -- and was working on ways to disable them. A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed today that the WAT update will include signatures for both cracks.
Williams also noted that the WAT update will periodically "phone home" to Microsoft's servers to re-validate the copy of Windows 7 as legit, and use those opportunities to update activation signatures to detect newer cracks. Initially, WAT will connect to Microsoft's severs every 90 days.
If WAT uncovers tampered, disabled or missing activation or licensing files, the software steps up its activity, and runs a check every week, and if necessary, repairs those files.
Williams argued that the update is intended to keep "customers and partners secure," a rationale the company regularly uses when it explains why anti-piracy software is necessary. He cited studies by IDC and others, which Microsoft has called on in the past, that have said up to a third of counterfeit copies of Windows are infected with malware.
A leaked copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) posted on file-sharing sites in May 2009 was, in fact, infected with a Trojan horse . |
http://www.pcworld.com/article/189282/microsoft_targets_windows_7_activation_hackers.html[/quote] |
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Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:46 am Post subject: |
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I was just talking to my mom and she said she paid $275 for the Ultimate edition...wtf is MS smoking pricing OS upgrades so much money? I told my mom she should have just sold her Dell and bought an iMac.
This is why I hate windows and PCs. If I go legit, it costs, if I go pirate, it annoys. |
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kprrok
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Location: KC
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:18 am Post subject: |
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| Mr. Pink wrote: |
| If I go legit, it costs, if I go pirate, it annoys. |
Really? You mean you actually have to pay to legally use software? Who would have thought?
And if you steal something, it might annoy you by telling you that you using stolen stuff? Man, what hardship we face here!
The reason the prices of software are high now is because they have to factor in that people will pirate it, so to get their money from R&D back, they have to charge more to the legitimate users. |
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Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| kprrok wrote: |
| Mr. Pink wrote: |
| If I go legit, it costs, if I go pirate, it annoys. |
Really? You mean you actually have to pay to legally use software? Who would have thought?
And if you steal something, it might annoy you by telling you that you using stolen stuff? Man, what hardship we face here!
The reason the prices of software are high now is because they have to factor in that people will pirate it, so to get their money from R&D back, they have to charge more to the legitimate users. |
R&D? Are you kidding me? Microsoft has been packaging the same crap for years, calling it something different and charging an arm and a leg. Seriously...if you own a previous version, an upgrade should NEVER be more than $100.
It is called MONOPOLY and M$ is abusing their position to steal money from the masses.
I hate pirating software, but seriously, why should I have to pay an obscene amount for an "upgrade" that doesn't do much more than the previous version?
With OS at least you can buy computers with OEM and they should be cheaper, straight out of the box and paying $300 for an OS...wtf? Who has that kind of money? Since when should the OS be worth half of what your actual computer cost to buy?
Still not seeing my point? |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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Just don't update that file then I suppose.
Besides, I paid for my Vista, and bought it legit, only to find it wouldn't work as genuine. To which a computer guy said it was a hardware issue. So I count this as getting my money back. I'll pay for windows 8 if they knock the prices down.
If only to spite Macs |
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kprrok
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Location: KC
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Mr. Pink wrote: |
With OS at least you can buy computers with OEM and they should be cheaper, straight out of the box and paying $300 for an OS...wtf? Who has that kind of money? Since when should the OS be worth half of what your actual computer cost to buy?
Still not seeing my point? |
Nope, still not seeing it. Why would you pay $300 for an OS when they're readily available for $110 - $180 online for completely legal OEM versions? Sorry, but your mom didn't do her research and if you're blaming MS for this, you're just wrong.
I got my W7 for $100, many people got it for even less. You just have to be a smart shopper.
I DO agree with you that they shouldn't charge so much for upgrades...but wait! YOU DO PAY LESS FOR AN UPGRADE! It's called the "upgrade version" that simply requires a previous legal version. Man, I'm so glad I'm able to teach you something since you're obviously not up to date on MS matters.
For Office, I'm sure you'll bring up the same thing that it costs $150 for the H&S version and over $300 for the full version. Well, just don't buy it if you don't like it. All new versions can open older versions' files, so you don't need to worry about it. The new versions can also save to an older version, so no worry.
Any more incorrect information I can clear up for you? |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| A cool idea is to illegally download say, Vista. and then buy the cheaper upgrade to 7. It's a victimless crime. |
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Bloopity Bloop
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Location: Seoul yo
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Lol @ people who use Windows Update. That's one of the first things that gets shut permanently off when I get a new rig. |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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| kprrok wrote: |
| Mr. Pink wrote: |
With OS at least you can buy computers with OEM and they should be cheaper, straight out of the box and paying $300 for an OS...wtf? Who has that kind of money? Since when should the OS be worth half of what your actual computer cost to buy?
Still not seeing my point? |
Nope, still not seeing it. Why would you pay $300 for an OS when they're readily available for $110 - $180 online for completely legal OEM versions? Sorry, but your mom didn't do her research and if you're blaming MS for this, you're just wrong.
I got my W7 for $100, many people got it for even less. You just have to be a smart shopper.
I DO agree with you that they shouldn't charge so much for upgrades...but wait! YOU DO PAY LESS FOR AN UPGRADE! It's called the "upgrade version" that simply requires a previous legal version. Man, I'm so glad I'm able to teach you something since you're obviously not up to date on MS matters.
For Office, I'm sure you'll bring up the same thing that it costs $150 for the H&S version and over $300 for the full version. Well, just don't buy it if you don't like it. All new versions can open older versions' files, so you don't need to worry about it. The new versions can also save to an older version, so no worry.
Any more incorrect information I can clear up for you? |
also an upgrade would be from windows 7 to sp1 or vista to vista sp1 to sp2 which is free (unlike upgrades with a mac)
win7 new os, vista new os |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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Upgrade versions are crap.
You need the full version and you need to format, and install the full version. Also, you look at the price of the OS and you say WTF?!?
How many years are you going to use it? I used XP for over 6 years. At $300 retail, it comes to about $50 a year to use XP.
In that time OSX had: Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, and Leopard. I can bet you that none of those upgrades came for free. So for 6 years I used 1 OS exclusively, Windows XP, which has been fantastic. XP rarely gave me any problems. There were 5 iterations of OSX during Windows XP. 5.
Anyone who says Microsoft is crap is stupid. Windows 7 is freaking awesome. It will be the mainstay OS for at LEAST 4 years. Can you sit there and say Snow Leopard will be the mainstay OSX version for the next 4 years? |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 4:49 am Post subject: |
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Cheers to that.
Apart from Windows 7 being awesome. It's great, but awesome is a bit strong a word, based on the relatively irritating/unnecessary interface. |
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languistic
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 5:35 am Post subject: |
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So far, the loaders that use encryption are safe. Any activation bypass that modifies/removes system files are busted. BIOS mods are currently the safest.
Everest can check your SLIC file to see if it is indeed 2.1, seen as "genuine" (simply seen as SLIC) or "emulated".
However, the WAT will call home every 90 days, so it may only be a matter of time before even the encrypted loaders fall. |
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kprrok
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Location: KC
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:22 am Post subject: |
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| Can someone explain to me why people who pirate software feel the need to whine and complain about the company they're stealing from trying to stop them from stealing? Seriously? You use the software, why not pay for it ya cheap punks? |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 am Post subject: |
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| Because we're Cheap + Punks. Answered yer own question there. |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| kprrok wrote: |
| Can someone explain to me why people who pirate software feel the need to whine and complain about the company they're stealing from trying to stop them from stealing? Seriously? You use the software, why not pay for it ya cheap punks? |
I don't see any pirates here complaining, only those that paid for it. Those that, umm, acquired it all seem pretty happy. Sure we are annoyed that microsoft is cracking down, but if i were a car thief and the cops caught me or came up with a new method to catch me I would be "annoyed" as well. |
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