Software Piracy Crack-Downs!

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

All of us need to be wary of counterfeited, pirated, or down-right stolen software.

Yes, I am guily of this in the past - In the pre 2000 "Napster days", but being a computer programmer myself, I have shied away - Paying the price and BUYING it to support both the economy and people like myself (who hate losing their jobs).

I have a very old copy of Windows XP Pro, that a deceased friend gave me back in 2003. I have been using it for years, and automatic updates and such worked (using the new "Genuine Validation" tool).

I had bad woes with getting used to Vista, so I have a dedicated OS 500 GB drive split in two for dual boot, running the XP Pro on one partition, with all my programs, and the new 64 Vist Ultimate, which I bought this week, on the other for testing / new programs. This solution works great.

Last night, I do the automatic updates for SP3 on XP Pro and the validation fails. I only installed this on my laptop last week, and it worked.

I went back to the laptop, validated, and XP Pro on it also failed. The copy my friend gave me was either stolen / boot-legged. I was furious.

I went to Microsoft's site, paid $149 bucks, and got a valid key for XP Pro, fair-and-square. After that, all was well on both the partition and laptop (genuine validation / updates).

The word here is to be very careful. Same goes for downloading music - Just pay the darn 99 cents - why even bother anymore?

Here are some points about downloading / aqcuiring software...

1). Downloading programs, 99% of the time now-a-days will only give you partially-functional code, viruses, or all of the above.

2). Major software compaies, like Microsoft, are cracking down on illegal / non genuine versions. They have steps in place so if you have a botched version it is either de-activated or updates / support denied.

3). If you DO have such (aka: you did not BUY it) ... Be wary of what you have. Microsoft has the little "send error report" and "don't send" after a program crashes ... If you have a boot-legged copy, hit "don't send" ... This is how they find out about illegal copied

As for programs like LimeWire, BitTorrent, and Kazaa ... Use these with EXTREME caution. MP3's are loaded with viruses (double-clicking on them can launch the virus). You can often tell by doing a scan on them, or first trying to load the MP3 into an editor and it says "invalid format" meaning it's not a sound-file (it's an embedded EXE). Also, searching for software on such sites gives you lots of results, but look at the file-sizes, often somethig like 200 KB for a 30 MB program - It's a virus / trojan! If you do finally find something, expect it to be an old version / beta release.

Adobe Premiere 6.5 is a classic example. It was offered on nearly all the "point-to-point" / file-sharing sites. It is "build 163", with tons of bugs, and has a logic-bomb in it so when you export Dv AVI you get a screen "flickering" with icons in the playback AVI! This was a beta testing, still during development, and a disgruntled Adobe ex-employee stole the code and out it out there. You get what you paid for (or didn't pay for).

Copying / pirating software - if you are caught - Is a 2nd degree felony and can land you 5 years and or $100K in fines in worst cases.

 

[Walt VanRheen]

Just this week, I had a similar issue with a post Service pack install with a computer I built a month ago. vista business 64bit to be exact. all worked fine until the SP install earlier this week. I called to verify and they gave me a the appropriate responce to revalidate the OS.

Fact, if there is a significant change in a computer, like a new MB or processor, MS will ask to re-validate the OS. it does not mean anything is wrong with the previous license, it just needs to be done over. i have had to do this for a few years now. this week was the first time i had to do it following a service pack install.

 

[Rob H]

It's worth noting that some of the statements about MP3s and 99% infection rates on pirated software are a little skewed to be fair (don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating piracy) but the overall gist is dead on. MP3s can probably have nasty things hidden in metadata, and I've heard of things like VBS.LoveLetter actually overwriting the contents of MP3s and then tricking the user into executing whatever scripting/code lies within. But, if you get MP3s/AAC/etc. from a legit source, then you don't really have to worry about this.

I'd like to add to Christopher's warning, and recommend having some sort of backup plan. I've had to clean this crap off of friend's and family's computers, and it sucks watching parents anxiously waiting to see if their non-backed up pictures/videos of their only child can be recovered after a virus or spyware or whatever has mangled their system. Sometimes it can't be recovered.

If you can't afford full price for some of this stuff, there are options. If you are a university student, you can check to see if your school offers Academic Alliance or some similar program. I've gotten multiple copies of XP, Vista, Visual Studio, etc. for free this way. There are also programs like 'The Ultimate Steal' at http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx which can get you MS software very cheap. I bought a MacBook Pro from a program like this and got 20% off, so its worth looking into these deals.

Don't forget that if you're not afraid to get your hands a little dirty, Linux distributions are typically free for all intents and purposes. Distributions like Ubuntu make Linux more user-friendly than ever before, and you have the added bonus of being able to run GEMPAK without virtualization.