Microsoft Targets users of Pirated Vista Ultimate

http://www.activewin.com/winvista/im...taUltimate.png

Microsoft Targets users of Pirated Vista Ultimate
February 25, 2009

Starting this week, Microsoft Corp. will feed Windows Vista Ultimate users an update that sniffs out pirated copies, a company manager said yesterday.

The update, which will hit some Vista Ultimate systems via Windows Update this week, and others in the weeks to come, is the newest move in an anti-activation crack campaign Microsoft launched almost exactly a year ago.

Such cracks evade Vista's built-in counterfeit-detection technology by sidestepping product activation, essentially duping the operating system into thinking it's legitimate.

The newest update targets "SoftMod," an activation hack that tricks Vista into thinking it's being booted on a PC that had the operating system installed -- and activated -- at the factory. Typically, computer makers pre-activate Windows before they ship systems, eliminating the chore for customers.

SoftMod can be used to created a bootable CD, which then must be used each time the PC is booted, or with care, it can be installed on the machine's hard drive.

According to Alex Kochis, the director of Microsoft's Windows Genuine group, the SoftMod detection update will be offered only to Vista Ultimate users. "We're releasing this update to Windows Vista Ultimate Edition only at this time and only to systems with English as their primary language," Kochis said in an entry to the WGA blog.

Kochis did not say why Microsoft was sending the update only to Vista Ultimate PCs, although the move may have something to do with that edition's popularity among pirates. Vista Ultimate is the most expensive and most feature-packed version of the operating system and is the dominant edition on file-sharing sites that traffic in illegal software.

Last year, Microsoft delivered two activation crack updates to all Vista users as a preliminary step before it launched Service Pack 1 (SP1). Those updates fingered "Grace Timer" and "OEM BIOS," but only notified the user of their presence and offered a solution. SP1, which was released to the general public several weeks later, also detected the two cracks. If a hacked copy of Vista was upgraded to SP1, Windows would immediately start spewing on-screen messages that the copy is counterfeit.

After receiving the newest update, copies of Vista Ultimate hacked using SoftMod will pop up a warning that reads, "Windows has found software that circumvents Windows activation and interferes with its normal operation. The presence of such software may indicate that your copy of Windows is counterfeit."

The pop-up also includes a link to instructions on how to remove the crack. People not using SoftMod will not see the pop-up.


:source: Source: Computer World

sheet...no more vista loader?

I just installed Ultimate today on my new built rig, and installed all updates that were feed to my machine and it's still all good...so it must start in March.

im pretty sure they started rolling it out the 24th i read in some article online...they said its going to keep rolling out tho in the coming weeks and eventually for home, basic extc. also

lol!!! there will be a new hack for it. What a waste of time. Maybe some of the genuine windows will get it also.

Is this going to effect all pirated copies of Vista Ultimate that are activated on install?

Like the newest one's released, I believe so, but we won't know anything at least for a few days to a few weeks.

Glad mine isn't in English. But as said before, this will be circumvented, it's only a question of time.

meh,. if its only a message saying its a pirate copy I dont care tbh. They can message me all they like. therell be a workaround soon.

I can't se there being a problem with this being worked around

If their 'sniffsystem' finds out that I have an illegal copy of vista, will it just deactivate it or what?

^^i dont think so...i think a message just pops up then you can use as usual

how about if you have a pirated copy of vista... just don't install the update. i ran windows update this week and the update was there. i chose to hide it an never show it again.

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Originally Posted by dutchmaster420

^^i dont think so...i think a message just pops up then you can use as usual

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then what's the pont with their whole new system?

I dont know maybe i read it wrong but its mainly to scare people who arnt real pirates and think ms will now be able to disable there pc somehow

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Originally Posted by BoneWmachine

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dutchmaster420

^^i dont think so...i think a message just pops up then you can use as usual

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then what's the pont with their whole new system?

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New update today :shutup:

The time is came to switch to Seven as soon as it will be released.

think i may try Kubuntu 8.10 now then. 8.04 never worked with my wireless, hopefully 8.10 does, thats the only reason i dumped it a few months back, time to try it again i think.

Eh... I don't use Vista anyways. There will be a workaround. Give it a month or so tops.

Fuck. Control Panel is disabled?

Meh Switching back to Windows 7 now with the time bomb crack/watermark remover.

Maybe Microsoft wants from their users to turn back to Windows XP again.

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Originally Posted by georbe

Maybe Microsoft wants from their users to turn back to Windows XP again.

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I don't think so :P

For all you wondering after you get the pop up, after about a day you will see this....

You have have 29 days to activate, check system...and you will see...no workaround yet.

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Originally Posted by BoneWmachine

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Originally Posted by georbe

Maybe Microsoft wants from their users to turn back to Windows XP again.

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I don't think so :P

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+1 and this can cause "reverse reaction" and ppl will think more about another OS like ubuntu :whistling

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Originally Posted by RedRansom

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Originally Posted by BoneWmachine

I don't think so :P

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+1 and this can cause "reverse reaction" and ppl will think more about another OS like ubuntu :whistling

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Hopefully, It will put Microsoft in some hot water and maybe they'll see the light in Open Source OS's still making some profit/respect.

I had some problem like this but after installing Win7 in another HD... don't know how but everytime I try to access my Vista Ultimate HD as primary partition I get a message telling me that I need to buy a key and I have little access to the system =/

Well, at least Win7 is running better than vista but if anyone has a solution. I tried a lot of things already =/

Well for all having issues with Vista Ultimate, download the boot loader and it will be good :) As there not blacklisting the OEM boot loader.

I have a funny feeling this is mostly a misdirection on their part, and that its not about disabling pirated versions as much as its about accessing them to figure out the best way to disable them when SP2 is installed. So its more about how to configure SP2 to disable the highest amount of OEM fixes they can find and collecting information to allow them to do that before its release. Perhaps the RC release is a better choice than the final in that case.

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Originally Posted by georbe

Maybe Microsoft wants from their users to turn back to Windows XP again.

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Or maybe they want to be compensated for the work they've done.

Just a thought.

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Originally Posted by mbucari1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by georbe

Maybe Microsoft wants from their users to turn back to Windows XP again.

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Or maybe they want to be compensated for the work they've done.

Just a thought.

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Han, that's not it :shifty:

Good thing I have a legitimate master ultimate key from my uncle's corporation that he lent to me.

xD