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Filed under: OS Updates, Utilities, Windows, Microsoft

Vista brute force hack update: it might work, if you let it run for a year

Vista activationVista ActivationThe author of the program that allegedly generates activation keys for Windows Vista (if you let it run long enough) is back. And now he says the key generator "is a joke, I never intended for it to work."

Further, he never actually got the program to work himself, and he says anyone who claims they have is either mistaken or lying.

Here's the thing. In theory, the brute force kegyen could work. It basically generates random combinations of 25 characters. Sooner or later, it's bound to come up with a valid product key. But while initial reports suggested that you could get a few keys by running the program for a few hours, there's little evidence that anyone has succeeded yet.

Of course, you can still extend your Windows Vista trial period from 30 to 120 days and run Vista for 4 months before purchasing an activation key.

[via Slashdot]

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Run Windows Vista for 120 days without activation key

Vista ReArmWhen you first install Windows Vista, you can run it for 30 days without entering a product key. This is the evaluation period, but what happens if your thirty days runs out before you buy an activation key; if you're not sure you want to buy one; or if you were only trying out Vista and don't plan to buy it, but have some files you need to get off of that computer?

Well, as Dwight Silverman found out the hard way, on day 31 Windows boots up and gives you a warning message that you're running a version of Vista that's not "genuine." Then Internet Explorer opens up and asks if you'd like to purchase an activation key. Silverman was able to figure out how to open a few programs and move a few files around through the Internet Explorer interface, which was necessary because he wanted to clean up the PC before returning the evaluation computer he'd been using.

But it turns out there's an officially supported way to turn that 30 day evaluation period into 120 days.

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