Running a Hacked Vista? Microsoft Wants to ‘Help’ You…

WGA Microsoft today gave more details about how various Vista activation exploits will be handled by the soon to be released SP1, and beyond. Their Windows Genuine Advantage blog gives some of the details on what will happen to machines running an exploit, and reveals that not only will SP1 be looking for these exploits, but a soon to come Windows Update as well. The notice you may get from this update borders on humorous.

Once SP1 is installed, it will disable the OEM BIOS and Grace Timer exploits. Those that had the Grace Timer exploit installed will immediately be prompted to activate their copy of Vista. Those with the OEM BIOS exploit may not see the prompt for up to 15 days, due to the way normal OEM activation works. In either case, once prompted to activate, users will have a 15 second delay in login while waiting for an ‘activate later’ option to appear, and will have notifications every hour, as well as having their desktop turned black every hour (you can change it, but in an hour it will change back). This is obviously better than the pre-SP1 behavior which basically throws you out of Vista.

Later this month, a Windows Update will be released that scans for the exploit, and upon its discovery notifies the user, as a way of ‘protecting’ them from software piracy. Here’s the message those with the exploit will receive:

Windows has found software that circumvents Windows activation and interferes with it’s normal operation. The presence of this software may indicate your copy of Windows is counterfeit.
After repair, your copy of Windows must be activated.
If you do not repair-Windows, Windows might disable the software and you may need to activate this copy of Windows.

Where to start on picking this language apart! First, it would appear Windows ‘normal operation’ is to make sure it’s been paid for, which of course is what most users are concerned about, and is always the first reason to upgrade to a new OS. Of course possibly being counterfeit means it’s broken and is in need of repair. The update can’t repair it though, it simply points to instructions on line on how to do that. Of course once you repair it, restoring it to it’s normal operation, you must activate it. You have the choice not to repair your copy of Vista, but if you don’t, it’s going to repair itself anyway. Nice how they give you a choice without really giving you a choice. Also nice how it’s ‘Windows’ that might disable the software, and not Microsoft. It’s almost like Microsoft is saying “Hey, if it were up to us, we’d let you keep using it, but that Windows, it’s got a mind of it’s own!”.

So, in the end, if you really want to continue using an exploited version of Vista, don’t install SP1, and be very careful about which updates you install. Down the road, it sounds like Windows Updates will be how exploits are handled. Future updates will not only immediately detect exploits, it will remove (or ‘repair’) them as well. Running Vista illegally is getting more difficult, will it result in increased sales, or just decreased use of Vista?

Post from: ITsVISTA

Running a Hacked Vista? Microsoft Wants to ‘Help’ You…