Microsoft will be pushing a new Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) update before end of February for Windows 7 users with a set of anti-piracy measures which would disable more than 70 known hacks and cracks used by pirates to activate illegal copies of the software.
In an official blog post by Joe Williams, General Manager, Genuine Windows the company announced the new update stating :
Activation exploits are sometimes called “hacks”, and attempt to bypass or compromise Windows’ activation technologies. This new update is further evidence of Microsoft’s commitment to keeping customers and partners secure. The update will determine whether Windows 7 installed on a PC is genuine and will better protect customers’ PCs by making sure that the integrity of key licensing components remains intact.
So, what are the risks of activation exploits? Searching for, downloading, or installing activation exploits or counterfeit software on the Internet is risky, because sites that advertise these pirated products often contain malware, viruses, and Trojans, which are found bundled with or directly built into the activation exploit or counterfeit software. A study by research firm IDC, The Risks of Obtaining and Using Pirated Software, shows that one in four Web sites offering counterfeit software attempted to install unwanted or malicious code upon downloading. And this rate is rising. Media Surveillance, an anti-piracy solutions company based in Germany, recently downloaded more than five hundred pirated copies of Windows 7 (and Windows activation exploits) and found that 32% contained malicious code. These are very disturbing figures – especially when considering that resellers may be using these downloads to claim that the PCs they sell include genuine Windows.
The update will be marked as “Important” and will get distributed first to the Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise editions, one thing worth watching here is that what will happen to pirates who have completely removed WAT from there computers using one of the most popular Windows 7 activation hack RemoveWAT - what will get updated if the feature is completely removed from the OS ?
The answer to the question above could be speculated from the official announcement which details how this new update will work :
Once installed, the Update protects customers by identifying known activation exploits that may affect their PC experience. If any activation exploits are found, Windows will alert the customer and offer options for resolving the issue – in many cases, with just a few clicks. Machines running genuine Windows 7 software with no activation exploits will see nothing – the update runs quietly in the background protecting your system. If Windows 7 is non-genuine, the notifications built into Windows 7 will inform the customer that Windows is not genuine by displaying informational dialog boxes with options for the customer to either get more information, or acquire genuine Windows. The desktop wallpaper will be switched to a plain desktop (all of the customer’s desktop icons, gadgets, or pinned applications stay in place). Periodic reminders and a persistent desktop watermark act as further alerts to the customer.
It is important to know that the customer will see no reduced functionality in their copy of Windows – a customer’s applications work as expected, and access to personal information is unchanged. The Update will run periodic validations (initially every 90 days). During validation, Windows will download the latest ‘signatures’ that are used to identify new activation exploits – much like an anti-virus service. When tampering, disabling, or missing licensing files are discovered, the WAT Update runs a check and repair weekly to ensure that the licensing files are properly repaired.
As this update looks like a separate download from WAT it will be possible to detect WAT removal from user computer and decide that the copy is indeed a pirated one.
Comments
WHAT?
"It is important to know that the customer will see no reduced functionality in their copy of Windows" -- What about the reduced functionality that windows now calls home every 90 days?
This seems to only slow things down, what a joke. And honestly as if it isn't going to screw up once every now and then annoying genuine users.
What WAT?
"When tampering, disabling, or missing licensing files are discovered, the WAT Update runs a check and repair weekly to ensure that the licensing files are properly repaired.
As this update looks like a separate download from WAT it will be possible to detect WAT removal from user computer and decide that the copy is indeed a pirated one."
So if a necessary WAT file gets corrupted or some malware attacks the WAT, then the WAT "decides" it's your Windows that's pirated. That's going to be great for all those folks who buy retail computers that don't have Windows disks. Their only choice will be to repair from those image disks and lose all their settings and have to re-setup their programs. That doesn't seem too secure now, does it?
good i hope they do this,
good i hope they do this, thieves drive up the prices for those of us who are not thieves.
good i hope they do this i
good i hope they do this i paid for my license and it's not fair that i have to pay more cause of pirates.
Its all about greed
I paid for all of the many licences that I have used since DOS 5.0, start from there and add it up then multiply that by every user on earth. What most people don't seem to realize is the fact that Microsoft in the same way as all major corporations is driven by greed. Bill Gates published DOS & Windows for the explicate purpose of making money. We can rest assured the last thing on his mind was making the world a better place. Since the beginning how many copies or versions of these software Licenses have we all been forced to buy? And just how much riches does any one man or corporation need anyway? Like so many corporations around the world it has long past the time for these greedy people to give something back. Consider this, open source software has been there from the beginning and although it is more or less free for all intents and purposes it does in fact earn much money for many people developers and users alike. So don't ignorantly think that a few phony copies of Windows is going to drive up the price, they set the price at what the market will bare regardless of anything else, Keep in mind the fact that Microsoft has no real competition. Microsoft is fighting a war that Bill Gates started himself and on a level that no other software developers have to. Simply because everybody has had enough of paying through the nose for something that they have already paid for over & over & over. Not to mention the fact that we all know how filthy stinking rich these people at Microsoft already are and still we have no choice but to hand over yet another chunk of our hard earned money to them. I know what everybody is thinking, research & development costs a lot & so on & so forth. But lets face the facts, no software in the present time is developed from the ground up. It is all drawn in some way from the compilation of micro code that has been being written since the late 1940s. For example, Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista with a patch, Vista is only a more robust version of XP and anyone who knows anything about this knows that XP is little more than Windows NT with XP stamped on it. The ground up build began with the realization that all we needed was on and off, the 1-0-0-1 that we are all familiar with. Since that moment there has simply been an evolution for all software with no exceptions. So just exactly who has been stealing from whom all these decades? The person who stumbled onto that on off idea is the one who should have been a multi billionaire but I doubt he got anything more than a pat on the back & the wage he was paid at the end of the week. They want us to think its like buying a new car but we are not buying a new car are we. We are buying the same old car over and over with some new and ever more cheesy anti-theft device haphazardly bolted onto it in order to keep us from stealing the car we just purchased from the guy we got from. These people seem to be so preoccupied with greed that they can't except that they could rake it in from smaller aggregate and still be filthy rich in the end. In other words if people were offered reasonable costs for upgrades of an OS rather than the marketing ploy that attempts to trick us all into believing that we are buying some grand new tech-knowledge that in the end turns out to be little more than yet another set of tsr programs running in the back ground to prevent supposed theft. Ultimately resulting in us all having to obtain and operate gaming quality hardware just to E-mail. I'll bet the hardware manufacturers love that. Long story short, offer the OS at a price low enough that renders obtaining it for free a useless endeavor and thus a waste of time along with low cost upgrades for existing legal licensing already employed. Do this and no doubt no honest user will ever again attempt to gain it for free. They still get rich and we get what we need without the frustration of dealing with highway robbery each and every time. No doubt they will claim that it is already low cost to the consumer. But realize that we are talking about a product that ounce R&D is done the cost of reproduction consists of little more than blank disks & electricity to run the same machines that have long since paid for the selves many times over with no end in sight. Their marketing strategies probably cost more than any part of the processes and why do they need such marketing when in the end we all have little to no choice in the embrace of change (whether needed or not) that is forced on us anyway.
Greedy MICROSOFT
I totally agree with this guy, Why not make a windows update instead of buying a new OS? unless ofc MS wants to rip some money from us. And yes, that's what they are doing for the last couple of decade.
hmm..weekly connect to
hmm..weekly connect to m$...not good... it is also SPYWARE! check it one time is okay, but this is a nazi methodic. fuck usa products! and it is hacked to..m$ lost anytime! if he make this shit! ppl not like nazis!
agree with danhar 100% make
agree with danhar 100%
make buying legal copies of OS "comparable" to a pirated version.
300$+ for a windows 7 OS is too much, some of us live for 1-2 weeks with that money. make it like 20$, everyone buys it original just to be legal. its still more expensive than pirated, but only reasonably.
if they don't listen, open source is our answer and guess what, it is free, open, better. the only reason we still use microsoft OS is the range of software it runs. but this is changing fast as we speak. for instance, try ubuntu. it has everything windows has to offer and more and it is free. updates are free too. looks are great, better than windows. blue screens? whats that? unrecoverable error? no thanks. configure it right and it works like clock. my company has several linux servers with uptime over 2 years, so few problems that you fire it and forget.
the answer is real and it exists here and now as we speak.
we are bound to windows because of our applications. set ourselves free from them and we are good to go. @ microsoft: do your job better and cheaper or you lose the game.
after reading this post, i
after reading this post, i am considering about boycotting microsoft's OS. i might try Ubuntu.
usuc
Just dont run the update. Im def gonna watch out of that update now and not run it. Never paid a dime for a copy of windows and never will.
We need to start a boycott
I too agree with Danhar 100% If the people at Microsoft can't get it through their thick heads that what they are doing is stealing from all us commoners then we need to take affirmative action.
I got windows 7 from my brother who bought it legally and i do not have the money to get my own damn copy. I barely scrape by as it is with the money I earn. And the fees are outrageous. Why on earth do we pay for this stuff?
So i am going to find a facebook page for this and if their isn't by god I will make one. If we can get enough of the population to stop buying Windows products, maybe we can get them to change their marketing schemes and evil tricks to suck us dry.
I will happily steal windows
I will happily steal windows 7, I have vista pre installed on my laptop and its drove me up the wall. Why the hell should I have to pay for what is basically a fixed verison of vista???
Its like buying a car but you find it has no engine and then being charged furthur down the line for the engine?? madness
agrees with all else
i also agree 100% with the posts about microsoft, and i suggest pinning the same thing on adobe as well. photoshop is somwhat lessor than a windows program, but its useful and i do most of my art on it. but as much as microsoft is selling windows 7 for around 300 dollers, adobe is selling photoshop for 700, a little advice to all the corperate vultures out there, take a look at the economy today and think about it, i highly doubt somone is going to say "oh well im going to get windows 7 and photoshop cs4 cuz they are new and the latest style and the commercial makes them sound cool,after all i can always eat next year..."
xXx~WHITE HAT HERE~xXx
i dont pay for any of my os or programs, adobe is 1 of the easiest to get keygens for infact i have a keygen that gives me a serial for every adobe product, not hard to find either. google and google right using the correct terms and commands. i buildd systems and install the latest os out there for FREE because its bull$hit to charge so much for something that really doesnt do alot. like previous post, every os is just patched anda few features added and called something else. i crack and hack because i rather use the money for a car payment, house, like many freaking rent, etcc.... i would post more but i can only hide my ip for so long, peace
please help
please email to me where u are downloading the free os if have can u gave me tnx...god bless u hope u can help me
never ever going to buy an
never ever going to buy an original windows copy,so what if i dont keep my wallpapers on my systems nymore, my system still running smooth............well in india we dont need originals... 90% of systems here are running on pirated versions. hoorah
So...
A theief is a theif. A loser is a loser. Period.
noobs
Okay, no one cares if you paid for it. Your problem that you don't know how to crack.
Nothing
Alloz
Let's be rid of M$
I used to love windows but am getting so fed up with these "patches" being sold to us a new software. I use Linux for server - Solid as a Rock! I tried Ubuntu for a while and it is excellent and free. Try a few different distros and settle on one you like best. Mint is nice, so is Mandriva if u like eye Candy.
Better still, I recently purchased an iMac. Not hardly touched my Windoze PC since. Apparently and upgrade from Apple is usually about £20. The only downside is that the machines are a bit pricey. Am looking into Hackintosh now :)
So everyone, take the plunge and use Linux or Mac's. You won't be dissappointed
Windows 7 Professional
Installed windows 7 Professional copy on a second machine and WGA tells me the copy is not valid. Please help get rid of this.
Thanks
I am sick and tired of Bill
I am sick and tired of Bill you more Gates and his band of money men.If I can run Linux at home then why not at work F**K you Billy Boy !!!
w7 ultimatte crack
dear all !!!!!!!!!!..........
where i can get windows7 ultimatte crack ?
pls send me mail attach or send me link!
thanks a lot
your brother,,,,,
key
Hi..
i need windows7 key because my pc show the error key reqired
LINK
Please send me the link for the activator.
Badly needed. :(
e-mail: pd_fruty@yahoo.com
thanks! ;)
Windows 7 ultimate crack
Hell, can someone please send me the link for windows 7 ultimate activation crack. Cheers.
windows 7
plz send me windows 7 crack
A theief is a theif. A loser is a loser, Period.
A theief is a theif. A loser is a loser, Period.
Uh-huh?!
Thief is spelled T-H-I-E-F. Just sayin'.
to get $hiznit free, use the
to get $hiznit free, use the free search engine GOOGLE to find it. Also, download uTorrent and bookmark a link to isoHunt.
windows 7 ultimate crack
please send to me the ultimate crack for windows 7. As soon as possible.
windows 7 activator
plz.... send to me the window 7 crack/activator .as soon as possible.
windows7 crack
plz
NEEDED: WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE CRACK
PLEASE EMAIL ME THE SOLUTION TO "INVALID COPY OF WINDOWS 7"
I AM CURRENTLY USING WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE (BUILD 7600). PLEASE KEEP ME INFORMED.
For all of you begging for the crack...
Hahahaha!!!....Noobs.
thanks
thanks
Windows 7 Ultimate activation
I have a Windows 7 Ultimate, but it says "please activate Windows now". How can i activate with cracked activation (production) key? Please help me....Please.
windows7 home premium actvation key
pls send me an activation key & product key of windows 7 home premium...
thnx
please send to me the ultimate crack for windows 7. As soon as possible.
Huh and Help
Um can anyone get the WAT tool for the Bin Laden picture files? or Files on the stealth helicopter?
Where are those located?
If no too much trouble send me link to free microsoft tools and loan as Bill Gates is giving away money too...
thanks much.
hangging / freezing / not responding windows 7 pro 64 bit
I have installed windows 7 pro 64 bit in my Acer laptop ASPIRE 4738 and unfortunately it programmes / explorer are hanging / freezing / not responding. every time i open windows so please help me to resolve this issue
Kind regards
Humayun
You're not paying more
You're not paying more because of pirate licenses. The cost is the same no matter how many pirated copies they are. They have 90% of the market of personal computers. If they really wanted to make more money, they would stop their Action Pack to companies. The Action Pack costs roughly 500$/year and they get 5 licenses of EVERY MICROSOFT PRODUCT. That's a value over 10000$ in products and get free updates and new Windows versions without any change of cost.
Can I download updates after uninstalling the WATU?
I just want to ask if I can still download important updates in my windows 7 after I uninstall the WATU? thanks
i am in need of a window 7 ultimate 32 bit product key
any one to help me out with a window 7 32 bit product key please!!!!!
Is this why I get error message"Scratch Disk Full"
Is this why I get error message"Scratch Disk Full"
Three hundred dollars of 1999 software will not load
in Windows 7 1.6 TB free disk space
Photoshop 7 and
Cool Edit pro
Yup that's one worth to use
Hey, Great points. Quite helpful.
This is such an informative article and extremely clearly written. Every single thought and concept is direct towards the point. Perfectly laid out.
Waiting for your next update
nokia lumia 710
I need my activation code
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