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Driver Update Can Cause Vista Deactivation

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the thank-god-we're-all-safe-from-pirates dept.

KrispySausage writes "After weeks of grueling troubleshooting, I've finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA — something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation. Put simply, your copy of Windows will stop working with very little notice (three days) and your PC will go into "reduced functionality" mode, where you can't do anything but use the web browser for half an hour."

7 of 875 comments (clear)

  1. Re:To all potentials looking to Vista as a solutio by LBArrettAnderson · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Warn me about what? I've been using Vista for 5 months and haven't had a single problem with it. It has all of the functionality of XP, Linux, and OS X, plus a bit more. I've been nothing but satisfied with Vista.

    What did you want to tell me?

  2. Re:Vista Activation=Linux/Mac advertisements by El+Lobo · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    sure, leaving Windows to go to a MUCH MORE closed platform like the MAC where you don't even have the right or posibility to install on no Apple hardware Yeah, right. At least, in Linuzzzz you can find a decent distro to work freely on... but A MAC? Are you freaking kidding me? I use a mac at home because I must test my ASP work on it, but I'd be damn if I choose OSX as my main platform (not because ideological reasons, which I completly laugh at) but because the system has always seemed imperfect to me.

    --
    It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
  3. Re:A similar experience is what drove me away from by UbuntuDupe · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Please don't defriend me after I say this, but ... I have a grievance against Ubuntu similar to that and to that described in the summary.

    Specifically, following the HIGHLY RECOMMENDED advice to (unnecessarily) install Grub on the MBR locked me out of my computer -- all OSes. It should have:

    -not HIGHLY RECOMMENDEDED that step
    -or listed the conditions in which you should take that step (and installing the OS on a separate hard drive ain't one of them)
    -or warned you to to have a recovery CD or separate high speed internet connection and CD burner read, because somehow the Ubuntu install/live CD (cause they're they same right? except when you ask for help on the forums) can't fill the role of a recovery CD

    If these grievances against Vista are valid reasons to stay away from it, my experience is a valid reason not to install a Linux distro (since Ubuntu is the easiest, right?).

    Just a hint as to why Linux hasn't taken the home PC market by storm...

    Btw, I just ordered a MacBook.

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.
  4. XP *IS* broken by Colin+Smith · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    XP ain't broke, so don't try to fix it, M$!!! XP is broken.

    Um... The Storm Worm ... etc etc etc etc and the tens of thousands of others. Your problem if you use Windows is that you are fucked if you upgrade and fucked if you don't.

    You should be used to it by now.

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    Deleted
  5. Re:GO AWAY! by nuzak · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Thanks for reminding me why you're still part of a foes list as long as my arm. I don't even particularly Linux, but you're just pathetic. I hope it never works for you.

    --
    Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
  6. Re:Fool me once..... by harrkev · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Oh noes! People complain that XP was insecure by default. Then, they fix this, and you complain that it makes your life a little more difficult?

    Taking advantage of the insecurity of XP is kind of like taking advnatage of a bug. Don't complain when it goes away.

    --
    "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  7. Re:Fool me once..... by NoOneInParticular · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Okay, so you're saying that elevating privileges through CreateProcess() was a security risk, while elevating privileges through ShellExecute() is not? And that because the real security risk is the ability to redirect stdout? That's the only reasoning in which your comment makes sense.

    Microsoft fucked up security in XP, then they fix it halfway in Vista, and then it's the application developers fault that they couldn't foresee which half would be fixed?