New Vista update sniffs for pirated copies!

[neil053]

As it promised, Microsoft Corp. yesterday started sending Windows Vista users an update that identifies illegal copies of the operating system installed with cracks that the company will disable when it distributes Service Pack 1 (SP1) in two weeks. Last Thursday, Microsoft announced the update, which detects two common cracks used to activate pirated copies of Vista, and said it would hit Windows Update (WU) within a week. Users who have left Vista’s recommended WU settings alone will receive the update automatically. Others, said Microsoft, must enable Automatic Update within Vista or manually call up WU from the Start menu.

A document posted to the company’s support site spelled out the details. Among other things, it promised that the 3MB update “does not affect the functionality of your operating system.” That jibes with what Alex Kochis, senior product manager for Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage program, said last week when he announced the update. If the update finds one of the cracks, a notice pops up alerting the user, but it doesn’t disable either crack. The first, dubbed “Grace Timer,” extends Vista’s activation grace period, while the other, “OEM BIOS,” mimics factory-floor activation. Users whose PCs don’t have the cracks will not see the pop-up. Ouch, dark times for all Vista pirates! I’m sure there will be workaround pretty soon though…
Source: Computerworld