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TurboTax DRM Writes to Your Boot Sector?!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the now-that-ain't-cool dept.

ltwally writes "As reported on Slashdot (amongst other sites) recently, the latest version of TurboTax is laden with DRM software. Even worse, however, is that it apparently writes to your hard drive's boot-sector , as reported at Extreme Tech here. As I'm sure most Slashdotters already know, the boot-sector is often times used for silly things like boot-loaders and such. "

3 of 733 comments (clear)

  1. Heh, silly me. by numbski · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I came *this* close to installing TurboTax on my Mac via VirtualPC or Bochs (cheaper) and then I read the box closely.

    "Will not work on the Macintosh Platform using Windows emulation software."

    I took it back and used TaxAct instead. I nearly installed it on my fiancee's PC instead. Ick.

    You have to be on some sort of crack to write to a person's boot sector. Period. That's just off limits.

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

  2. I loooove TaxAct by ChrisCampbell47 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    TaxAct is accurate and full of features. I've been using it for years (the paid version, which is still cheap). The UI is super slick and anybody's grandma could figure it out. Vote against DRM bullsiht like this with your wallet.

    --
    One simple rule for its versus it's
  3. Corporate hax0rs? by DoraLives · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How, precisely, are these people any different from some pimply-faced cracker bent over a keyboard, scanning ports, and swilling Mountain Dew? They're doing things on the sly that potentially can wreck your system, negate your privacy, or god only knows what else, and they're definitely not on the up and up with it.

    How can ANY of us expect the hax0rs to behave themselves when Pillars of the System are behaving just as badly or worse?

    --
    Is it fascism yet?