Microsoft revealed some changes to their Windows Genuine Advantage protection scheme for Windows Vista which determines if the copy of Windows Vista is legit. A non validated Windows Vista operating system would reduce its functionality after 30 days and make only security updates available for that system.

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Imagine a race. A race between Microsoft and Crackers. Whenever Microsoft releases a new operating system that they say is absolutely secure and uncrackable some crackers find a way after days, weeks or even months. Vista was designed to be the first operating system that would not be copied en masse because of the way it had to be activated to function after a trial period. The first workarounds popped up pretty quickly buying time for the one real workaround to rule them all.

The weakness was first discovered by the famous (underground) group Paradox which discovered a way to emulate so called “Royality OEM2″ which require no activation at all. Those special OEM versions are only issued to major computer manufacturers such as Dell and Asus to take the hassle of activating the operating system away from their clients. These manufacturers embed license information into their hardware products which is equivalent to a online or phone registration.

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