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Black Screens For Unauthorized Copies of Windows

Posted by timothy on from the black-is-the-new-black dept.

arcticstoat writes "In a bid to deter people from using pirate versions of Windows XP, Microsoft is now updating its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool to introduce a few uncomfortable niggles for users of pirated versions of Windows. These include replacing the desktop wallpaper with a black screen every 60 minutes, although you can still replace it with your wallpaper of choice in the intervening period. As well as this, copies of Windows deemed to not be genuine will also have a translucent watermark above the system tray, which Microsoft calls a 'persistent desktop notification.'"

32 of 762 comments (clear)

  1. Black? Niggles? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too close for comfort.

  2. Notifications by Brad1138 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some one I know just doesn't download the the WGA notification (tells it never to download when it shows up in system updates) I... I mean he wants to know if that will still work?

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
    1. Re:Notifications by Sj0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Same here. I've got probably 3-4 proper, honest Windows XP licenses, but I keep on having to find new ones because the key either gets lost or decides it doesn't want to work anymore because Microsoft thinks I'm a thief.

      XP is the end of the line for me, because of these shenanegans. I've got an ubuntu CD ready for the day I just give up on Microsoft and their customer hating practices.

      Seriously, consider this. When I pirate, I've never been kept out of a product I steal. Never. Not once. However, I've lost thousands of dollars in software to stupid copy protection schemes as a legitimate customer. They are disincentivizing ownership. I'm acually better off stealing than paying for it.

      These idiots need a clue, and fast.

      --
      It's been a long time.
    2. Re:Notifications by mcmonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Seriously, consider this. When I pirate, I've never been kept out of a product I steal. Never. Not once. However, I've lost thousands of dollars in software to stupid copy protection schemes as a legitimate customer. They are disincentivizing ownership. I'm acually better off stealing than paying for it.

      I'm honestly do not mean to troll or flamebait, but it seems there's some Ayn Randian lesson there about the trouble with ruling honest people.

      Some regimes require criminals. If there aren't enough, they keep making laws until there are.

    3. Re:Notifications by mollymoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The reason I never used the XP theme (I stuck with the Win2k look while I still used Windows enough to care) is that the window chrome is huge. I don't give a stuff about looks, but I do give a stuff about my screen real-estate being eaten up by "cute" windows. It's not as bad as huge transparent chrome, but it's bad enough.

      --
      Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
    4. Re:Notifications by jm4 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wholeheartedly agree that much of the copy protection methods out there are disincentivizing ownership, but as far as copy protection goes what Microsoft is doing here is pretty passive. They're not locking anybody out of anything. These are only a couple visual reminders that you're not using a legitimate copy. In fact, to me it seems like kind of an improvement over their typical shitty behavior towards customers. With all the hell people have raised over product activation, WGA, etc. I shudder to even think of what would happen if they used the type of DRM we see on video games. These guys routinely put in rootkits and stuff that will disable or damage hardware. These guys sell products that routinely lock out paying customers. Game developers were always terrible about this. Remember when we had to turn to page 93 in the manual and type in the fourth word of the twelfth sentence in order to get the game to start up? Why is it we basically give these assholes a free pass while jump all over Microsoft for having comparitively friendly copy protection? I think any copy protection sucks, but any meaningful argument against it is going to gain a lot more traction if we go after the worst offenders.

    5. Re:Notifications by Shaper+of+Myths · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is actually pretty easy to defeat. Just boot into safe mode (XP Home) or regular mode (XP Pro or Media Center). Find the files in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 called 'wgalogon.dll' and 'wgatray.exe'. Bring up the file properties, go to the security tab and remove the inherited permissions from the files (don't copy them, strip them completely). Answer yes when it asks if you're sure about this. Reboot and WGA will never bother you again. I've done this on dozens of machines and it just skips the update because its too stupid to fix permissions. The only exception to this is the Service Packs or repair installs. YMMV

      Of course nobody should have to do it in the first place but this is an example of corporate-think at it's best from our fiends in Redmond. If XP is so dead why should they be developing new WGA tricks for it anyways? Sounds to me like its them getting a bit nervous about how many people are jumping ship from Vista and pointing at 'hackers' as the problem. Again. =)

  3. That's not too bad by faloi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At least there's not some odd hidden process that the users have no visibility to running in the background using resources.

    Oh wait...

    --
    "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
  4. that's it? by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm impressed with Microsoft's forbearance.

    1. Re:that's it? by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm impressed with Microsoft's forbearance.

      I find their lack of faith disturbing.

    2. Re:that's it? by langelgjm · · Score: 5, Funny

      What are you talking about? For the average user, changing the wallpaper is one of the most important functions a computer can perform!

      --
      "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
  5. A new meaning to BSOD... by jt2377 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Black Screen of Death

  6. Yawn.... by scarboni888 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can someone remind me why Microsoft wants to chase people off to other platforms again?

    1. Re:Yawn.... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

      Can someone remind me why Microsoft wants to chase people off to other platforms again?

      They're increasing their users' pain thresholds so that they'll find Vista's annoyances tolerable.

    2. Re:Yawn.... by click2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Because they're hoping one or two might actually end up buying Vista.

      The Vista Drake Equation

          N = R x fp x ne x fi x fe x L

      where

          N is the number of Vista sales
          R is the number of reported WGA unlicensed XP install hits.
          fp if the fraction of those that care about a black screen & bit of text
          ne is the number of users with PCs that can actually run Vista
          fi is the fraction of XP users who dont have the brains to use Ubuntu
          fe is the fraction of XP users who dont use a tool to kill the WGA app
          L is the fraction of XP users too lazy to get Windows Update to skip the WGA app

      S - Number of sales
      X - Number of illegal XP copies

      --
      I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
  7. Re:PFFFFFT by wiz31337 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh crap, get ready for another wave of "omg where is the start button" questions on the Ubuntu message boards.

    --
    /whisper/ Thanks for the candy!
  8. *Innocent Whistling* by loteck · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cough, Cough.

    *Continues innocent whistling*

  9. They're kidding, right? by stinerman · · Score: 5, Funny

    The first thing I do after installing XP is turn the wallpaper to black.

    Apparently, pirating it saves me a step after install.

    WTG, MSFT!

  10. Hmm... by Chris+Acheson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Windows is shareware now?

    --
    AEIOU: open-source anonymous internet currency
  11. Re:Help Vista or Linux? by compro01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can have it if you want.

    --
    upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  12. Answer: Naggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Question: People who annoy you?

  13. Pfff.... No imagination by Adeptus_Luminati · · Score: 5, Funny

    They need to get more creative. Here's a few ideas:

    1) Cause the NIC to drop random ammounts of packets at random times.

    2) Change the wallpaper from Black Screen to one with a letter ending with "... The police are on their way".

    3) Every 2 minutes all keys on your keyboard get randomly swapped around.

    4) Swaps the mouse buttons. Or moving the mouse left, moves it right, up, down, etc.

    5) All print jobs only result in large words in upper case saying "PIRATE ALERT!"

    6) Boot sequence and shutdown sequence get 5 minutes added on to them. Hey MS, don't forget to make sure you cause the hard drive light LED to flicker a lot while the users wait around so they think it's something going on. While you're at it, randomly flicker that HD LED every few minutes for 20 seconds at a time.

    7) Every 10th web page visited would be redirected to goatse (is that site still around?)

    You get the idea... now hurry up so that people get fed up faster and switch to Linux.

    --
    No trees were killed in the making of this post; however, many trillions of electrons were horribly inconvenienced.
  14. Re:colors by racermd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's funny is my desktop is intentionally black. Has been for years - through Windows 2000, Windows XP, and now Vista. I just like it that way.

    Active desktop? Puh-leeze.
    Pictures of cats? Why?!
    Patterns? Too distracting.
    Other colors? Meh.

    I once tried BGInfo but even that was a black background with green text. It lasted a week before I took it out and went back to basic black.

    --
    My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
  15. It's like, how much more black could this be? by irae · · Score: 5, Funny

    And the answer is none. None more black.

    1. Re:It's like, how much more black could this be? by laejoh · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd mod your comment all the way up to six if I could!

      Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to 6. Look, right across the board, 6, 6 and...

      Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most slashdot comments go up to 5?

      Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.

      Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's funnier? Is it any funnier?

      Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one funnier, isn't it? It's not 5. You see, most blokes, you know, will be modding at 5. You're on 5 here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on 5 on your original posting. Where can you go from there? Where?

      Marty DiBergi: I don't know.

      Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?

      Marty DiBergi: Put it up to 6.

      Nigel Tufnel: 6. Exactly. One funnier.

      Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make 5 funnier and make 5 be the top number and make that a little funnier?

      Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to 6.

  16. Re:PFFFFFT by chubs730 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a tough job handling the ubuntu IRC channel. The other day some guy was asking how to maximize firefox. We told him to click the box in the upper right corner, and he didn't understand. So someone asked what version he was running, and he gave the output of firefox -v (or whatever command it is for version). It was baffling that he could use the command line but not maximize the window. I think (hope) he was joking. Or maybe it was Richard Stallman.

  17. Free your Linux box! by vimm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Were you a victim of Linux Genuine Advantage scheme to make millions? Linux Genuine Advantage Crack will restore free as in speech rights to what should have been in the first place. Down with the man!

  18. Re:colors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    1: Take screenshot of desktop with dozens of files and icons.
    2: Replace wallpaper with screenshot
    3: Empty Desktop
    4: ???
    5: Tell user to reboot to fix problem, preferably 10 times.

  19. Re:colors by couchslug · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I once tried BGInfo but even that was a black background with green text."

    Black text would have been much less obtrusive.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  20. Re:colors by beav007 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You missed some bits.

    2.3) Set the task bar to "Autohide" and move it to the top of the screen.
    2.6) If it's a desktop compter, use the monitor controls to stretch/move the screen upwards enough to hide the remaining visible part of the taskbar.

    AND
    Replace #3 with:
    3) Right-click desktop, go to "Arrange Icons By" -> and untick "Show Desktop Icons".

  21. Re:WGA never works for my genuine copies anyways. by 427_ci_505 · · Score: 5, Funny

    FCKGW...?

  22. Re:colors by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Black on black, that's how I want it... I don't care if anyone can read it. I'm the DRIZZLE!"