Microsoft to lock up pirate Vista PCs

Stan Beer
Thursday, 05 October 2006 07:14

Your IT - Home IT

Microsoft has declared open warfare on software pirates, revealing that it  intends to lock users out of PCs that don't validate that their computer has a genuine copy of the new operating system.

• Announcements

There will be a 30-day grace period for users who use an illegitimate key, during which Microsoft controversially will block access to anti-spyware security, in addition to other advanced features of Vista, such as the Aero interface.

The new get tough stance is part of Microsoft's newly announced Software Protection Platform, which is built into Vista and will be eventually extended to other Microsoft products.

Users who install a copy of Vista will be required to validate that the copy is genuine within 30 days by activating it with a genuine product registration key. Until they do so, Microsoft will send them regular warning messages with increasing frequency, counting down the days until their period of grace is up.

If 30 days expires without users validating their copy of Vista with Microsoft, the PCs will lock users out of Vista and only access to their web browser for an hour before logging them off.

There is even worse news in store for pirates, however. Microsoft will continue to check if an operating system was legally acquired even after it has been activated. This will happen when users download additional Microsoft programs, presumably including patches.

If users are deemed by Microsoft to have illegitimate license keys, they will get 30 days to obtain a genuine key, during which they will not only get warning messages but find themselves running on reduced functionality, which could compromise their security.

During the 30 days grace period, users who don't have a legitimate key will not be able to use the Windows Defender anti-spyware tool, as well Aero and Microsoft's memory expansion feature.

The new get tough measures from Microsoft will likely win the software company plaudits from anti-piracy campaigners. However, the decision to block access to anti-spyware while still giving users access to the system is not likely to please security advocates, who may raise concerns.