Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7

[monkeys breath]

But this is a battle Microsoft can never hope to win. The guys who make those patches and activators are incredibly smart.

half of them work for microsoft.:sarc::sarc::sarc::sarc::sarc::sarc:

 

[BWK]

At any rate, your get out of jail free card?

I got mine, how bout you?
I'm selling them @ $500/each
If interested just start a new thread of interest. If I do well here I'm going Ebay baby!

 

[GEWB]

The sad part is anti piracy protection hurts the legit users more then the pirates they wanted to stop

Would you please explain how??

How is when you buy a copy of windows at your local best buy, install it, a few weeks later install wga, have it tell you your copy isn't legal, and get on the phone for an hour with a holier-then-thou microsoft-can-do-no-wrong if-we-detected-you-as-illegal-then-you-are! b*tch! for over an hour...

That was the last time I install microsoft's anti-piracy technology!

To add, I did hear that they improved their customer support since back then...

Hey, almost the same situation happened with me when I had to reinstall XP.

After being burned (more than once) with Windows updates I've become very selective of what and when to apply them. With my XP box I typically wait a year before applying SELECTED updates (and I'm very particular of the selections).

Won't get fooled again.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[Frostmourne]

Would you please explain how??

How is when you buy a copy of windows at your local best buy, install it, a few weeks later install wga, have it tell you your copy isn't legal, and get on the phone for an hour with a holier-then-thou microsoft-can-do-no-wrong if-we-detected-you-as-illegal-then-you-are! b*tch! for over an hour...

That was the last time I install microsoft's anti-piracy technology!

To add, I did hear that they improved their customer support since back then...

Hey, almost the same situation happened with me when I had to reinstall XP.

After being burned (more than once) with Windows updates I've become very selective of what and when to apply them. With my XP box I typically wait a year before applying SELECTED updates (and I'm very particular of the selections).

Won't get fooled again.

Regards,
GEWB

How many infections have you had? I yr? Install updates when they arrive.

 

[sygnus21]

So If I said this was a rare occaison, and that I myself never had an issue like this in my whole 12 years of running Windows. What weight would that carry?

BTW I'm keenly aware that strange things can happen with regards to computers... but I'll say it again, If you have to worry about this update, you might want to look at where your software is coming from.

Peace

 

[GEWB]

How many infections have you had? I yr? Install updates when they arrive.

Valid question - my last infection was more than 10 years ago.

Regards,
GEWB

 

[Frostmourne]

How many infections have you had? I yr? Install updates when they arrive.

Valid question - my last infection was more than 10 years ago.

Regards,
GEWB

Whatever suits you - I install updates when they come up. You could also look into Secunia PSI - you may have software vulnerabilities.

 

[Darryl Licht]

I was gonna post this story but Z3r010 beat me to it!

Maybe this will ease the "Im having an issue with my new install of Win7" questions...

I must admit I had so many instances of helping noobs with install & post install issues where I'd work with them baqck and forth for 2 days... then discover they were using a h4cK3d copy of Win7 most often a torrent dl! I got so sick of it, now I just flat out ask "where did you get this copy, which version, etc."

I understand that many cannot afford to go out and purchase Win7, but your OS is your most critical piece of software... dont chance it with a reverse engineered, malware layden, trojan infected, "freebie" O.S. If you do... seek tech support from no one!

 

[win7clutz]

This is pretty simple: Microsoft has a right to protect their product. They are NOT a non-profit organization and the cost of development is significant regardless of whether you agree with their policies or not! We all have a choice, if you don't find value in their offerings chose another OS.

As a reseller I can’t/won’t risk selling a bootleg product, yet I find the battle between “legit” and “pirate” quite interesting. I’m interested to see if the hackers really have the talent to beat the “Almighty”.

Gotta watch this thread…

 

[omegatron]

but I'll say it again, If you have to worry about this update, you might want to look at where your software is coming from.

Peace

Yeah, I'll keep that in mind next time I buy software from a retail store. Can't trust anyone these days...

Gotta watch this thread…

+1

Plus several other sites online... I was an early adopter when they did the WGA thing... going to be a very late adopter this time around...

 

[BWK]

:roflmao:
Please The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , to help stop the pirating of Microsoft Windows Os', would you consider sending everyone in the world a free copy of the next OS created by Microsoft?
This statement also reminds me of an email I received the other day called the fix.



The Fix


There recently was an article in the St. Petersburg Fl. Times.
The Business Section asked readers for ideas on:
"How Would You Fix the Economy?"
I think this guy nailed it!
_____

Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy.
Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.
You can call it the "Patriotic Retirement Plan":

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.
Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR.
Forty million cars ordered and Auto Industry is fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage.
Housing Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!!


P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes...

Mr. President, while you're at it, make Congress retire on Social Security and Medicare. I'll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!

 

[omegatron]

Mr. President, while you're at it, make Congress retire on Social Security and Medicare. I'll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!

He'd get impeached if he tried that! :roflmao:

 

[arkhi]

I understand that many cannot afford to go out and purchase Win7, but your OS is your most critical piece of software... dont chance it with a reverse engineered, malware layden, trojan infected, "freebie" O.S. If you do... seek tech support from no one!

Expensive, yes. But in the Philippines, due to economic differences, the price of a Windows 7 Professional Retail is enough to feed a family of around 3 for a whole month; 3 full meals a day and all. MSFT's target economy is just wrong on some countries. Look at China.

I'm basically giving an insite from another country's point of view. Our big mac meal, for example, if converted to dollars, would roughly be about 2 bucks.

*I hope I'm not giving the impression that I'm hungry, or making other people hungry. lol*

 

[Kari]

This is pretty simple: Microsoft has a right to protect their product. They are NOT a non-profit organization and the cost of development is significant regardless of whether you agree with their policies or not! We all have a choice, if you don't find value in their offerings chose another OS.

+1

I fully support Microsoft, or any other small or big company, in their efforts to try to protect their rights.

I've often thought about how a pirate's mind works. "Windows is too expensive so I steal it." What then? Maybe the stolen Seven runs not in pirate's old computer, so is he going to steal a new one to be able to run the stolen OS? Or is he thinking that stealing from Microsoft is not a crime but stealing a computer would be. If so, where's the logic?

Anyway, one function in WAT is that it also tells me if my key is used somewhere else. The possibility is there, even it is not very likely. This feature alone makes me to install it. Like with AV; I use it even I am quite sure I do not get virus problems. I never open anything suspicious, I never install anything I don't know what it is, I never surf warez, adult entertainment etc. sites where the risk to catch something unwanted is high. Still, I use a good AV application together with Firewall, just to be sure.

Kari

 

[Luckystar]

How i laugh at anti-piracy. I am sorry but as a few of you have already said, you cannot stop the pirates.

I can honestly say, that even if i do install this, which might i add will probably be mandatory, (because as we all remember in the days of XP, you had to install the WGA before getting any further updates unless there was a way round this, then i am mistaken) i doubt it will make any difference to me. Sorry but you can make an illegal copy look legit. But i say nothing, if you want to know more then get searching. All i say, is it is something to do OEM version's.

Later days peeps

 

[yowanvista]

Hacker will somehow manage to bypass the activation again and create new activators

 

[monkeys breath]

This is pretty simple: Microsoft has a right to protect their product. They are NOT a non-profit organization and the cost of development is significant regardless of whether you agree with their policies or not! We all have a choice, if you don't find value in their offerings chose another OS.

As a reseller I can’t/won’t risk selling a bootleg product, yet I find the battle between “legit” and “pirate” quite interesting. I’m interested to see if the hackers really have the talent to beat the “Almighty”.

Gotta watch this thread…

windows xp at the three year mark cost microsoft less than 5 dollars per copy to manufacture. windows vista at the 3 year mark cost microsoft about 7 dollars per copy to manufacture. this includes research and development, all aspects of manufacturing including shipping cost to the various retailers. the retailers were locked into only getting 20 dollars of the final sale price. the rest of the retail price went straight to microsoft. with vista counting oem disk the average price was right around 170 dollars a copy. between manufacturing cost and what the retailer gets you have 27 dollars leaving an average profit per copy of visa of 143 dollars. with that kind of profit margin no wonder somewhere between 1% and 5% pirate microsoft os's.

p.s. i have never been really religious however i do respect peoples believes and would never be so disrespectful as to call any company the almighty. you need to edit you post.

 

[pparks1]

I work for a software company and have worked for multiple in my professional career. Thus, I understand the concerns with piracy and don't pirate any software at home and haven't in years.

The activation schemes and such have had an impact on some people I believe. I for one would not even consider running a copy of an OS that has been touched by somebody else bypassing activation or whatever. I simply wouldn't trust that nothing else has been screwed with. It's not worth the risk in my house to potentially infect my machine, other machines or have my privacy or confidentiality breached.

Trying to understand the mindset of a pirate is an interesting concept. Most don't feel that piracy is equivalent to theft. Reason being is that if you walk into Best Buy and shoplift a copy of Windows 7 off the shelf...you are physically making something unavailable to somebody else who walks through the door wanting to purchase said item. With torrenting a copy or getting it from a hacker site...you aren't depleting the supply by 1 for each download...so the pirate doesn't see this as a crime.

Pirates usually view it as a moral issue and they don't have problems with it. Microsoft has billions so what does taking 1 copy hurt. I'm a poor college student without a job, but when I get a job I will pay for software. Windows is too expensive and if it were cheaper I would buy it...but because it isn't I'm just going to take it.

At the end of the day, I don't care much about these piracy measures as I don't pirate the software as I stated above. I'm annoyed when I do have a problem caused by an anti-piracy measure when I bought it legit..but it's been pretty rare. And since Windows is expensive, I just elect to not run it on all of my computers and instead run Linux in other places.

I do wish Microsoft had better programs for running multiple copies at home. The windows 7 family pack was nice and did garner some sales that would have otherwise been lost to piracy. And while people here know and use Technet...lots of people don't even understand this program exists and what it would allow them to do.

And with regards to Technet...I think it's pretty damn stupid of Microsoft to charge so much money at retail for 1 copy of the operating system, but then make a program like Technet that provides 10+ copies of everything (all OS, all servers and Office) for $349. Either Technet should cost far more...or 1 single copy at retail should be cheaper.

 

[baarod]

The current hole used by activators is the same that's been used since their inception -- OEM builds. Now they are keyed to BIOS IDs but the loaders can bypass that by writing the low memory locations that the Software Activation Service reads from. The real way to stop all this nonsense will also speed up boot times -- legacy BIOS has to go! In order to obtain logo certification, OEMs should be required to use EFI with PKI and encrypted single use machine IDs just like NIC manufacturers do with MAC addresses except the machine IDs will not be passed in the clear. Single use and AES-256 encrypted these IDs are registered like MAC addresses by manufacturers with a central clearinghouse independent of Microsoft control. Microsoft activation keys are passed at activation time as all EFI equipped machines will embed known keys with time salt to signify the stored machine ID. Problem solved.

 

[Kari]

I work for a software company and have worked for multiple in my professional career. Thus, I understand the concerns with piracy and don't pirate any software at home and haven't in years.
...
...

A post worth reading. Thank you.

Kari