M$ antipiracy initiative cracked by javascript one-liner

[Wintermute]

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Programme has been cracked only days after the software giant activated the antipiracy scheme [...] Users are prompted to download an ActiveX control that checks the authenticity of their Windows software and, if Windows is validated, stores a download key on the PC for future verification. But hackers have developed a simple one line hack which turns off the trigger for the key check, allowing users to get around the requirement to verify their serial number before using Windows Update.

The Register

Before pressing 'Custom' or 'Express' buttons paste this text to the address bar and press enter:
javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')
It turns off the trigger for the key check.

Fantastic A company as devoid of sense as it is of moral integrity...

 

[FridgeMagnet]

javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

HAHAHAHAhahahahaha

you really could not make that up, what a handy little thing for MS to have included...

 

[fractionMan]

I heard it'd been cracked, but not like that!

 

[kained&able]

thats genius!


dave

 

[tom k&e]

 

[DG55]

Great. Now that everyones publicied it to a stupid extent, its obviously going to be changed to somthing less simple. Doh.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

 

[lobster]

Copy protections however safisticated gets cracked sooner or later, cubase dongle was recently cracked, windows from 95+ have always tried to make it impossible to use without a key.

Ms should use development time on security for the end user, not copy protection.

 

[tw1ggy5]

Erm doesn't work for me

 

[boskysquelch]

Erm doesn't work for me

nor me..cept for the fact that it was the only thing to try and download...and thus didn't///


Wot pisses me off the most is the fact that every copy of this $hite I have bought legally has been corrupted/fooked/downright twatted/we haven't included the idsks coz they don 't work correctly..and yet the Others have been fine... and now we have to go all proper?

 

[exosculate]

Any chance of explaining how a lay person would use this information?

 

[lobster]

squelch : I presumed you have contacted Ms helplines or where you bought the products for some help, otherwise stop using them, alternatively use a free Os like linux, there is plenty of users on urban 75 that will help with installation ..

Non-technically minded people Ms relises on to implement there copy protection.
exosculate : something you add to disable the website checking your computer for validity.

 

[ricbake]

Thanks

It worked for me!

 

[jayeola]

I guess that now that this info is in the public domian there'll be a slighty more complicated "validation" check. Which will soon enough be busted.

 

[skunkboy69]

if you go into IE options>tools>manage addons you can turn it off ffs.

 

[kenny g]

This trick will make microsoft think you have a genuine windows.
After having gone through windows validation and been told you have a dodgy copy do this...

Go to : C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage\data
and delete "data.dat" then create a new blank file and name it "data.dat" then click properties and select atributes "hidden" and "read only" and save it.

In fact once you run the validation again whilst trying to download something, such as the new anti-spyware beta, it will thank you for using genuine windows!

PS. To create the blank "data.dat" file just make an empty .txt file using notebook and rename it to data.dat .

This method has the advantage over the other one in that rather than avoiding microsoft checking your PC it makes Microsoft think your PC is clean as a whistle.

 

[gnoriac]

You'd have to be pretty daft to download an ActiveX control anyway. Even from micros**t.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

squelch : I presumed you have contacted Ms helplines or where you bought the products for some help, otherwise stop using them, alternatively use a free Os like linux, there is plenty of users on urban 75 that will help with installation ..

A question about Linux: what happens if a person sends me a word document - can I open it and edit it?

 

[Wintermute]

A question about Linux: what happens if a person sends me a word document - can I open it and edit it?

Yep: OpenOffice. It's free, it works on loads of operating systems, it's FREE, it's got some amazing features, it opens and creates all your standard office-type documents, and it's FREE.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Yep: OpenOffice. It's free, it works on loads of operating systems, it's FREE, it's got some amazing features, it opens and creates all your standard office-type documents, and it's FREE.

So if somebody sent me a Mircosoft Word document, it could handle that?

 

[easy g]

did you mention that it's free Wintersmute?

 

[easy g]

So if somebody sent me a Mircosoft Word document, it could handle that?

yep

iirc you can export things as pdfs as well

 

[Divisive Cotton]

The next time that I come across a free old PC, I'm going to build it up from scratch using Linux - not sure which operating system yet.
Is it possible to build a fully functioning PC with only open source?

 

[stdPikachu]

If you open it in summat like OpenOffice or Koffice, yes. Although imports aren't always perfect.

And yes, I have four computers all of which function perfectly well on 100% Linux (well, apart from the one that blew up on friday night, and the win2k dual boot on my workstation).

 

[lobster]

try abiword, its not bloated like open office , its also on multiple systems and free.

 

[kenny g]

However nice and dandy all of this open source stuff is , and I am fully behind it, I still like to be able to know that I am fully up on the latest Windows applications. For that nothing beats a full suite of ripped off progs running on a pirate Microsoft XP Pro. I can't really see how in a home environment anything can beat a full set of Office plus Adobe , macrovision etc etc.
Having said that I am getting mildly intrigued by the possibility of playing around with a linux set up just for the obvious sense of fun it seems to give people.
It does, howver mildly piss me off how almost any thread regarding a Microsoft product gets taken over by peeps who love to extole the virtues of another operating system. For me Microsoft is free and always has been.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Why do you need a full set of Office, Adobe, Macrovision etc etc in a home environment?

 

[Divisive Cotton]

It does, howver mildly piss me off how almost any thread regarding a Microsoft product gets taken over by peeps who love to extole the virtues of another operating system. For me Microsoft is free and always has been.

Ar... the doors to a long and winding debate have been opened.

There are various arguments against Mircosoft - one against a bullying corporation that is simply not needed - open source can offer a workable alternative to Mircosoft.
Two, security - Mircosoft is far more vunerable.
Three, are you quite sure Mircosoft will remain forever free - as the topic of this thread points out, they seek to block non-registered users from downloading security threat patches. They have failed this time, but are you so sure that they will fail next time?

 

[kenny g]

.
Three, are you quite sure Mircosoft will remain forever free - as the topic of this thread points out, they seek to block non-registered users from downloading security threat patches. They have failed this time, but are you so sure that they will fail next time?

They haven't sought to block non-registered users from downloading security threat patches. They have sought to block them from non-security threat patches. I believe they will continue to fail because at the end of the day you could alwaysdownload the patch from a non-microsoft source.
I am not anti-open source. I think the whole concept of open source is great , i use plenty of open source progs but if i have the choice between a free version of MSOffice or Open Office I will go for MS. Similarly if I can go for a full version of Adobe Acrobat or something that has reversed engineered some parts of it I will opt for the original.

 

[jayeola]

kenny g - [is that the man that played that ghastly wind instrument ]. Anyways, I speak for myself here but I -think- that most ppl that really over extoll GNU/Linux and Free-ness are Microsoft refugees.

There's alot going for it but that would prolly be in another thread, if it hasn't been done to death already.