From: Adam Flinton 

Geo wrote:
> "Adam Flinton"  wrote in message
> news:4221a503$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>
>
>>Esp if the virus makes it so no new number will work. Imagine the "phone
>>queues" of a global nature where people are calling to re-init winxp.
>
>
> all it needs to do is change the serial number to a random number. I don't
> think anyone realizes just easy it would be to completely hose the whole
> product activation thing. Microsoft has designed windows to watch to see if
> it was tampered with (that setting that changes workstation to server) and
> they have now designed their strategy for updates to depend on stuff that
> can be changed by software that executes on the users machine.
>
> I've always thought this was a really nasty security issue, first they
> wanted the stupid serial number stickers on the outside of the computer
> where anyone can see them, write them down, and post them to the internet
> thus getting your key blacklisted. Second even if you remove the sticker
> there are programs like http://www.nthelp.com/40/productid.htm which can
> simply read the number and display it so you can copy it down.
>
> Imagine what would happen if the next big virus changed this setting to one
> of the blacklisted serial numbers. It would basically mean users have to
> reinstall to fix the problem and if you happen to have an OEM version which
> now isn't going to let you reinstall without calling well...
>
> So when is MS going to realize that software piracy is a law enforcement
> issue and why it's a bad idea to take the law into your own hands? It's so
> easy to frame users so that MS thinks they are running pirated windows..
>
> Geo.
>
>

At some point, something nasty is going to happen wrt this. You know it, I
know it & I'll bet MS know it but frankly out of the 3, only you &
I care.

Adam

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