The KOMO 4 Problem Solvers and I team up to tackle....

[Night Hawk]

The KOMO 4 Problem Solvers and I team up to tackle Windows counterfeiters

by Ben Rudolph
May 20, 2010

Windows is the most popular piece of software in the world – more than a billion people rely on it every day. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who use Windows’ popularity and necessity to take advantage of others by selling counterfeit copies, many of which are laden with malware and other nastiness.

That kind of swindle is how I came to meet Kerry Yocum-Zutant. Kerry had a Dell Vostro 1710 running Windows Vista, and after hearing all of the great things about Windows 7, decided to upgrade. She did what a lot of people do who are looking to buy a copy of Windows – she looked online at a major retailer – and after some searching, found what she thought was a pretty good price on two copies of Windows 7 Ultimate. She placed her order, got her software, and sat down for her upgrade, just like millions of customers have done before.

That’s when Kerry noticed that something….wasn’t right. The box looked funny. The DVD was of poor quality, and her activation code didn’t work. It didn’t take her long to realize that she unknowingly purchased counterfeit software.

Fortunately for Kerry, this story had a happy ending. She contacted the KOMO 4 Problem Solvers, who got in touch with me. The KOMO crew came by my office to talk about the warning signs of counterfeit software (more on that in a bit) and the value of Genuine Microsoft software. Being Ben the PC Guy, I couldn’t bear to see a PC out of commission, so I took some time to do a clean install of Windows 7 and load her system with Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Live Essentials, so she could get up and running as fast as possible. We got her Dell back to her last night, and according to Luke, she’s a very happy (and relieved!) customer. The KOMO 4 news clip is below, and you can read the whole story here.

More at: The Windows Blog

 

[Lee]

Thanks big guy. It is always nice to read stories like this one. A big Thanks to KOMO TV news (Seattle) for stepping in and helping someone fix a wrong.

 

[kucing13]

made this story as a reminder for others to be cautios

 

[Night Hawk]

I certainly hope MS catches up with the scammer! It was bad enough seeing the plastic case come in crushed when ordering 7 HP through a reputable vendor as a gift for a family member but to received some cropped up bogus disk would be enough to make me red hot angry!

Glad to see MS helped the victim out there however! That showed a bit of compassion uncer the circumstances to some extent! "ok now MS track down the creep!"