MS Cracking Down on Cracks

Thump

"new practice that will examine consumers' Windows 7 PCs every
90 days to make sure they're running legitimate copies of the OS."

" 'phone home' checks that will occur at (for now) 90 day intervals
during the entire life of Windows 7 on a given PC, even months or
years after purchase."

"After users install the update, the WAT software will regularly
connect with Microsoft's servers -- the "phone home" functionality
that Weinstein called out -- to download new crack "signatures,"
which would then be used to reevaluate the copy of Windows 7"

Computer World Article

Thump

Duff

Well, being able to leave Windows Update enabled was nice while it lasted.

CoreDuo

This doesn't really solve anything. There are 2 main methods people use for activating Windows 7. One involves a bios mod, one involves a software loader (that doesn't touch system files, so microsoft can't cry reverse engineering). Both use preactivated OEM keys that skip the process entirely. So unless Microsoft wants to get into the dirty business of blacklisting 3rd party apps, then by all means. Until then, everyone is pretty much safe.

FedeArg

Agreed with CoreDuo, MS can't do shit against piracy.. there'll be always a new crack leaked to the net to own their newest and updated WAT technologies!

I'm using RemoveWAT 2.1 here without problems.. Also I've WU disabled because I don't give a shit about OS updates until a new service pack is released..

I've a good antivirus suite (NIS 2010) updated daily and that's enough for me, 0 problems so far with viruses from WU or other shit

BIOS mods are dangerous and Software Loaders (Like Windows 7 Loader v1.7.7r) tends to fail very frequently and leaving you in the cold... I'm not very confident of neither

Bah, that's my point of view.. I've had bad experiences with WU updates + Windows Cracks :(

CoreDuo

FedeArg wrote:

BIOS mods are dangerous and Software Loaders (Like Windows 7 Loader v1.7.7r) tends to fail very frequently and leaving you in the cold... I'm not very confident of neither

Wrong and wrong. If either one fail, you haven't read something correctly, or you've downloading something that isn't what you think it is. I've used both methods problem free since Vista.

JackTheStripper

It's Fede, what can you expect?

anantha92

Just out of curiousity, how many of you here actually use a legitimate copy of windows 7?

Happy Dude

yes, on my dell laptop, only cause it came with it.

JackTheStripper

You kids shouldn't bitch about something that you steal. It sounds like the stereotypical American thing to do.

Rioter

JackTheStripper wrote:

You kids shouldn't bitch about something that you steal. It sounds like the stereotypical American thing to do.

I think the majority of the people bitching above and below are American, so no surprises.

And to anatha92's question, Not yet... When I can be asked I will purchase a copy of 7, just not got round to it yet.

Anonymous

I think the good times are coming to an end though. Just don't
download and install it for now.

On the right to gripe, I have one machine running 7 legally and I'm
still not going to let it install. I don't want it to call home and recheck
my install every 90 days. That's a legitimate gripe.

Also just don't fall in love with any install, you can always reinstall it
if you keep an install disk from now, before it's added. If you're
satisfied with it now the way it is then you don't need updates.

Thump

noone

Thump wrote:

On the right to gripe, I have one machine running 7 legally and I'm
still not going to let it install. I don't want it to call home and recheck
my install every 90 days. That's a legitimate gripe.

You nailed what I thought spot on.
I guess I'm paranoid about software phoning home, it doesn't matter what it is for. If they're collecting data about your computer (knowing if its legal or not), who knows what other data they're taking. Yeah they have a privacy statement and all, but seriously, what company in this day and age really follows that statement?

CoreDuo

JackTheStripper wrote:

You kids shouldn't bitch about something that you steal. It sounds like the stereotypical American thing to do.

QFT. On my laptop i don't even *NEED* to buy it because I use a preactivated OEM key that matches the brand for a 100% legit install of W7. I used this method on my brother's Lenovo. My Core2Duo uses a similar method, but it was done by bios mod so it masquerades as a Dell.

As for the checking every 90 days, that has everything to do with WAT. There is also a method to circumvent that here.

Thump

Here's a take on it from the Inquirer:

You don't own your computer, Microsoft does

Thanks for the link CoreDuo, haven't tried it yet though.

Thump

Ka0s

Thump wrote:

Here's a take on it from the Inquirer:

You don't own your computer, Microsoft does

Thanks for the link CoreDuo, haven't tried it yet though.

Thump

This same article came out YEARS ago related to XP I think it was... that you dont own your computer, Microsoft does.

Who cares. I havent paid for Windows EVER.

Anonymous

I use Windows 7 legitimately.

Anyway, uh, SMTP doesnt work.

stitch

guys, it will be easy to just uh, prevent any access to these phone home servers in your router.

Thump

It's here.

Block Wat! Block KB971033 !

Page I stole about it

Thump

BlueSun

Yet another useless anti-piracy measure.

They've yet to actually come up with something that stops piracy. All it does is serve as an annoyance for people with legal copies of Windows.

I'm sure it's not entirely useless. There's probably a small group of casual pirates that were deterred by it, but that's definitely not enough to stop piracy altogether and like I said, it really just annoys their legit users.

Thump

I don't know anyone who would be deterred, just "Whoops, damn,
I'll have to format and reinstall."

BlueSun

Actually not even that, they say it can be uninstalled.

Q

I've never tried it, but Hazar made a WAT uninstaller.

-Q

Duff

I'm using some version of 7 Loader on here, but I used WAT Remover on my laptop.

Both seem to do the job.

BOD

anantha92 wrote:

Just out of curiousity, how many of you here actually use a legitimate copy of windows 7?

I have two.

bugmenott

anantha92 wrote:

Just out of curiousity, how many of you here actually use a legitimate copy of windows 7?

I don't have (or use) windows at all. I do have a "legitimate" copy of M$ Linux 11.2 in my PC. If that counts.

FedeArg

bugmenott wrote:

anantha92 wrote:

Just out of curiousity, how many of you here actually use a legitimate copy of windows 7?

I don't have (or use) windows at all. I do have a "legitimate" copy of M$ Linux 11.2 in my PC. If that counts.

Wait, with M$ are you referring to Microsoft? Microsoft Linux? :O

VaultDweller

He's an idiot.

M$ Linux 11.2 doesn't exist, either that, or it's a modified version of Ubuntu or something.

BOD

The closest thing there was to "MS Linux", at least to my knowledge was xenix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenix

BlueSun

http://www.mslinux.org/ ?

anantha92 wrote:

Just out of curiousity, how many of you here actually use a legitimate copy of windows 7?

Actually, I do. yay for MSDN.

bugmenott

AntiWin wrote:

He's an idiot.

M$ Linux 11.2 doesn't exist, either that, or it's a modified version of Ubuntu or something.

Actually. It does.

JackTheStripper

That looks like some 2004 shit.

Also looks like SUSE Linux.