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1. 
   Review - SIGuardian

   1.3 (Nov 10, 2000)

   Doesn't work for SCSI, eh? Hmm, let me think a bit, why wouldn't a program called "S.M.A.R.T *IDE* Guardian" not work for SCSI? :-) Gee, I really wonder :-))

2. Comment - Microsoft: SP2 Will Not Install on Pirated Copies of XP

   1.3 (May 13, 2004 - 2:38 PM)

   Decided to do some research of my own.
   
   Located a 38KB KeyGen that actually allows specification of the PID desired.
   
   Damn fast, too: generated 2484 unique VLKs in *2* minutes! I used a stop watch. Leads me to believe earlier so-called KeyGens must have used a sort-of educated brute-force approach.
   
   Anyway, I hope it's obvious that I didn't actually check all those keys really work, but I did a spot check on a few and they worked OK...
   
   So again I repeat what I've said a few times before on this page: this decision does not hurt pirates. Only legit users will be annoyed by it. Are any Voles reading me...?
   
   Even assuming MS do manage to somehow miraculously block all KeyGens currently out there, how long do you expect it would take for new KeyGens to be written? A few months, at best? In the meantime, there would certainly be a few leaked current corporate keys to tidy people over. In case you didn't know, it's *impossible* for a corporation to control access to its software keys. All that is required is for any employee to run a system information tool (i.e. AIDA32) on a PC to lookup the keys used on it.

3. Comment - Microsoft: SP2 Will Not Install on Pirated Copies of XP

   1.3 (May 13, 2004 - 2:08 PM)

   The specific nature of the activation-by-phone service is dependant on which part of the world you're in, actually.
   
   In the future, VMSBIGOT, try remembering the world is bigger than your backyard.

4. Comment - Microsoft: SP2 Will Not Install on Pirated Copies of XP

   1.3 (May 13, 2004 - 12:40 AM)

   Oh, so *I*'m the subject right now? I thought it was SP2, really.
   
   How does it go? "It gives me a migraine headache, thinking down to your level", I believe.
   
   Anyway: the point is Microsoft's so-called anti-piracy measures don't hurt or even slightly inconvenience pirates *or* their "clients". They have their key generators, cracks and other tools to get around these measures. Even physical copy protection measures are worked around.
   
   The only people hurt by these measures are Microsoft's legitimate users who will at best be unlikely to be able to get the fixes for their newly-installed Windows' because of all the worms still about and at worst will end up with nice shiny coasters with a cool hologram on them just because Microsoft will no longer activate their Windows' again because they've upgraded their hardware too often for the Vole's taste. I can even almost see the rationale: "If you've spent several thousand dollars on new hardware in the last year, you can surly spare a hundred or two for a new copy of Windows...?".
   
   Here's another scenario: the real pirates, you know, aren't the ones copying the latest Windows for their friend on their 52x CD-RW. The real pirates are the people who make fake copies of software, complete with packaging and holograms, virtually indistinguishable from the real originals.
   
   Assume that you've decided to get Windows XP, hunted about for a bargain, got the cheapest one you could and installed it. Now, you know there's this pain(ful/less) Activation process you have to go through, so what would be your reaction if your newly-installed Windows *didn't* ask you to Activate it?
   
   Depends entirely on you, of course, but a goody-two-shoes user with sufficient free time will take the package and report to the nearest Vole. Which would more than likely crack a pirate ring or two.
   
   So what does John Silver do? Well, simple really: use the same KeyGen, only generate normal activate-able keys instead of VLKs and print *those* on the packages. What this basically means is that there is a very slight probability that there would be, somewhere out there, a legitimate user with a key identical to one of those the pirate uses. Guess what happens when that legit user tries to activate his/her copy of Windows... If the user of the pirated copy runs into trouble, of course, s/he'll just be given another copy of Windows XP (with a diffirent key) and apologized to until s/he thinks Bill Gates will apologize personally, next. Costumer satisfaction is important, you know.
   
   Also, on the OEM packages of Windows and Office (if you've ever seen one), the key is in plain sight protected by only a layer of shrink-wrapping. Very easy to copy it down, if you happen to work in a place that sells them and be the kind of masochist who insists on going through Activation even when pirating.
   
   Now I cannot be sure which of these two cases I've ran into (most probably the later), but there were a few cases of newly-opened copies of Vole software refusing to Activate because they're marked as pirated in Microsoft's databases...

5. Comment - Microsoft: SP2 Will Not Install on Pirated Copies of XP

   1.3 (May 12, 2004 - 4:51 PM)

   Suppose you're a pirate who cares about his/her clients' well-being (unlike Microsoft, for example, who don't seem to give a damn, as long as they get the money), what do you do?
   
   Well, simple really: you get a proper VLK keygen (newer ones don't even take so long as the earlier one(s) to come up with valid keys. And yes, not a keylister but a proper generator...) and you take a WinXP CD, pirated, of course, to maintain purity :-). And you integrate SP1 onto it. Then you add the zillion-and-one hotfixes that can be installed at setup time. You also take the slightly-fewer fixes that will *not* install at setup time and put them in as well.
   
   To install *those*, of course, you'll need to use the unattended setup script thingy. So you might as well throw the VLK you got from the generator in there as well (so much better when Windows installs without asking for keys. Reminds one of the good-old-days). There's probably a couple of hundred MBs of space left from an 80 minute CD, by this time, and since you're already using a setup script you might as well fill that up with the latest drivers for the most common hardware in your target market.
   
   Also, since you're a pirate, you might as well pirate some more software: through in a top-notch AV and a firewall. Kaspersky's are nice. Stay away from the Norton bloat-ware.
   
   Finally, you add a registry patch to disable a couple of pesky Windows services that really have no right being enabled in the first place (Messenger, anyone...?).
   
   The final result is a Windows CD that's better than anything Microsoft puts out. Also, one on which SP2 will install gladly. More importantly, one the Windows installed from which will stay on-line long enough for you to actually manage to download SP2 without being blasted off the 'net by the oodles of PCs running pirated copies of Windows and still infested with worms because MS, in their short-sightedness, didn't allow them to be updated.
   
   Of course, if you have proper licenses for Windows, the AV and the firewall it's only that much better...

6. Comment - Microsoft Yawns at Activation Crack Claims

   1.3 (Jul 24, 2001 - 4:16 AM)

   Two possible reasons I can think of: Either I'm giving the serial to people who I've earlier given pirated copies of Windows (but, for some reason, didn't bother to give the serial to) or I'm selling PCs with Windows to... well, how is the P.C. way to say this? ... "intellectually-challenged" end users who wouldn't know what to do with documentation if I gave it to them and would most likely endup mis-placing them.
   
   Anyway, Windows serials are *not* like other passwords. You don't have any words that you can puzzle out. All you have is strings of letters and numbers. I suggest you try it, give someone a string of 25 characters that looks like a Windows serial and see how many they get wrong.
   
   RasEm Brsiq
   P.S. Of course, we could go the way the military went and start screaming "Fox, Romeo, Mike, Lema, ... etc." at each other :-). In fact, here's a good idea for the next product activation scheme from MS: why don't we imitate the authintication procedure they use for nuclear missile launch orders? I'm sure that's quite secure ;-)