Pirated Vista -- A darkness descends!

[wolfman1984]

To all the Pirates our there....arrrrr!

If any of you are running a pirated version of Vista, MS has activated a new "Reduced Functionality" feature that essentially leaves your unlicensed Vista inoperable. Sucks to be you!

A copy of this e-mail was obtained by Computerworld.

"Good afternoon, as of this week, Microsoft has activated a function in Vista called 'Reduced Functionality.' This is a specific function in Vista that effectively disables nongenuine copies of Windows. Therefore anyone who has a pirated copy of Vista will experience:

A black screen after one hour of browsing
No start menu or task bar
No desktop

Please communicate this antipiracy initiative from Microsoft to your resellers -- note this function has only just been activated in Vista worldwide and therefore any issues with nongenuine versions will start to arise from now onward."

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...icleId=9035478

[Ippersiel]

This is new? I was aware of this "feature" before Vista came out.

The 1 hour time lapse is to allow anyone with an invalid version of Vista to backup their files before blackout.

[Edit]
I can't find an article (after a quick search) but I did find this:
http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=38289

Maybe I was just thinking about an unactivated Vista after 120 days?

If so, my bad.

[nihil]

Hmmm,

Posted on this forum almost a year ago:

http://antionline.com/showthread.php?t=273736

It does explain that incident a few days ago when genuine users went to the M$ site to download optional stuff and it told them their legitimate software was pirated, and caused "reduced functionality"

Discussed here:

http://antionline.com/showthread.php?t=275853



I guess that was Micro$haft's idea of "RC2 Beta Testing"?

Muhahahahahahahaha

[rcgreen]

Personally, I think Ballmer is preparing a doS attack on the whole world, so
he can take hostages and get his 72 virgins. Hasn't it occurred to anyone
else that this weapon can be used against anyone?

Imagine M'soft discretely informing the president that they will
bring the government to its knees unless certain demands are met.
You are dealing with sci-fi style megalomaniacs here.

The solution:

Download Debian, Slackware or Redhat. Burn disk. Insert in
cdrom drive. Reboot and follow the prompts. Come out from behind
the Iron Curtain and join the Free world!

There. That feels better now.

[Aardpsymon]

meh, the pirates will find this "reduced functionality" code and give it a lobotomy before the month is out.

[dinowuff]

There was/is an "Education" hook function in windows. Allowed for a programmer to write educational software that would be helpful in granting full control over the students computer to the teacher, or teaching software. Full control? Helpful? Really helpful if your writing a virus. I wonder how this Reduced Functionality feature works.

I wonder how it will be exploited?

[Moira]

I presume this means activated versions of Vista?

[nihil]

Hi Moira,

I presume this means activated versions of Vista?

Yes, otherwise you wouldn't be contacting Microsoft and they wouldn't spot it.

I think that the same mechanism is used by the OS if you don't activate it within the required timespan.

As far as I can tell, MS don't actually "do" anything, as the functionality is already within the OS. All they have done is introduced a mechanism that will activate it.

Makes you wonder what else is "waiting in the wings" to be exploited before MS get round to it. I cannot believe that MS are paying any attention to the security of features they are not using.................. but they are still there.

[Moira]

So is this for all pirated copies, or just ones released recently after this mechanism was thought up? And if you know the key of your product, I suppose all you can do is hope that when it's activated it isn't one that MS recognise is stolen. Best thing is never to activate ...... (I do have two bought copies of Vista btw!)

[rcgreen]

Best thing is never to activate

I don't think that is an option, is it? Wouldn't you
get the "reduced functionality" problem for refusing
to activate?

The real problem here is what what happens if the
bad guys get into Microsoft's WGA servers and maliciously
attack large numbers of normal users by arbitrarily
refusing to validate them. As I understand it (I'm paranoid),
You don't just validate once, it's an ongoing process.
Your genuine system may fail validation at some future time,
due to a bug on their end.

Remember, you are only leasing the software, you do not
own your copy. You must continue to comply.