the OEM CDs I have used (actual Windows CDs) do not come with anything other than a few logos and drivers. the stuff they do put on there is easily removed...
the recovery CDs do install all the extra stuff but I do not use them whenever possible.
I said that it must make sense to them because they would not do this if they though it wasn't working. If the whole "activation" concept did not stop at least some people from using pirated versions of Windows, they wouldn't spend money on the activation call centers. (It caused a few people I know to buy Windows.)
The activation thing only seems to incovenience the minority of computer users that reinstall Windows with a CD other than one from their OEM. Those that do that often are more likely to buy a copy separately, pirate it, or explicitly request a Windows CD with their purchase (when they customize their system online).
The certificate of authenticity is attached to the computer in order to make things easier. If you have one computer, it doesn't matter where the COA is as long as you have it. If you have fifty, things start to get confusing.
At one point, the COA was an actual certificate. The sticker makes things easier.
at any rate, it's much easier just to use an activation crack. I'm not sure if Genuine Advantage checks for cracked activation though...
(Since you seem to have difficulties keeping a Windows system maintained, perhaps you should make backups of the system shortly after it is installed instead of reinstalling every time?)
We would have this problem if Dell/HP and the like would be so damn cheap and not provide, by default, a fucking 10 cent CD that cotained at least a recovery image.
On every recent Dell system I've configured, a recovery CD/DVD was included. On the higher end (Latitude/XPS laptops), windows CDs were included by default. The Windows CDs they do include often do not ask for a key. They won't activate if you install them on a system other than certain models/manufacturers systems. They will let you change CD keys and activate those keys. They require you to call Microsoft in these cases because a) they expect that you should have used the OEM CD that would activate on the PC it came with or b) that you would use a recovery partition or CD.
At least for custom-configured systems, creating disks for every possible unique configuration of hardware and operating system would be somewhat difficult. One solution is to include all the software a system might have on the CD/DVd and only install programs that go along with the corresponding hardware (e.g. PowerDVD would only install if the system had a DVD drive.) Otherwise, they could burn CDs/DVDs of the image. Of course, this isn't an issue for retail systems.
Some newer systems also include software to burn the recovery info to CDs/a DVD. Some even include the blank disc needed to do this. Either way, they suggest burning this CD in case of a hardware failure.
(The reason they would include the blank disc is because once again, the software may vary so often that they do not want to incur the cost of making individual copies.)
This is exactly why OEM CDs that do not ask for serials numbers fail activation on computers other than those that belong to the manufacturer. If they didn't, anyone could copy a Dell OEM Windows CD and install it on as many computers if they wanted. The copies would pass activation and it'd be very easy to pirate Windows again. They force these customers to call Microsoft and explain the situation in order to prevent this kind of piracy.
If you had access to the serial nubmer on the Certificate of Authenticity, they most likely would have let you activate the copy of Windows. It's your fault for not trying.
This is typical. They implemented this a year and a half ago.
Microsoft feels that there is a significant problem with OEM licenses being stolen, via methods such as copying down a code at a store, library, school, or other public location. Since most OEM Windows XP licenses are pre-activated by the system builder, they see that there is rarely a need for the key to be activated with non-manufacturer specific install media. (Generic OEM licenses, that is, OEM licenses not custom made for a specific manufacturer are activatable at least once, as some of these are sold in retail channels.) Furthermore, they probably figure that in the event of a crash, most users opt to use recovery CDs instead of reinstalling the operating system directly.
The only reason Microsoft made you call them is because you did not use the Fujitsu CD. From MS's point of view, there are very few cases where a typical user would need to use a generic OEM media to install Windows (because of the recovery disks and/or partitions that come with most systems).
They probably would not be doing this if they did not view it as successful in deterring piracy. If the number of precieved foiled piracy attempts exceeds the number of calls for OEM serials that they allow to activate, then the program to them will be successful and will continue.
After all, if people weren't actually copying down CD keys from the sides of computers, this wouldn't have happened.
IIRC they also aren't supposed to have a minimum transaction amount. A few area gas stations (mostly franchises that have some autonomy in their operations) have enforced minimum transaction limits unless you are buying gasoline.
A friend told me that a local Taco Bell franchise only accepts debit cards (not credit) and even then charges a small surcharge for that "convenience". Just about every other restaurant or fast food place accepts credit cards anytime -- including other Taco Bells, and a coffee/ice cream shop franchise.
I choose not to patronize locations that do not accept credit or enforce a minimum. I got the credit card with a bigger convenience store/gas station chain, so I get a percentage back with all purchases at those stores.
This whole thread of comments is off-topic so off we go. Every Subway I have been to has a 'self serve' drink station and now they get this great idea to charge for refills. It is something like 45 cents regardless of size.
I'm sure this varies by franchise, but at the nearest Subway, the cups are positioned so that you could easily just grab a cup without paying--or you could grab a large instead of a medium. If the staff member happened to care that you were stealing, it'd be difficult for them to notice when they're busy. (some won't even bother to ring up a drink if no one else is around.)
If they are supposed to charge for refills, no one has ever cared enough to say anything.
There are some firmwares that allow you to change the VLAN configuration. You'd switch the vlan ID for one of the ports to another VLAN. IIRC, DD-WRT has this feature in its GUI and would be relatively simple to do, although I have never done this.
I have, however, done this with OpenWRT, and remember after finding the directions, not having very much trouble doing so. I believe it's a simple nvram setting & a reboot.
It also made sure there were large enough gaps between bridges and other structures to allow large aircraft to land within 10 miles of any point on the highway.
You got that factoid wrong; it's supposedly one in every 5 miles allows aircraft landing.
Well, this happened a few years ago......and how is it a grey area? The school band program is not required to take a trip to Disney World. They said they were going to cancel the trip completely if the website wasn't taken down. Since the next trip was still 2 or 3 years away at that time, the next trip was not announced, planned, scheduled, or booked in any way. I doubt the Disney trip was codified by the school board or anything like that, so I don't see why the band directors would be obligated to organize the trip at all. I think they were right in saying that if the site wasn't taking down, they'd cancel (in other words, not organize) the next Disney trip. It wouldn't be fair to most of the band members, but the district and its employees are not obligated to be fair.
It was pretty obvious that it existed only for the use of students of my high school. It was a CGIProxy running over HTTPS (so it was harder for them to use their usual filtering technique with SmartFilter). It was restricted so that only users from the school's IP address could use it (they used NAT). In its most popular/stable year, it lasted from September until March before the IP was blocked. I changed the IP address & DNS entry (I had a/29), and that lasted for about a month. At that point, I decided not to have the other 3 IP addresses blocked, and put a site telling people to give me money if they wanted the site back (so I could buy another block of IP addresses). Of course, no one cared.
I'm sure that the administration had known about it and would have found out who made it if they had spent thirty minutes asking about it -- it was popular to the point when people would try to tell me about it and asked if I knew who made it. I never really used the site myself, and never really advertised the fact that I ran it -- just told people about it as if I'd found it on the Internet. However, some people did know it was my site (including one teacher, who might've covered for me). I never lied about it to anyone -- I just didn't give any details unless asked. The site's popularity started really growing around January -- the server bandwidth graphs were a mirror image. At its peak, usage was close to 6MBit/sec. Most of the traffic was going to Myspace. (Had I blocked Myspace, the site would probably not have been so popular and wouldn't have been blocked.)
Oddly enough, the address shows up on Google, as a reply to some blog post about public proxies.
Our school's administration doesn't seem stupid when it comes to the Internet -- a couple years ago, there was an "anti-band" website. The website had many postings that would be very offensive to the band directors, as well as lots of swearing. A few students were suspended for accessing and posting guestbook entries on the site from school (they were given an alternative option to quit band). Those that ran the site were not punished at all, as they had broken no rules. They did, however, threaten in private to the site's creators to take away the next band Disney World trip if the site was not taken down. (It was down the next day.)
For most users, you pay for Windows and you're done. (There is 10 connection limit on Windows XP Professional, but server versions of the OS do not have this limit.)
Technically, you need one CAL (client access license) for every unique Windows/Active Directory user that you authenticate. This means that you need one CAL if you're hosting an application that uses the standard anonymous Internet account (and does its own authentication for some other way). This would be the majority of the sites on the Internet.
But if the application uses Microsoft Active Directory authentication, you need CALs for each user (unless you're running Windows 2003 Web Server edition.)
You're supposed to be a Microsoft Certified Partner and use special hosting if you're reselling hosting commercially.
I think they've already realized this and acted appropriately. Intel's new naming scheme seems to be Core Solo/Duo (or Centrino Duo) for the current Yonah chips and Core 2 Solo/Duo for the new Conroe chips. Pentium M is obsolete and Pentium D will be soon enough.
Vista is doing something like this. In Beta 2, the background is dimmed when the security dialog is popped up, and I don't think you can alt-tab out of it or anything. I assume this window is displayed in a special way so that it can't be programatically clicked on by malicious software.
I don't mind that at all; the dimming out kinda grabs your attention. Entering in a password more than once per session, however, is redundant and annoying for me (plus, it raises the issue of the password entry box being fake).
This feature is so vitally important that Vista is stealing it. If you don't like it, tough.
Incorrect. Vista is not asking for a password like OS X. It simply confirms the action with a Continue dialog.
I have a problem with typing in a password or doing anything other than clicking a button or two. I don't like dialogs that tell me that I can't do something and give me no option other than to try it as a different user, and I don't like repeated password prompts. You made the assumption that I did not want any kind of action confirmation.
It's especially unsettling that, as an admin, you're so bothered when entering a password.
Why? Entering a password means I need to move both hands to the keyboard -- something I don't want to do when I'm in a rush to get things done (or even when I'm not). I typed in the password to log in/unlock.
I do. Of the 7 programs that access the Internet regularly, I don't feel that any of them are enough of a risk to go through the inconvenience of running as limited priviledge.
I keep my profiles and operating system on separate partitions so that the effect of any issue would be minimal.
obviously not. how 'bout not being a nob and run as a user and switch over to Admin only when you actually need to?
Because I am the administrator and don't want to go through the hassle of switching/using "Run As" when I need to. It's a waste of time, especially when I am the primary user of my computer. When I do something, I do it because I want it to be done. When I install software or change a system setting, I want it to install the software or change the setting -- not ask for a password first. Anything more than a "Are you sure you want to do this?" type dialog is an impediment to me doing what I told the computer to do.
If you must stick to Windows, the only way to insure your safety is to make an image of your clean system, and periodically restore from that.
Nonsense. By using alternate browsers and keeping the Windows Firewall turned on, I haven't had any spyware/virus problems whatsoever with Windows XP Professional. I run as an administrator because it's my computer and I know what I'm doing. I don't like being told what I can't do or that I need to re-enter my password, as in OS X. Of the 6 computers in our office, only one has ever been infected in the past 2 years, and they were running IE (and an old version of that).
I keep backup images only for recovery in the case of data loss.
If someone was running as a non-administrator, they'd be safe. Any spyware that's aware of non-admin users and can install to a user's profile can be easily wiped by deleting that user's profile.
Wrong. I get clean text results both with free PDF tools and Acrobat's own PDF printer driver. For example, I printed out this slashdot reply page and it prints very cleanly. The PDF is 36k. All of the text is positioned as text, and the the form controls are implemented as vector paths. (Because Slashdot's CSS gets rid of most of the images while printing), the only apparent bitmap on the printed page is the grey friend icon next to your username.
I get very similar results from Word and such as well.
Slashdot Mirror
the OEM CDs I have used (actual Windows CDs) do not come with anything other than a few logos and drivers. the stuff they do put on there is easily removed...
the recovery CDs do install all the extra stuff but I do not use them whenever possible.
I never said that.
I said that it must make sense to them because they would not do this if they though it wasn't working. If the whole "activation" concept did not stop at least some people from using pirated versions of Windows, they wouldn't spend money on the activation call centers. (It caused a few people I know to buy Windows.)
The activation thing only seems to incovenience the minority of computer users that reinstall Windows with a CD other than one from their OEM. Those that do that often are more likely to buy a copy separately, pirate it, or explicitly request a Windows CD with their purchase (when they customize their system online).
The certificate of authenticity is attached to the computer in order to make things easier. If you have one computer, it doesn't matter where the COA is as long as you have it. If you have fifty, things start to get confusing.
At one point, the COA was an actual certificate. The sticker makes things easier.
at any rate, it's much easier just to use an activation crack. I'm not sure if Genuine Advantage checks for cracked activation though...
(Since you seem to have difficulties keeping a Windows system maintained, perhaps you should make backups of the system shortly after it is installed instead of reinstalling every time?)
This anecdote contradicts my experience with activating OEM licenses. Sorry it didn't work out for you.
On every recent Dell system I've configured, a recovery CD/DVD was included. On the higher end (Latitude/XPS laptops), windows CDs were included by default. The Windows CDs they do include often do not ask for a key. They won't activate if you install them on a system other than certain models/manufacturers systems. They will let you change CD keys and activate those keys. They require you to call Microsoft in these cases because a) they expect that you should have used the OEM CD that would activate on the PC it came with or b) that you would use a recovery partition or CD.
At least for custom-configured systems, creating disks for every possible unique configuration of hardware and operating system would be somewhat difficult. One solution is to include all the software a system might have on the CD/DVd and only install programs that go along with the corresponding hardware (e.g. PowerDVD would only install if the system had a DVD drive.) Otherwise, they could burn CDs/DVDs of the image. Of course, this isn't an issue for retail systems.
Some newer systems also include software to burn the recovery info to CDs/a DVD. Some even include the blank disc needed to do this. Either way, they suggest burning this CD in case of a hardware failure.
(The reason they would include the blank disc is because once again, the software may vary so often that they do not want to incur the cost of making individual copies.)
This is exactly why OEM CDs that do not ask for serials numbers fail activation on computers other than those that belong to the manufacturer. If they didn't, anyone could copy a Dell OEM Windows CD and install it on as many computers if they wanted. The copies would pass activation and it'd be very easy to pirate Windows again. They force these customers to call Microsoft and explain the situation in order to prevent this kind of piracy.
If you had access to the serial nubmer on the Certificate of Authenticity, they most likely would have let you activate the copy of Windows. It's your fault for not trying.
This is typical. They implemented this a year and a half ago.
Microsoft feels that there is a significant problem with OEM licenses being stolen, via methods such as copying down a code at a store, library, school, or other public location. Since most OEM Windows XP licenses are pre-activated by the system builder, they see that there is rarely a need for the key to be activated with non-manufacturer specific install media. (Generic OEM licenses, that is, OEM licenses not custom made for a specific manufacturer are activatable at least once, as some of these are sold in retail channels.) Furthermore, they probably figure that in the event of a crash, most users opt to use recovery CDs instead of reinstalling the operating system directly.
The only reason Microsoft made you call them is because you did not use the Fujitsu CD. From MS's point of view, there are very few cases where a typical user would need to use a generic OEM media to install Windows (because of the recovery disks and/or partitions that come with most systems).
They probably would not be doing this if they did not view it as successful in deterring piracy. If the number of precieved foiled piracy attempts exceeds the number of calls for OEM serials that they allow to activate, then the program to them will be successful and will continue.
After all, if people weren't actually copying down CD keys from the sides of computers, this wouldn't have happened.
IIRC they also aren't supposed to have a minimum transaction amount. A few area gas stations (mostly franchises that have some autonomy in their operations) have enforced minimum transaction limits unless you are buying gasoline.
A friend told me that a local Taco Bell franchise only accepts debit cards (not credit) and even then charges a small surcharge for that "convenience". Just about every other restaurant or fast food place accepts credit cards anytime -- including other Taco Bells, and a coffee/ice cream shop franchise.
I choose not to patronize locations that do not accept credit or enforce a minimum. I got the credit card with a bigger convenience store/gas station chain, so I get a percentage back with all purchases at those stores.
I'm sure this varies by franchise, but at the nearest Subway, the cups are positioned so that you could easily just grab a cup without paying--or you could grab a large instead of a medium. If the staff member happened to care that you were stealing, it'd be difficult for them to notice when they're busy. (some won't even bother to ring up a drink if no one else is around.)
If they are supposed to charge for refills, no one has ever cared enough to say anything.
There are some firmwares that allow you to change the VLAN configuration. You'd switch the vlan ID for one of the ports to another VLAN. IIRC, DD-WRT has this feature in its GUI and would be relatively simple to do, although I have never done this.
I have, however, done this with OpenWRT, and remember after finding the directions, not having very much trouble doing so. I believe it's a simple nvram setting & a reboot.
You got that factoid wrong; it's supposedly one in every 5 miles allows aircraft landing.
However, it's not true at all
Reminds me of this guy who did something like that.
Well, this happened a few years ago... ...and how is it a grey area? The school band program is not required to take a trip to Disney World. They said they were going to
cancel the trip completely if the website wasn't taken down. Since the next trip was still 2 or 3 years away at that time, the next trip was not announced, planned, scheduled, or booked in any way. I doubt the Disney trip was codified by the school board or anything like that, so I don't see why the band directors would be obligated to organize the trip at all. I think they were right in saying that if the site wasn't taking down, they'd cancel (in other words, not organize) the next Disney trip. It wouldn't be fair to most of the band members, but the district and its employees are not obligated to be fair.
As did many people with many common broadband routers and DVRs -- with HTTP guis (if they use the interface at all) or TV GUIs
It was pretty obvious that it existed only for the use of students of my high school. It was a CGIProxy running over HTTPS (so it was harder for them to use their usual filtering technique with SmartFilter). It was restricted so that only users from the school's IP address could use it (they used NAT). In its most popular/stable year, it lasted from September until March before the IP was blocked. I changed the IP address & DNS entry (I had a /29), and that lasted for about a month. At that point, I decided not to have the other 3 IP addresses blocked, and put a site telling people to give me money if they wanted the site back (so I could buy another block of IP addresses). Of course, no one cared.
I'm sure that the administration had known about it and would have found out who made it if they had spent thirty minutes asking about it -- it was popular to the point when people would try to tell me about it and asked if I knew who made it. I never really used the site myself, and never really advertised the fact that I ran it -- just told people about it as if I'd found it on the Internet. However, some people did know it was my site (including one teacher, who might've covered for me). I never lied about it to anyone -- I just didn't give any details unless asked. The site's popularity started really growing around January -- the server bandwidth graphs were a mirror image. At its peak, usage was close to 6MBit/sec. Most of the traffic was going to Myspace. (Had I blocked Myspace, the site would probably not have been so popular and wouldn't have been blocked.)
Oddly enough, the address shows up on Google, as a reply to some blog post about public proxies.
Our school's administration doesn't seem stupid when it comes to the Internet -- a couple years ago, there was an "anti-band" website. The website had many postings that would be very offensive to the band directors, as well as lots of swearing. A few students were suspended for accessing and posting guestbook entries on the site from school (they were given an alternative option to quit band). Those that ran the site were not punished at all, as they had broken no rules. They did, however, threaten in private to the site's creators to take away the next band Disney World trip if the site was not taken down. (It was down the next day.)
For most users, you pay for Windows and you're done. (There is 10 connection limit on Windows XP Professional, but server versions of the OS do not have this limit.)
Technically, you need one CAL (client access license) for every unique Windows/Active Directory user that you authenticate. This means that you need one CAL if you're hosting an application that uses the standard anonymous Internet account (and does its own authentication for some other way). This would be the majority of the sites on the Internet.
But if the application uses Microsoft Active Directory authentication, you need CALs for each user (unless you're running Windows 2003 Web Server edition.)
You're supposed to be a Microsoft Certified Partner and use special hosting if you're reselling hosting commercially.
I was referring to the password prompts you see while doing things that require elevated priviledges in operating systems like Mac OS X.
I think they've already realized this and acted appropriately. Intel's new naming scheme seems to be Core Solo/Duo (or Centrino Duo) for the current Yonah chips and Core 2 Solo/Duo for the new Conroe chips. Pentium M is obsolete and Pentium D will be soon enough.
Vista is doing something like this. In Beta 2, the background is dimmed when the security dialog is popped up, and I don't think you can alt-tab out of it or anything. I assume this window is displayed in a special way so that it can't be programatically clicked on by malicious software.
I don't mind that at all; the dimming out kinda grabs your attention. Entering in a password more than once per session, however, is redundant and annoying for me (plus, it raises the issue of the password entry box being fake).
Incorrect. Vista is not asking for a password like OS X. It simply confirms the action with a Continue dialog.
I have a problem with typing in a password or doing anything other than clicking a button or two. I don't like dialogs that tell me that I can't do something and give me no option other than to try it as a different user, and I don't like repeated password prompts. You made the assumption that I did not want any kind of action confirmation.
Why? Entering a password means I need to move both hands to the keyboard -- something I don't want to do when I'm in a rush to get things done (or even when I'm not). I typed in the password to log in/unlock.
I do. Of the 7 programs that access the Internet regularly, I don't feel that any of them are enough of a risk to go through the inconvenience of running as limited priviledge.
I keep my profiles and operating system on separate partitions so that the effect of any issue would be minimal.
Because I am the administrator and don't want to go through the hassle of switching/using "Run As" when I need to. It's a waste of time, especially when I am the primary user of my computer. When I do something, I do it because I want it to be done. When I install software or change a system setting, I want it to install the software or change the setting -- not ask for a password first. Anything more than a "Are you sure you want to do this?" type dialog is an impediment to me doing what I told the computer to do.
Nonsense. By using alternate browsers and keeping the Windows Firewall turned on, I haven't had any spyware/virus problems whatsoever with Windows XP Professional. I run as an administrator because it's my computer and I know what I'm doing. I don't like being told what I can't do or that I need to re-enter my password, as in OS X. Of the 6 computers in our office, only one has ever been infected in the past 2 years, and they were running IE (and an old version of that).
I keep backup images only for recovery in the case of data loss.
If someone was running as a non-administrator, they'd be safe. Any spyware that's aware of non-admin users and can install to a user's profile can be easily wiped by deleting that user's profile.
Wrong. I get clean text results both with free PDF tools and Acrobat's own PDF printer driver. For example, I printed out this slashdot reply page and it prints very cleanly. The PDF is 36k. All of the text is positioned as text, and the the form controls are implemented as vector paths. (Because Slashdot's CSS gets rid of most of the images while printing), the only apparent bitmap on the printed page is the grey friend icon next to your username.
I get very similar results from Word and such as well.
Don't give these cybersquatting bastards money. If cybersquatting wasn't so profitable, the cybersquatters wouldn't exist.