RSSWhistler Security Cracked
By Aaron Dobbins | Published January 19, 2001, 5:18 PM
As many BetaNews readers have said in the past, it seems that extra security thrown into Windows Whistler has been cracked, and easily, you might add. British site The Register is reporting that sources told them the security measures are easy to get around, and should cause no problem for those who would like to have the upcoming OS without actually paying for it.
According to the article Whistler security works as follows. Code on the CD partners with a specific code generator that develops a code specific to the system configuration to create another code which is sent to Microsoft via the phone or the Web. Once MS receives that code, another code is sent back to you as the user, which is entered into the system, and the software is unlocked.
While BetaNews will not post the exact method to get around the security, we can tell you that it's not all together that difficult, if what the sources told The Register works.
John Lettice, who wrote the article, posed this interesting question at the end of his article: "So friends, is this system really intended to tackle piracy at all? Isn't it perhaps more plausible to think of the objective as being to enforce universal registration of Microsoft products with Microsoft?"
Tell us what you think, and you can read the article over at The Register if you'd like to.
Where i can download it???? Or please send me e-mail at diok@sympatico.ca !!!!!!!!!
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|Whistler and IE 6.0 are available from bestweb.to/miniweb
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|Anyone know if this beta, installed as an upgrade, gives the option to go back to the older version of Windoze you were using? Like 95 to 98, or 98 to me?
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|Do dual boot.
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|See that's just the problem...I can't do a dual boot. No extra partition because my drive came pre-formatted into FAT 32. Incredibly dumb move using an unmanagable filesystem! Anyway, I'm pretty sure I could find some software to allow me to partition my drive, but I don't know if I'd trust it. That's why I asked about a roll back.
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|LEGIT tester here. :-) Having problems installing that I haven't gotten any help for yet. I get a message at install saying it can't detect my current version of Windows (upgrading to Pro from WinME). Any ideas?
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|1 word FORMAT Kill ME it is not safe to install whistler over a non nt based os
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|How can people even assume that you would have to buy a new OS if you decide to upgrade your computer? There would obviously be a way to reset the key and reactivating. I think it is a good initiative to add value to your product even if it wont stop piracy. There is also the issue of personal use and companies using illegal software. I believe that Microsoft's biggest concern is the piracy of Office in business machines.
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|Just FYI Your site has already been sent to MS Piracy department and probably will be quite peeved about this. I really if I were you take down at least your download section before they take legal action. Posting information about whistler and dedicating your site to whistler is pretty cool,but the download section can get you into a LOT of trouble. When it comes to screenshots,exploits,and internal information,MS generally will ask nicely before pursuing any further action,but direct downloads are compeletely different and will be dealt with harshly. Remember,MS has been known to go after the little guy
MindWalker
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|Go report some real crimes and dismount your effin' high-horse. I mean, seriously, there's probably people murdering, raping and selling drugs in your home town.. but you choose to bully what are most likely technology enthusiasts trying to discover the latest technology that otherwise they wouldn't have access to.
MS should really have a program for youth and aspiring IT professionals to get involved in developement and testing. I think it would be excellent for their mind-share.
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|I didn't report it. It was posted in a private MS newsgroup. I just am relaying this information to this person to save tme a lot of uneeded trouble. Piracy,especially with whistler is a real pain in the a** for MS at this point and they've been cracking down a lot harder. If I thought MS wouldn't do anything,I wouldn't have bothered posint this. I've been around long enought to get a general idea of what happens to people who do this s***. I didn't mean to sound to 'high-horse'ish,but just to offer some advice.
MindWalker
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|hey rb-338.com i was looking at your websites and i wanna e-mail u about whistler and FTPS. i couldn't find your e-mail address so i am using this to contact you. please write me back at timisoara@gomail.net
thanx.
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|Crack is only for 30 day expiration, isn't it ?
The major problem might be the security measure, like finger print..that is going to be a huge trouble for many people.
As there is no way of knowing what Microsoft had done, if one needs to
install and reinstall Whistler, one might not be able to do so...as
Whistler thinks that OS must belong to one machine-already finger printed. I do install and reinstall Windows or NT so many times....
(Some stupid (lack of better words)programs do really kill Operating System..and only way to get windows back in business is to reformat a hard disk and install OS. This might cause the security measure not to accept CD keys. Or If I upgrade motherboard/Processor, OS might think that it is a new computer.
I really don't understand what Microsoft is thinking about.........
And OS must be activated through internet connection..... so, if your ISP is down during installation, you cannot use it.
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|by phone or by internet - so you don't need an internet connection... read the article.
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|The crack does remove the expiration, which is actually 70 or 80 days, I can't remember which.
It also removes the "CD Key / Registration" part of the setup process, which would normally prevent you from running the OS if you failed to enter a valid code.
The problem I see with this hack, is that you will have a version of Windows that doesn't have a CD Key entered in the registry. There's nothing to stop Microsoft from adding some code that makes Windows refuse to work unless the key exists. Then the pirates would bring out a crack that disables the check... and Microsoft would patch it via Windows Update... and so on.
But really, I don't think they should use this in the final product. Put it this way, there is no way I'd pay another 120 bucks for the privelege of reinstalling the system or upgrading the CPU.
If their security by the gold release is good enough to defeat pirates (which it won't be, ever, but supposing it was) people would give up the idea and choose a different OS. Sure, there's a lot of software for Windows, but by that point I don't think anyone would care.
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|Every once in a while The Register does some questionable reporting and like to print a lot of hearsay. And the information is also based on a beta of the software so there is no way of knowing what will be thrown into the finals. I think MS is trying to experiment with software protection methods, unsuccessfully so apparently.
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|that people were so afraid of previously that turned out to be bogus
the crack involves a swapping of 2 files inside the i386 directory, and works like a charm.
the register is retarded.
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|Thank you for that highly educated answer. Adding insult to injury always makes you the better man, don't it?
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|Yo buddy, you wouldn't happen to know where i can download a copy of whistler would you?
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|and i should care what you say because.... ?
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|I'm not the only one you look like a complete "retard" to man :)
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|uh
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|http://rb-338.com/whistler.html
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|i agree... he's not the only one who looks that way...
both of you shut up and lets do what we came here to do...
solace, which file is it you need to replace?
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|post 2416_ still need the .rar file
please thanks
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|post 2416_ still need the .rar file
please thanks
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|what kind of file is this supposed to be?
I d/l all of the files, and extracted them with WinRar, and it extracts to a image file. What's up with it?
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|Burn the image with your CD-Writer. OR, get ISOBuster and extract all the files from the image. http://www.ping.be/vcd/isobuster.htm
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|can u dual boot whisler with WINME?
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|yes
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|setupp.ini and setreg.hiv
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|what do you mean by "swap" these two files? rename each as the other? thanks...top jimmy
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|you need the 2 cracked files of these and replace the existing.
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|ummm...any way a fella could get a hold of those cracked files?
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|on NT or 2k run regedt32 import the setupreg.hiv file edit then export. Now my friends time is all we have.....
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