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 ?

Hacker's succeeded in cracking Microsoft Windows 7 activation even before it got officially released on 22 October 2009, now the same guy Hazar has came up with another utility 'RemoveWAT' which claims to completely remove Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) from the operating-system allowing users with illegal copies of Windows 7 to activate their copies and enjoy retaining genuine status letting them receive all updates from Microsoft, this will even let them pass the genuine check in Microsoft software's like Windows Defender.

The utility claims to uninstall the whole WAT thingy with all traces from the OS, after applying this crack there will be no windows activation section in Windows 7 control panel.

In somewhat major blow to anti-piracy efforts Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate activation crack is now available before the official release of the software, the OEM SLP Master Product Key based activation crack completely bypasses the Windows Genuine Advantage validation allowing users a fully functional unlocked copy of the operating-system, the crack was made possible by extracting the OEM certificate and key from .wim files contained in leaked Windows 7 Ultimate OEM DVD ISO from Lenovo.

Microsoft makes use of SLP (system-Locked Preinstallation) for pre-activating Windows meant for volume licensing by OEM's like Lenovo and Dell, Windows 7 makes use of OEMID (identified by BIOS SLIC table) to identify OEM computers for pre-activation, crackers have now came up with automated utilities (as shown above) which make use of Lenovo's OEM key and OEMID to fake identification as an OEM system allowing Windows 7 Activation.