Apr 28
Never thought it is that easy…
Tags: hack
Feb 28
A bug in Windows Vista’s built-in antipiracy technology is telling some users that they need to reactivate the operating system after they install new device drivers or run newly installed software.Microsoft Corp. quietly issued a patch designed to fix the flaw in its Software Protection Platform (SPP) technology late last month. Criticized by some when it was announced last fall, SPP is an updated and more aggressive version of the Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy tools that Microsoft included with Windows XP. But because of the bug, SPP may suddenly demand that a copy of Vista be “activated” even though the user and/or the computer maker did so earlier.
“You may be prompted to activate Windows Vista on a computer on which Windows Vista activation was not previously required,” Microsoft says “Although this problem rarely occurs, it may occur during typical use of a Windows Vista-based computer. For example, this problem may occur under one or more of the following conditions: You install a device driver, you install a program, you run a new program, you remove a program.”
One Vista user, commenting, on Microsoft’s Windows Vista Validation Issues support forum reported that he ran into the bug after he had updated his PC’s BIOS. Oops!!!.
Tags: reactivation
Feb 20
I want to watch an Egyptian movie for my Middle Eastern studies class. But it is region coded not to play on my DVD player, in an effort to stop piracy. Now I have to hack my DVD player and break the law to get it to play. The movie isn’t released in the U.S. This is the only version that was ever published. Since it isn’t published in the US, and it’s for academic purposes, I can rip it make copies for my classmates. That’s fair use. But since I have to break the DRM to copy it — I’ve broken the law anyway.
Feb 17
Vista, at the minimum needs a 1GB RAM on your machine. (Dont believe the Microsoft minimum requirements.) Thats old story.
Now, the hottest topic is the Digital Rights Management/Digital Restrictions Management. What does this mean? Nothing except that you wouldnt be able to run any DVD or CD that has no copyright information. You create a home video yourself and you can never run it on Vista. Microsoft has also worked so much for implementing the “copyright protection technology” on the upcoming media formats - HD DVD and Blue ray discs.
Guess what. There are lot many companies which are “anti-DRM” and sell CDs/DVDs on the internet. Meaning, you buy a legitimate disc and still will not be able to run on your system.
“Sometimes output is prevented entirely. Vista spends time monitoring itself and what you do, looking for things it thinks you shouldn’t be doing. If it finds something, it will limit functionality on you or, if you’re being really naughty, restart the video subsystem to prevent you from doing what you want.”
Hollywood had been distributing its movies in the uncrackable HD-DVD and Blue Ray discs. But just like DRM, the Vista code for the copyright protection doesnt work. It has been cracked the next day Vista was released. And Microsoft, as usual, raised a patch for it. Now, the DRM for the HD-DVD and the Blue Ray discs have been cracked by a Java utility. Illegal but.
How long are we going to live with something illegal? A 8$ licensed Iran Vista and an illegal workaround to access HD-DVDs, No card reader support. And above all this, your present hardware wouldnt simply run it. If you say that “Windows supports all hardware. So i stick to it”, try Vista. Linux, currently, supports more hardware than Vista. And if you own a 64 bit processor and trying to run a 64 bit version of Vista, you are in a very bad shape still.
Besides, all your third party drivers must now be certified by Microsoft. Otherwise, they simply wouldnt run. And how many drivers today do you think are really certified by Microsoft.
If you really want to stay with Windows, stay with whatever you have now. Vista is too dangerous a pet to play with.
Feb 10
Microsoft has recently acknowledged that Vista’s built-in speech recognition software could be exploited by bad guys to delete files and even shut the computer down. This clever hack works something like this: A Vista user downloads and plays a malicious audio file, probably thinking that it a song. Instead, the audio file begins barking commands through the computer’s speakers, such as, “Delete all files in the ‘My Documents’ folder,” or, “System shut down.” These verbal commands are picked up by the computer’s microphone, processed by the built-in speech recognition software, and the computer obeys. Crazy, huh?
source : http://www.bestsecuritytips.com
Tags: microsoft
