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Registry Hack Enables Continued Updates For Windows XP
DroidJason1 (3589319) writes "A registry workaround, which tricks Windows Update into thinking you are running Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, allows you to get free security updates until 2019. All you need is a simple 32bit or 64bit registry entry in order to make this work. POSReady 2009 is slated to receive security updates for another five years. Microsoft ended support for Windows XP on April 8th of 2014."
I know you're making a joke, but I believe in this context "POS" stands for "Point Of Sale" - basically cash registers.
The fact that cash registers running Windows XP are still getting updates is probably a good thing. That someone thought making a cash register run WindowsXP was a good idea scares me, though.
Unfortunately, in the case of a lot of point of sale systems, the acronym does double duty. At least they are surprisingly expensive.
In the loosest possible interpretation I can think of (and not one I agree with), you are committing fraud by misrepresenting something in order to get a good or a service.
But, if it's something as trivial as a registry key, which is available for users to update (and which sometimes MS themselves suggest) ... then I've got nothing.
I'm having a hard time believing it's perfectly legal to update one set of registry keys, while being illegal to update another. If they're so special and secret, they shouldn't be something you can update.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
"This patch removes an exploit that caused some machines running Windows XP to apply updates for other operating systems. To learn more about the update, read this knowledge base article..."
I'm having a hard time believing it's perfectly legal to update one set of registry keys, while being illegal to update another. If they're so special and secret, they shouldn't be something you can update.
Since Microsoft offers paid updates for WinXP (at least for corporate customers),
it's not very hard to argue that the registry hack (at least for corporate customers) would qualify as theft of service.
For non-corporate users, Microsoft could argue "unauthorized access," but I can't see them taking the trouble to sue random home users.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
The new Battlestar Galactica began airing ten years ago.
9/11 was 13 years ago.
The Lion King was 20 years ago.
Face it: we're old.
No, updating to an actually supported operating system would be better.
Not if it's Window 8.
You know, some of us have felt this way about the registry as long as it's been around.
It has always seemed like a cheap hack done by lazy people.
It's not secure or safe, it has always been subject to corruption and hacks, and looks like something which was grafted on by someone under time constraints that once it was in the wild they couldn't get away from.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I think if your a company that relies on XP (not the POS edition) and you haven't isolated them on a special - no internet vlan - you have bigger issues than making sure your XP machine has security updates.
It was a Cardassian, and he was trying to get Picard to say five lights.
Sheesh!
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
It's not about you. You fail to understand your place as a consumer. You spend money and they fuck you. I can't make it any simpler for you.
I wouldn't be surprised if it is illegal, considering how broken our 'justice' system is.
If editing some data on your own equipment is all it takes to get Microsoft to give you service, and that's illegal, then something is indeed wrong.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...