A wrong move from your part would be to use unlicensed programs, because the system will suffer most due to some hackers struggling to get information from your computer. and everbody knows that the Internet is filled with pirated programs and even operating systems. And here I am not talking about Ubuntu, which has a free version offered by their creators, but about Microsoft systems.
For example, the Vista version of the operating system manufactured by Microsoft, can be pirated. Now more than three years after launching the Windows Vista, many software pirates and hackers have compromised its activation methods, so that they succeeded in some degree to make this software available for everybody, without any cost al all, according to a Microsoft official.
There are two methods that seem to work, and the company monitors to determine if they are a threat to the business model. One method is to use an editor to BIOS – Basic Input / Output System. By changing the value that PC manufacturers use to test the activation switch, a hacker can run Windows Vista, said Mr. Alex Kochis, senior product manager at Microsoft on the Windows Genuine Advantage blog. If not applied correctly, this method can make the system inoperable.
“It is worth mentioning that the company’s answers take into account the seriousness of these threats. Our goal is to stop any misunderstood genius who has his heart set on pirated Windows software”. A second method uses emulation to allow the product activation and is more easily achieved, but also detected. Windows Activation is a technique to combat illegal copying, but it has been also criticized being a burdensome task which prevents legitimate users to load their systems. Mr. Alex Kochis said that Microsoft is considering carefully the impact that these changes have on users of pirated software.
The new operating system, Windows Vista, and the new Office suite, have integrated protection technologies of a higher level, which restrict the phenomenon of piracy. When running, in case of a successful validation, certain features will be disabled from the Windows Aero interface. Each component of Vista, that has the digital signature of Microsoft will be identified. In XP, the architecture was somewhat different, the system was not so full of components, everything was more compact and the system could not validate each component of the digital signature, making it seem more like a validation of a “block” of components. Regarding the online operation, there are facilities where you cannot use it in full, if you hacked the system.
Microsoft has pointed that Windows XP was sold until the end of January 2008, then the sales focused exclusively on Vista. Bill Gates said that the next operating system, Vista, will be released after three years of the previous launch of XP.
The decision affected all versions of the operating systems produced by Microsoft. Microsoft has officially confirmed that after January 31, 2008, major computer manufacturers were not be able to buy XP licenses for selling computers. Recent studies show that Windows Vista is not even well promoted. Almost 80% of Internet users have never heard of Vista, and among those who have heard only 12% plan to change their current operating system. And about getting to a higher level, which is Windows 7, it’s even harder.
Consumers who have been waiting for Vista;s release, after seeing the commercial said they do not intend to buy this system (60%). Almost 80% of participants in studies use Windows XP, which remains the dominant operating system. Microsoft officials have assured that licenses purchased from other partners or distributors will be used on sale until 2009, which did happen. Microsoft said the decision to sell new licenses will not mean that they dropped the support for Windows XP.
