How to know if your windows 7 is pirated/illegal copy?

severedsolo · 25 Feb 2010

odd.... i dont seem to have it.... i assume its out on X86 and X64?

edit: well i decided to do me a test, i just did a dual boot of my Windows 7 retail disk (Win 7 +win 7) and "hacktivated" the 2nd copy with the most common loader (read first result on google) then installed the WAT update to see if WAT would pick it up then attempted to do the updates as normal.... guess what it didnt, as far as MS are concerned the OS was a genuine copy, conclusion? WAT= pointless until it can detect this very popular "hacktivation"

Thorsen · 25 Feb 2010

Are you gonna test how to unhacktivate next?

severedsolo · 25 Feb 2010

very easily... i just ran the loader again and clicked "uninstall" i got a "windows is not genuine" message for about 2 seconds then when it was done i had 30 days to activate windows, test complete, i have uninstalled it for now (as i dont have another license key) but will try again when new updates for WAT come out

Note

to any mods i apologise if i have crossed the line with this line of posting but i felt it was an interesting debate on whether its actually doing its job, clearly it isnt

FZ21Z · 25 Feb 2010

severedsolo said:

then installed the WAT update to see if WAT would pick it up then attempted to do the updates as normal.... guess what it didnt, as far as MS are concerned the OS was a genuine copy, conclusion? WAT= pointless until it can detect this very popular "hacktivation"

Did it actually scan your system? Run the online tool with it hacktivated and post the results, because MS claims it will counter over 70 cracks and hacks, so would imagine they'll have the most popular covered, and I've read the update runs the first scan 24 hours after installing it.

severedsolo · 25 Feb 2010

screen attached (luckily didnt uninstall the OS yet) as you can see.... once again Genuine Validation succeeded...... ill give it a day see what happens if it actually tries to scan... but it isnt looking good

Little Darwin · 25 Feb 2010

I run only legally licensed software. I even pay for shareware...

However, I chuckled when I read this:

gregrocker said:

They will even help you replace non-geniune Win7.

It sounds so kind and benevolent.

However, I suspect that the way they help you is:

Thank you for contacting Microsoft! To resolve this issue you have a choice, either pay us the full retail price immediately for an authorized copy or discuss it with our lawyers, which do you prefer?

Thorsen · 25 Feb 2010

wow

gregrocker · 25 Feb 2010

Little Darwin said:

However, I suspect that the way they help you is:

Thank you for contacting Microsoft! To resolve this issue you have a choice, either pay us the full retail price immediately for an authorized copy or discuss it with our lawyers, which do you prefer?

Actuallly they say that if you got stuck with bootleg Windows and can prove you bought it that way, MS will sometimes give you a free activation code.

Can anyone confirm this?

The Blessed One · 25 Feb 2010

One other thing to remember is that sometimes when someone comes to repair your computer the dodgy ones may steal our product key. This happened to me when I bought a new PC with Windows XP preinstalled (I never shared the product key and always had a security suite installed/WU updates set to auto).

After 8 months it had a hardware fault(cooling fan broke off) and I phoned the local shop who took it and repaired it. After about a week I got non-genuine warnings etc...

Nothing I could do about it.

Thorsen · 25 Feb 2010

The Blessed One said:

One other thing to remember is that sometimes when someone comes to repair your computer the dodgy ones may steal our product key. This happened to me when I bought a new PC with Windows XP preinstalled (I never shared the product key and always had a security suite installed/WU updates set to auto).

After 8 months it had a hardware fault(cooling fan broke off) and I phoned the local shop who took it and repaired it. After about a week I got non-genuine warnings etc...

Nothing I could do about it.

This is people at the shop putting windows back on with one of their keys, because they dont ask you for the key so its your version. I have fixed computers that have had this done to them. I had a friend that had a computer at the shop for almost a week then they returned it "fixed" and then she called me because it was saying it was not genuine. I knew what happened before she told me......