Microsoft warns about activation crack, but 'pleased' people want to install Windows 7

By Tim Conneally and Nate Mook | Published July 29, 2009, 6:20 PM

Windows 7 white main story bannerAs to be expected, Microsoft responded to news today that Windows 7 activation had already been cracked by telling Betanews that customers should not pirate the operating system. But the company also said it was happy to hear that people wanted to install Windows 7.

Following the publication of an activation crack for Windows 7 mere days after it was released to manufacturing, we contacted Microsoft to hear its take on the issue, which appears to be a repeat of the Windows Vista crack from 2006. Windows XP activation was also cracked not long after its launch.

"Microsoft strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources. Downloading Windows 7 from peer-to-peer Web sites is piracy, and exposes users to increased risks -- such as viruses, Trojans and other malware and malicious code -- that usually accompany counterfeit software. These risks can seriously harm or permanently destroy data and often expose users to identity theft and other criminal schemes," the company told us.

Nonetheless, Microsoft actually seemed flattered by the crack, a surprising admission that probably has more to do with making Windows desirable again than piracy.

"We're pleased that customers are eager to begin using Windows 7!" a Microsoft spokesperson added.

Decades ago, the anecdotes go, Microsoft actually liked people pirating Windows, because it helped spread the operating system and eventually establish its dominance across the PC market. It may be "strongly advising" people not to pirate Windows 7, but it's clear the company desperately wants customers to want the upgrade.

Is this a sign of lowered expectations after Vista's painful launch, which was delayed by more than nine months and then saw only a lukewarm reception?

Comments

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Having used W7RC myself, I'm impressed with some of the improvements over Vista... (although not so impressed with the lack of included multi-touch software (not even demos) and the fact that it is still incredibly similar to Vista).

It's possible that Windows 7 may be the very first OS from Microsoft that I'll purchase an individual copy of (as opposed to purchasing it with a computer, or acquiring by other means...) because, as far as I've seen so far, it seems relatively well-put together. Afterall, it seems that Windows 7 is to Vista what XP was to ME :P

But I'm not counting my chickens, yet.... Microsoft still has a few months before the public release to make some big, stupid mistake :P

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And now it's been blacklisted. We'll see how long that lasts.

yea it was a bad time to start using keys since the OEM windows 7 PC's are not even out on the market yet so it would have hurt lenovo at all

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Cracking windows game over ? LOL oh i had a good laugh over that one. all you need is a hacked boot loader and windows will be active forever. hackers also update WGA all the time so all it is is a little inconvenience for the people who pirate it

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Yes, yes, sure, sure... Hackers will hack every piece of code coming from MS in the next few years to root out WGA-style code from it. WGA-style = OS tampering self-checking code.

I pity your stupidity. You shall be the owner of a legit Windows 7 copy because you, yourself, will very soon come to the conclusion that it's no "little inconvenience" to remain a Windows 7 pirate. Don't worry, I'll forgive you when you do that since you'll obviously deem me a prophet or at least somewhat divine in your little heart of yours hehehehehehehehehehe

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And now it's been blacklisted. We'll see how long that lasts.

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Probably not any time at all. If Orbit30 (win7vista) doesn't have his fix out yet, it will likely be out very soon..

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Oh yeah, I remember the news that even pirates didn't want to pirate Vista. So this is just spin to spread the perverse news that Win7 is "pirate-ready"...

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who knows, but maybe the flaw and the leak is "deliberate" by microsoft.

perhaps, it is a method to snare would-be pirates to take the bait.

but i wouldn't really give microsoft the benefit of the doubt.

for all pratical purposes, microsoft took vista (with flaws and all) and simply tweaked the features and basically repackaged it into w7.

accounting wise, it would be cheap for microsoft to repaint the desktop and features, than to overhaul vista or re-write most of the code or make new code for w7.

just like yesteryears left overs of polish goulash, served on a different plate as american stew with some fresh bread.

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It's just an OS, my friend... I could live very happily even with Windows 2000 FOREVER.. Just a stable OS with near-100% compatibility with the stuff I actually need (software/hardware). Anything better than that, is like picking a diff restaurant to eat at from now and then. You do spend over $50 a year on restaurants without giving it so much thought as to "was it so worth the money or should I stayed home and ate a can of tuna"..right?

So I see no reason why throwing $50 on an OS "facelift" or "real performance enhacement" or even "just different and new" is such a big deal for people to justify. Can't justify? Keep eating your tuna... I bought 3 cans of Windows 7 upgrade for $50 each and regret not buying 6 more to give as gifts to family/friends...cuz I'm about the only person capable of doing such things (upgrading an OS while reinstalling+reconfiguring added software and restoring data from old OS/software).

To each his own... This ain't such a big deal actually.

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I would not call windows 7 any more flawed then Vista or XP was. If it has IE in it Its going to be flawed. Besides the point Its not the OS that has the flaw its activation itself. Just like DRM. If it can be unlocked in any way, it can be cracked.... If you can see it happen it can be tracked and reverse engineered... Its as simple as that. That dear colleges is been the fundamental flaw in the Activation process from the beginning. All it was, was another puzzle for these people who get off on puzzles to solve. In the end the only one it hurts is the legitimate customer who has the deal with false negatives on genuine, or worse, in the original Vista releases case inability to use their purchased software any longer cause big brother decided they needed to buy it again cause they THINK your illegal. If a hacker wants something they will take it. It the way its always been, its the way it always will be. Legal customers will buy and those that want it illegally will not... They just got to hope there are more honest people then not in the market pull... If there isn't then give incentives for legality... Special features upgrades yadda yadda yadda... MS is finally starting to get that. and I have to give them at least that much credit...

The key thing that makes ALL of MS vulnerable to begin with is normally IE when they made IE so integrated into the OS it could not be turned off or replaced THAT was put the OS at risk more then anything. Now with the EU lawsuits in windows 7 IE Is a component again and can be uninstalled and reinstalled, WITHOUT having to wipe out the computer to do so. Indeed it could theoretically be removed, but then you have to rely on SP issues for updates only from that point on... In some cases that could be a good thing. In others not... I can think of many computers that really do not want Internet access at all... especially in businesses... I haven't said much of late cause I was always so discussed with Vista from Alpha to beta to launch... Now MS sent me Windows 7 and I have to say THIS is what Vista SHOULD have been all along... the only disappointment is that its not just a SP to Vista to fix it the way it should be. BUT that being said, MS is making it really cheap. Really really cheap in comparison to Vistas prices. For businesses even more so... This OS I think will really be the one for MS again... Every once in a while I guess MS needs to make a huge flop in order to get themselves back on track with market demands again...

Anyways. Just my 2 cents...

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Hi,
Thanks for confirming that you wrote a comment about Win7 is uncrackable a while ago. I tried to search to this original post but didn't find it. And thanks for the additional technical explanation about the "science" behind this cracking stuffs. Based on the low rating I got in the post below, I am surprised you don't have any flame yet.

Do you think that all the anti-cracking measures present in Win7, could they contribute to any slowdown, bloat, or instability in a noticeable manner?

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You have to play around with Orca a little bit for Windows 2000 to be good for everything. Its artificial limitations in most cases. Just take out the OS check and it works fine... BUT every once in a while there is a program that actually needs a little more then just the windows 200 kernel... Even I have to admit that. ;)

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Thanks for your kind words. Actually, I'm quite surprised myself ppl read my words as they're mostly intellectual stimulation for myself hehehehe. You must be an intellectual for being able to follow the threads of my thoughts ;)

I honestly don't know what anti-cracking measures MS uses - but in theory, they can have a system that'll be virtually crack-proof. Windows code is so complex and MS has such a huge army of coders, that no cracking group can reverse engineer thousands of little "anti-crack bombs" that occur ONLY, say, exactly at 15:55:11 seconds every 3rd Friday, or ONLY after you copy 15 files on a Monday... or ONLY after you download 2GB of data this month. Or only IF you visit CNN website 5 times this month... you get the drift ... the anti-crack bombs (landmines actually) can make it impossible to defuse in a reasonable amount of time. Cracking Windows 7 in 500,000 hours isn't practical when in 10,000 hours SP1 is out with totally new location of "landmines".... etc.

I don't think anti-crack measures should in the longrun pose any noticeable slowness or instability. In the shortrun, probably so, yes. But even if a deadbolt has caused some ppl to burn alive in their homes at some occasion, it doesn't mean that putting a deadbolt in your home is a bad idea... It just means you learn from the mistakes (like Sony's DRM rootkit mistake) and only gradually increase anti-cracking mechanisms. At the same time computing power increases naturally so an addt'l "authentication check" here and there shouldn't matter much -- you'll have plenty of extra CPU-cores for handling that anyway. It'll def add size to the code, but not necessarily noticeable memory footprint. After all, the "timebomb landmine" simply checks if the "circumstances to execute" are correct, a 0.001ms check, and then when fails (in 99.999% of time) just goes on to do the task of the real code. Besides, MS can design it so all the authentication tests will be done when user is away from keyboard, system in standby, 90%+ of cpu is idle, etc. In short, anti-cracking will become very sophisticated, and once Win7 WILL BE SHOWN TO BE THE FIRST OS COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE TO PIRATE IN CHINA, RUSSIA, INDIA, then naturally the next step would be to partner with other piracy-stricken big software vendors and charge them 10% commission for making sure their Adobe/AutoCad products aren't pirated. But that's 10+ yrs from now... First lets see my prediction becoming true in front of our eyes re Win7.

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I don't believe this will continue to work over the long run. It'll be an ongoing crack vs. Windows Update arms race, unless you just decide never to update the OS and leave your system unpatched and vulnerable. That said, I can't say I haven't at least given SOME thought to exploring a crack.

I've bought 3 copies via the $49 pre-order promotion, and do have 3 purchased retail copies of XP that qualify me for the upgrade. So why would I even ponder a crack? I'm rather displeased with the upgrade requirement that an installed and activated copy of XP or Vista be present to install and activate Windows 7. That's quite an added time sink to both initial install and later reinstall of Windows 7, having to install another OS first. Then what happens when this is happening too near an earlier activation and a phone call to Bangalore is necessary to reset the activation? Install XP first, make the call, reset it, then install 7 and make yet another phone call to reset that activation? Yikes.

I'm a paying customer and still have at least been tempted by workarounds to avoid having to deal with this silly upgrade prerequisite that imposes heavily on me. I won't go with the workaround, though, because as I mentioned above, the arms race is inevitable and over the long run is probably more aggravation and risk (of going unpatched at times) than just screwing around with the ridiculous upgrade process.

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I think all they require for the upgrade is the Windows XP media....it'll ask you to enter the media to verify it and then proceed with the 7 install. I could be wrong....

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Even if you don't update your Windows, you'll be caught if you try to pirate. MS can, and thus has, sprinkled self-checks in the system. In other words there could potentially be thousands of WGA's (by diff/no name) in the system that will "randomly" connect to "mother ship"... The OS is so complex that nobody sane will even dream of ridding all self-checking code in the system... By the time he's done we'll be on Windows 70 hehehehe

The only way to permanently crack Windows 7 is to permanently sever connection to MS servers. Of course, MS possibly thought of that scenario too, so they may have thousands of yet-unknown IP-ranges in thousands of self-check codes that mask the identity of those IPs (MS servers).

Of course, they may not be that advanced YET, but point is: CRACKING WINDOWS - GAME OVER.

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its not required, there are workarounds

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"CRACKING WINDOWS - GAME OVER."
On the flip side, Microsoft will slip up and thousands of legit license owners will be marked as pirates.

Essentially these cracking programs just have to emulate being in an OEM/ Volume License Key environment. They have done it in the past with every revision of WIndows, and they will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

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No they will not. Read up a little about VLKs. MS hasn't been using these since, well, Vista.

http://www.microsoft.com...product-activation.aspx

"Recent Changes to Volume Activation
With Volume Licensing for products such as Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, you must use a new type of product activation called Volume Activation (VA). To activate these operating systems with VA, you can use either a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) or Key Management Service (KMS), requiring a KMS key."

In other words, MS gives Dell 10,000 licenses for some batch of PCs, Dell PRE-ACTIVATES these 10,000 PCs, while giving hardware fingerprint (hardware hash) and Dell's S/N (off BIOS) of these machines. Customer gets the machine and is a happy camper... They also most likely use the encryption chip on board making sure there's a DIGITAL SIGNATURE for all the info mentioned above (hardware hash, s/n, etc). Meaning you will NOT be able to mass-fake this information. You could take ONE DELL MACHINE and try to reverse engineer it and get NOWHERE.

Let's wait and see if "they will continue to do so for the forseeable future". I, unlike you, see the future much clearer...

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I'm gonna say it again so you idiots who keep insisting "everything is crackable" read this warning carefully so you don't waste your time cracking Win 7 Ultimate, only to have to later on REFORMAT YOUR MACHINE and install legit Windows.

There's NO WAY you can beat Microsoft in this game any more. Any BIOS hacks are bound to be noticed by MS... Like, c'mon, how the F*CK are you gonna fake a valid serial number of some Dell customer? MS's anti-piracy algorithm makers OBVIOUSLY thought of that one, "genius"... So when you're using valid OEM keys on a faked BIOS, you better also be able to fake a real serial number. MS has a list of all those valid s/n's... So you'd think, "gee, I can probably just go to Best Buy and steal some valid serial # from the BIOS screen".. ERRRR, wrong answer...you'll also have to steal all the hardware there...Microsoft has a list of hardware-hashes associated with that serial. "but what if I change the X device on my new PC???" - well, what's the problem there, sweetboy? First you ACTIVATE with the REAL HARDWARE, then you can change it without MS bothering you... And if they're suspicious, I'm sure they can very easily judge in your favor when they see your IP is from the same GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION, right sweetboy?? Can you fake the IP of the lawful owner of the license?? Can you fake the hardware hash of the original lawful owner??

Didn't think so.

Now, whether MS is actually as smart as me or not, remains to be seen. Whether they want to stick it hard to the pirates at the beginning, or let a little piracy on the loose for a little "undetected" while ALSO remains to be seen. I've simply given you the theoretical WHY to answer the question on your mind in the near future.."WHY did my cracked Windows 7 detect itself as pirated"....

Now good luck. You're gonna need A LOT OF LUCK to rip out WGA-type-inserted code in ALL future MS files..I've said files..drivers..updates..freebies like Live Messenger, etc etc.. not to mention the already sprinkled "sleeper cells" in the OS...ready to terrorize any pirate in the future... IT IS HOPELESS - WINDOWS 7 SHALL BE DEEMED UNCRACKABLE BY ANY PRACTICAL MEANS WITHIN A YEAR OR TWO OF RELEASE...

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Well, that shows how much Snow Leopard is worth.

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Weird I paid $50 for 7...

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That's great, except that Snow Leopard won't install on my system and a comparable Mac will more than eat up that $290 gap.

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$119 or 199
why does everyone quote Ultimate? nobody needs Ultimate, douche bags

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Because Ultimate is the non-arbitrarily stripped down version of Windows. Apple gives you a fully functional OS in the single version of Snow Leopard for _way_ cheaper than Microsoft sells their totally stripped down/crippled version of Windows Vista 7.

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Except you need to spend at least $1400 on a system that you can install it on...I can install 7 on all the machines I own now...and it only cost me $50 to get the upgrade.

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Fatty, It cracks me up that you are so against Microsoft when Apple is just as evil (if not more). Locking down iPhone from using "Redundant" software is a great example. Most of the features in Ultimate is not needed for the standard user.

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I get this eery feeling fatty is actually a Windows user. He cannot possibly be such a caricature Mac fanatic... Oh wait, maybe he can hehehehe

Seriously, I think it's very good for the economy that some ppl with cash spend MORE on their "computing needs" when they go the Apple route. Better spent there than on some silly local purchase for more food for the fatty arse or clothing... At least we, the PC users, benefit directly when there are more Mac users, pushing PC prices down.

I don't feel sorry for the fools who buy Macs without doing full research, and I certainly don't feel bad for the Mac fanatics who have looked at the PC option seriously, and have rejected it because for them spending more $$$ to save time, is a good investment. Realistically, PCs will always be more time-consuming to operate if you're NOT A GEEK. Even for the mere fact they're made of INFERIOR COMPONENTS *on*average*, hence more problems.

I'll take the "save thousands of dollars a year and deal with the minor problems" personally...

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Hmmm, interesting that there is no way to run Snow Leopard on a netbook. However, any version of Win7 will run on a netbook. What does that say about your "superior" operating system? Sure, you get a fully functional operating system "for_way_cheaper" (which is HIGHLY debateable, btw) but your choice of hardware to run it on is severely reduced and considerably raises the cost of your OS.

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Odd I only paid $50.
Perhaps you should shop elsewhere fatty.

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Fatty is a member of the Joint users

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I suspect Fatty is a member of a rabid anti-ms cult or something. I'll bet he has a shrine to Jobs at home, probably buys virgin PCs just to sacrifice them on an altar...
But Apple is perfect, in every way!
http://www.engadget.com/...-censoring-a-dictionary/

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we are all eager to get win7,but when
This is my question if any one at betanews can give me an answer "When can I get the final win7 in American markets?"or can I get Vista, and is it a reliable system any more??

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I've never had a problem with security in XP. I simply just don't do stupid things like download the latest exe contain Brittany Spears sex tape, duh. Unfortunately just because I don't do it doesn't mean other won't and for them I really don't care what operating system they are running, XP, Vista, 7 and what security features it has those folks will always have a few virus' on their system.

I have seen a few problems with WGA for XP, but they have been few and far between and easy enough to fix as for Vista I have only once seen the dark screen problem and a bit of a pain to fix but then again even searching the internet I have trouble finding it being a really big problem.

I still use XP at home, I don't buy operating systems I buy the computer and the os just comes with it and that's why I don't run Vista, no biggie there. I have used Vista for quite a while now at work, we have two fairly new computer that Vista came on, eh whatever nothing new that really impressed me. As for work they decided not to upgrade all their computers to Vista mostly because of cost, I'm told from a friend in IT it's really hard to pull money from the big guys upstairs if they don't see a really good reason to spend it. But again not Vista's fault here.

As for the "crack" for Windows 7, I wasn't surprised at first until I read how it's done and can't help but wonder, does Microsoft know from which OEM this stuff came from ? I can't help but wonder if the company with said OEM doesn't have an idea on which employee released this stuff etc.
Eh beats me.

Oh and for Windows 7, I have yet to use it but from what I've been reading around the net, lots of folks have had a lot of really good things to say about it so I have to admit I'm curious and look forward to giving it a spin someday. I do plan to buy a new computer early in 2010.

Just my 2 cents, after taxes crap I owe :)

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The activation for windows vista involved a OEM Cd-key and a OEM Certificate. These two files where the same for ALL computers from the same OEM and because of this OEM's or MS could not just block the cd-key and cert.

The crack for Win 7 is the same but uses slic 2.1 instead of 2.0 so existing computers either need a new slic table in bios (easier to do then you imagine, either do it yourself with 2 clicks/script with a existing bios file or download a allready modded one for your particular motherboard) or a bios emulation useing a alternated bootloader (grub), both wich are undetectable for the OS - So you essentialy get a activation that passes all kind of WGA and CD-key checks, and short of deactivating miljons of machines there is no way for MS to acctualy prevent it.

Ps. Downloading ISOS from the web is as safe as doing a retail DVD install, just check MS's official hashes and compare them to the iso you have).

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To be fair, this is not a simple crack. It requires bios modding which even most computer literate people cannot do and which can really crew up your comp. Uber computer geeks will use the crack for their own personal use but that's about it.

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actually as i should of thought of earlier, but reminded by some smart folks, this isn't a crack... more of a circumvention using a master key, nothing was cracked

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i don't think anybody would of said that here, or any other respectable site... NOTHING is impossible to crack

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I'm the one who said it. The only one (apparently) smart enough to understand that no software that communicated with "mother ship" is possible to crack long term... If you're willing to re-crack it every few months that's a diff story...

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why would you need to recrack? just never allow the OS to call home, for updates or otherwise, i know many who are using pirated XP and Vista and to my knowledge haven't recracked

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i say bring on those pirates, yarr... i was one once, for many a year, but figured after years of free Windows use, and considering how well it served me that i'd start paying for it, has to be more out there like me? lol

regardless, no real surprise it was cracked, OEM activation hadn't changed since Vista

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Too true. Surprised it took this long.

Love how people complain about WGA being more trouble than it's woth and then turn around and install some hack that they'll probably have more trouble with than they would have had with WGA.

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It is not that WGA is "more trouble than it is worth", it is that WGA is a remote "off switch" that Redmond uses to remove my ability to use the software I have purchased.

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switch off what? if your copy of Windows is not genuine, its nag only in XP and (was removed from Vista SP1) and i assume Windows 7, with the exception of chinese users i believe... their WGA is different from that of many of us

Windows 7 Beta and 7 RC have timebomb as it should, not sure about RTM

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huh? u mean ur supposed to buy the OS? When did that start?

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"Installing Windows 7 from legitimate channels exposes users to increased risks -- such as viruses, Trojans and other malware and malicious code -- that usually accompany Microsoft software."

FTFY. Too easy. Would like to see the latest malware infection rates for Vista SP2 versus XP SP3, anyone have a link?

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even the leaks, many of them were filled with viruses and bad code, even just in the setup files.. so yes, its a bad idea for just anyone to pirate anything, unless you're cautious...

hell, just buy a copy of 7 and then pirate the sh*t out of which ever version you want, you're still may have to activate it using some method/crack/hack/or pre cracked whatever, just to lazy to activate yourself? lol

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Sometimes its just easy to use the crack because activation becomes an annoyance because it constantly deactivates itself for no good reason. Even updating a driver will do this.

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"it constantly deactivates itself for no good reason."

You are so full of it....

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i think you're off the mark here, if you change up your system enough, like say, trying to shuffle in and out parts, i have heard of activation issues, say when someone trys to migrate a previous OS install onto different hardware sets... thats it

as for driver updates? i've updated my drivers many a time in Vista, i've never been nagged to reactivate

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Generally yes, but not in this case. I've seen XP de-activate simply by removing malware. :p

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I can confirm activation issues with Vista Pre- SP1. Had to call India 3-4 times in 2007.

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what was the problem and solution in that situation?

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LOL that was great "deactivates itself for no good reason" just as funny as "even updating a driver will do this". I have NEVER seen that occur on XP, Vista OR 7 RC (and i update drivers, and do all sorts of s*** to my PCs). Where'd that bull come from? Only time i've seen it happen is if a considerable hardware change has occurred, ie the mainboard. And even then i just re-activated and i'm fine. Yeah it's annoying, for about the 5 seconds it takes to do it :P

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The problem: I was continually asked to activate Vista 32-bit OEM in March through June of 2007. I installed Vista on an ASUS P5B Deluxe that maintained the same hardware throughout. I formatted my Vista box in December of 2007 and I was prompted again after it was up and running. Online activation would show as successful in system properties, however taskbar notifications told me to call Microsoft.
I called the automated activation line 4 times total. The automated prompt to enter my codes did not work (each time, that is a total of entering/speaking hundreds of characters total) and I was put on hold to speak with someone with an Indian accent each time. Each time I was interviewed asking how many PC's I had installed Vista on. I was essentially accused of pirating the software by their line of questioning. They eventually read me a manual key to input. Microsoft eventually released SP1 which included [many] fixes to the activation system. By then I had had it and I decided, as the IT Implementor for my company, that the OS was not ready for prime time. Microsoft lost direct sales (yeah from our piddly company,) based on my direct experience with their activation technology.

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What hogwash.
If you are having that issue you should contact MS.

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...and I could tell you the stories about our clients having no issues with it....but those aren't as exciting.

Anecdotal evidence is useless.

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they's gonna mess with my WiFi?! noone told me this :P

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