Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft
Windows 7 activation crackers undeterred by Microsoft's muscle-flexing
by Lee Mathews Aug 6th 2009
...And so the epic struggle of Microsoft versus pirates continues.
Last week Microsoft and Lenovo went tag-team on the first activation workaround, which utilized a leaked OEM product key. "Nice try, pirates!" said Microsoft. "Your key has been blacklisted and will never see again the light of day! Ha HA!" The also touted the fact that Windows 7 has improved methods of detection of hacks like these.
If you listened very, very closely, you could hear a collective yawn from the cracking community.
A week later, and torrent trackers everywhere are awash with...er...alternative activation methods, and they're being used with varying degrees of success. The bottom line: Microsoft can try, but they're going to face an uphill battle against pirates yet again.
It might take a little longer with Windows 7 for a really solid workaround to appear, but it's bound to happen. And once Microsoft figures out how to thwart that method? There will no doubt be another one waiting in the wings.
No post like this would be complete without the usual disclaimer. As you friends in Redmond will tell you, you should never, never download anything that activates Windows by illegitimate means. Doing so puts you at serious risk - the files could be infected and terrorize your system, increase your car's carbon footprint, make your mattress lumpy and uncomfortable, and cause your all your toilet paper to turn really, really rough.
Last week Microsoft and Lenovo went tag-team on the first activation workaround, which utilized a leaked OEM product key. "Nice try, pirates!" said Microsoft. "Your key has been blacklisted and will never see again the light of day! Ha HA!" The also touted the fact that Windows 7 has improved methods of detection of hacks like these.
If you listened very, very closely, you could hear a collective yawn from the cracking community.
A week later, and torrent trackers everywhere are awash with...er...alternative activation methods, and they're being used with varying degrees of success. The bottom line: Microsoft can try, but they're going to face an uphill battle against pirates yet again.
It might take a little longer with Windows 7 for a really solid workaround to appear, but it's bound to happen. And once Microsoft figures out how to thwart that method? There will no doubt be another one waiting in the wings.
No post like this would be complete without the usual disclaimer. As you friends in Redmond will tell you, you should never, never download anything that activates Windows by illegitimate means. Doing so puts you at serious risk - the files could be infected and terrorize your system, increase your car's carbon footprint, make your mattress lumpy and uncomfortable, and cause your all your toilet paper to turn really, really rough.
So let's just say,
hypothetically, that your copy of Windows XP isn't "genuine." If you're tired of seeing the warning that
alerts you to this fact, there's now a 
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
