No Windows Updates until Activation


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A source close to Microsoft told german Windows enthusiast site WinFuture about plans to introduce a new version of the windows genuine check. According to the source the activation of Windows XP is going to be required to get access to ALL downloads listed in Microsofts Download Center. Additionally a message will pop up every time the system boots, if Windows has not been activated yet. The message will remind the user of activating Windows and start the validation process via WGA.

Full Article (german): http://winfuture.de/news,25013.html

Digg it: http://digg.com/software/No_Windows_Update...ion_of_WGA_soon.

Edited by .stan
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Even security updates? :blink:

Hell might break loose in that case. For legit consumers by infected pirated copies through open unpatched security holes starting to mass-mail or something like that.

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What if i'm just testing a Windows installation on another hard drive and plan to take it off without activating? This will cause so many problems.

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I thought they were at least allowing illegal copies to have security updates or you could have whole networks of illegal copies of XP being virus servers sending out nasties.

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I don't see anything wrong with this. The only people getting viruses will be the illegal copies. If you own a copy you would have all the updates installed and would not have to worry about viruses.

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Even security updates? :blink:

Hell might break loose in that case. For legit consumers by infected pirated copies through open unpatched security holes starting to mass-mail or something like that.

Yes, even for security updates.

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I don't quite understand MS's reasoning behind this. Don't you have 90 days to activate? It seems like you should be allowed to get updates (especially security updates) during that time period. What about all those volume licensed versions that seem to be popular among the pirates? Those versions don't require activation so they should be unaffected which sort of defeats the purpose of all of this, no?

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I don't quite understand MS's reasoning behind this. Don't you have 90 days to activate? It seems like you should be allowed to get updates (especially security updates) during that time period. What about all those volume licensed versions that seem to be popular among the pirates? Those versions don't require activation so they should be unaffected which sort of defeats the purpose of all of this, no?

yeah I do think you should have that 90 day window but beyond that I see no reason why MS should allow pirated copies to get updates. Even that 90 day window doesnt seem that important as all you have to click is one button to activate the product.

And yeah someone mentioned legit customers who had been sold illegal copies. I see this as no real reason not to block them, the customer shouldnt be punished but it will allow MS to catch people illegally selling XP sooner and I'm sure customers would be assisted in some form.

The only problem is arent most patched released in an execuable form anyway? with only about 5 patches a month its only about 5 or 6 mins ectra to download them seperatly, especially since MS links to the KB articles.

*shrugs*

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Yes, even for security updates.

Are you sure, it doesn't seem like it.

"According to the source the activation of Windows XP is going to be required to get access to ALL downloads listed in Microsofts Download Center"

It says you need to activate to get all downloads, so I would assume you could technically still access some downloads, such as security updates without activation.

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I don't see anything wrong with this. The only people getting viruses will be the illegal copies. If you own a copy you would have all the updates installed and would not have to worry about viruses.

The problem is when these types of boxes get infected they can turn into DOS (Denial of Service) boxes, or be used to spam. Wich in turn slows down networks. Bandwith isnt free.

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quit whining and just buy the damn product if you want microsoft's services

its only fair to pay them for what they are doing

or im sure you could use that 3rd party win update site...

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I don't see anything wrong with this. The only people getting viruses will be the illegal copies. If you own a copy you would have all the updates installed and would not have to worry about viruses.

Viruses can never spread to you if there aren't other infected computers. More computers than can get a virus = more people to give the virus to YOU.

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it's :devil: :devil: :devil:

:p

why? because pirates cant update thier pcs and only the people that buy it will get the benefits of paying. i dont see anything wrong with that

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Umm how is this going to stop pirates? There's been activation cracks for years now, I guess the corporate ones will just have issues. On that note, I hope corporations who do have legal copies don't get screwed in the end, it's happened before :wacko:

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why? because pirates cant update thier pcs and only the people that buy it will get the benefits of paying. i dont see anything wrong with that

heres the situation

microsoft block pirated xp from security updates.

droves of systems get infected by virus due to unpatched exploit.

these droves of systems turn into a massive botnet which launches spam, phishing, virus and DDOS attacks.

so actally NO its not a good idea to stop the pirated XP from getting security updates because all these zombie machines can be used to attack the Paying customers...

Of course maybe if XP didnt cost a fortune more people would pay for it.

i rekon if it was under ?50 and covered all your pcs in your home (or each additional pc was like ?10 more) then they might do better at selling it.

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The problem is when these types of boxes get infected they can turn into DOS (Denial of Service) boxes, or be used to spam. Wich in turn slows down networks. Bandwith isnt free.

So let's just have Microsoft give them 7 days to activate then it automatically erases the disk partitions. No one is that busy that they can't activate within 7 days. And, it prevents a machine from becoming DOS boxes.

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