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Microsoft Genuine Advantage Cracked in 24 Hours
jrobie writes "It looks like mandatory validation of your Windows XP license is now voluntary again. A simple hack has been found that disables the check.
BoingBoing has the story. "
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Sadly, Microsoft will issue a new version of Genuine Advantage that disables the hack and make you use the new version before you can use Microsoft update, so I believe this is only a temporary reprieve. I guess it will be a back and forth between MS and and hackers until MS has secured Genuine Advantage.
I've got a licensed, genuine version of Windows, but F them for making me jump through hoops to receive continued support. I paid for this and I shouldn't have to keep wasting my time to soothe their paranoid brows.
Just another reason to keep trying new Linux distros and updates on my testbed system until I find one I like enough to switch (tried so far: Ubuntu, SuSE, CentOS 3.3, Linspire, Knoppix, Mandrake 10). Already using OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird and have a WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) set-up for development work. Going to Linux is a small step, but there are a few apps (like video editing, graphics editing) where I just don't have the patience to spend a whole bunch of time learning Linux apps that are 'almost' there in terms of their UI. Maybe I'll hit the Crossover Office site to see if they've gone to gold level support on some of my must-have Windows apps yet.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
That really is amazing. Proof of why I don't use the MS Validation Control when we develop in VS.NET - Just turn it off!
In a cost comparison, they probably figured a cheap, easy means to get people who otherwise did not know they had a pirated version to purchase outweighed trying to lock out people who knowingly run a pirated copy (i.e., people who will use this hack).
Further research revealed that while some people had actually paid for XP, they found repeated product activation to be such a painful experience, that it was easier to just download the ilicit version and be done with it.
Only one? So, assuming Bill has the only original, that means Stevie B is pirating it. Damn. I always knew there was something fishy behind the Monkey Boy charm.
Free XBox, PS2
This is deigned for people who think they have a legit copy. It will help with that. I bet a lot of white box shops who install cracked versions of windows are a little nerviousr right now.
But for some inexplicable reason, Microsoft is unable to authenticate my info. Which leaves me with no alternative but to use the crack if I want to continue to use XP on that system.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
To quote from Microsoft's own rejected key page:
Did you know that Windows XP can keep your computer up-to-date automatically with the latest updates and enhancements? You can set Windows to recognize when you are online, search for downloads from the Windows Update Web site, and deliver them directly to your desktop. Genuine Windows validation is not required to use the Automatic Updates feature.
So... whats the point?
"What do you mean you have no ice? Do you expect me to drink this coffee hot?" - Random Customer, Clerks
I know this was tongue-in-cheek, but since it's all client side, they have no way of flagging anybody as far as I can tell.
Anybody know differently?
*everything* is Orwellian to cats.
IANAL
Windows XP from a legitimet source (say Toshiba, as I've seen that mentioned in a couple of posts) and you fail to authenticate, call their support. If they don't solve the problem double quick, write your eterny general. They lied when they sold you the laptop. THEY need to fix it (not you).
If this is a common problem, a class action suit will be created and the manufacurer will have to answer for it. If the manufacturer feels it was actually MS that caused the problem, then they will file suit against them.
All this is academic. I use linux...
Spell check? Why bother. That is what grammer/spelling Nazi freaks who waiste band width posting "spell right" are for.
Microsoft's new license verification *scheme* isn't a security risk and if anything they are going to *welcome* these reports so that they can quickly close open holes that may allow "malicious" folks out there to continue to receive software updates.
I consider *anything* identifying me or where I bought something to a major corporation to be a security risk. Corporations cannot be trusted to act benignly towards consumers; the profit motive is against it.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
"In a cost comparison, they probably figured a cheap, easy means to get people who otherwise did not know they had a pirated version to purchase outweighed trying to lock out people who knowingly run a pirated copy (i.e., people who will use this hack)."
Thank you for pointing that out -- it's a concept that's lost on many people. It's a bit like the locks that come on your car: they probably won't hinder that professional thief who wants your car, but they'll stop the amateurs.
Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
Start a small side business that "Works to develop solutions on microsoft products." Buy the action pack for that business. It's $300 per year and comes with 10 copies of XP *PRO*, 10 copies of Office *PRO* Visio. 2k3 Server, Exchange Server, SQL server, Virtual PC, Microsoft's Mapping software and all updates. More software than you will use. (I'm leaving a bunch of stuff out) The only way it could be better was if it came With Visual Studio so you could actually "Develop solutions on microsoft products".
The only draw back is that it's a yearly license. *By copies, I mean serial numbers. They give you 5 numbers that can be activated twice w/o talking to anybody.
This is probably one of the more briliant ideas from M$ in a long time: consumers who get/got screwed by their OEM can trade evidence that their OEM is shifting fraudulent copies of M$ software for legit copies.
1) Let OEMs shift fraudulent copies
2) Get the customers to seek relief from said fraud
3) Collect evidence against OEM
4) Go after said OEM's pockets
5) Profit (fraud + copyright infringement + etc. = most likely more than enough to cover legal costs)
since it's all client side, they have no way of flagging anybody as far as I can tell.
Not necessarily. Client-side Javascript code can write to a cookie, and the server can read that cookie on subsequent submits. The client side Javascript can even communicate the cookie to the server using the XMLHTTPRequest object, or with an iframe, eliminating the need for a subsequent user-initiated request.
Not that I expect them to go to all this trouble, and I'm definitely not saying that they are doing that now. I'm just saying it is theoretically possible.
It was not a valid copy of Windows.
I turned them in to Microsoft after they were completely unresponsive to email and a phone call. What do you know - a few days later I got a package from UPS that they shipped out the day I called Microsoft.
Windows is not so cheap to the OEM that they aren't above sneaking one past Microsoft every chance they get. Illegal and immoral? Sure, but it is Microsoft they are ripping off, so most people aren't going to care.
To get the free version of Windows, a customer must fill out a counterfeit report identifying the source of the software, provide a proof of purchase and send in a counterfeit CD of the software. If customers don't have all of that information, they can still fill out a counterfeit report and receive a copy of Windows XP Home Edition for $99 or a copy of Windows XP Professional Edition for $149, Lazar said.
Switching to translation mode: "Be a Microsoft informer. Betray your family & friends. Fabulous prizes to be won."
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I still use Windows 2000 Professional because I didn't like the vibe I got from XP, what with product activation and all. My thinking was, even if it turns out to be harmless and never rejects valid copies (ha!) or if I find a way to bypass it, they will sneak something in after the fact. Well, not only was I dead right, but they back-ported the requirement to Windows 2000 as well with Windows Genuine Advantage!
.NET Framework), or desired purchased software updates (Office). Is there a way to get these without installing WGA at all?
I want no part of WGA, for the same reasons I wanted no part of XP. I have offline access to SP4 and SP4 Update Rollup 1, but that doesn't help me get other security updates (which are still available to everyone for the time being), desired gratis software (DirectX, Windows Media Player,
In the USA, it is extremely rare for unregistered versions of Windows to be used in Offices.
Perhaps, but in other places in the world, such as China, large, sophisticated pirate manufacturing operations are common, and Microsoft is looking for ways to stop them from redirecting its profits.
But Microsoft should lighten up about this policy. They are already the richest software company. Their chairman is the richest man in the world and possibly the richest man that every lived. They don't really do anything with the money that they already have.
You are forgetting a basic premise of Capitalism: A public company is owned by its shareholders -- shareholders who demand growth of their investments so they can retire in Florida and purchase gas guzzling luxobarges that barely fit into parking spaces -- but I digress. Microsoft shareholders (which probably includes you, if you own any index or mutual funds) would pull their money out if M$ were to decide that it's ok to just sit on their piles of cash and stop trying to make any more. Enough is never enough.
It's unknown in the small town I live in now, but I saw lots of sketchy software in Vancouver.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
I'm abroad, in Israel; I RARELY see a legal copy of Windows; no-one has a CD, and it "just came on the computer" they bought from a local, small company that puts computers together.
They aren't targeting the tech savvy people you happen to know, that's all.
I'm a concientious