Genuine Windows Blog

Announcing the new Genuine Windows Blog on https://windowsteamblog.com/

It's been over three years since I first launched the Genuine Windows Blog, and a lot has changed in...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/04/2009

Windows 7 OEM Product Key Leak

Yesterday we were alerted to reports of a leak of a special product key issued to an OEM partner of...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/31/2009

Activating Windows 7

Now that the Windows 7 Beta and RC are out, and the official general availability date has been...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/06/2009

Pirated Windows 7 RC builds a botnet

Just a quick follow up on my recent post about the Windows 7 RC being available over bittorrent...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/16/2009

Windows Activation Technologies: Activation and Validation in Windows 7

Earlier today we posted on Microsoft's Press Pass site an interview with our group's General...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/07/2009

Windows 7 RC torrent files infected with trojan

Wow that was fast, though I don't suppose I should be surprised. Earlier this evening I visited the...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/02/2009

Can we get Hugh Jackman as Genuine Windows spokesperson?

Working on counterfeit and piracy issues at Microsoft for so many years now has given me a finely...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/19/2009

The Surprising Risks of Counterfeit Software in Businesses

I pretty regularly see people in forums and blogs comment that DRM or anti-piracy technology doesn't...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/18/2009

Update to WGA Notifications for Windows XP Pro

Starting this week, we will begin deployment of the latest version of WGA Notifications for Windows...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/24/2009

Update to Windows Vista Activation Exploit detection begins today

Last year around this time, I blogged about some changes for Windows Vista that were released with...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/24/2009

Windows 7 Beta

In the last week or so I've received a few questions related to the product activation experinece in...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/23/2009

Updated genuine Web site

Earlier today we rolled out an updated look and feel to the Genuine Microsoft Software Web site. I...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/09/2008

Recently, we launched a new design for the How to Tell Counterfeit Gallery. The design includes new...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/03/2008

Research whitepaper shows companies using more unlicensed Windows software are at greater risk

Today Microsoft is posting a commissioned study conducted by The Harrison Group to determine whether...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 09/29/2008

Update to WGA Notifications for Windows XP Professional

Starting this week, we will begin deployment of the latest version of WGA Notifications for Windows...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/26/2008

Counterfeit software, identity theft and repeat offenders...

I saw a recent DOJ case the other day that highlights the risks of buying counterfeit software. The...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 06/13/2008

Taking the next step with Windows Vista SP1

Back in December, I mentioned some changes were coming with WGA in Windows Vista. I want to say...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/21/2008

Microsoft supports IP awareness in schools

I wanted to call out some work done by some colleagues of mine. A study was released yesterday about...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/14/2008

Evolving WGA...

Tonight we're announcing some new developments with WGA. The full story is here on our PressPass...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/04/2007

So what happened?

Now that we have had time to dive into the details more on what happened that caused the temporary...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/29/2007

Update on Validation Issues

We're continuing to investigate what happened but here's a quick update to yesterday's post. The...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/27/2007

Validation Issue Fix

We've been receiving reports on our forum and through customer service starting last night that...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 08/25/2007

There’s more to it than code… www.HowtoTell.com gets an update

Typically on this blog I post about issues closely related to WGA. In the interest in providing a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 07/02/2007

Malware posing as Windows product activation

A new piece of malware identified by Symantec as ‘Trojan.Kardphisher' targets Windows XP users by...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 05/11/2007

Reported OEM BIOS Hacks

I know many of you are aware of reports of hacks that attempt to exploit our OEM BIOS based...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 04/10/2007

Another reported workaround ineffective...

Late last week, while I was out of the office sick and with my boss covering for me, our team...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/19/2007

WGA Notifications and download and install telemetry

We’ve gotten a few questions recently about the fact that our latest WGA Notifications package sends...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/07/2007

'Brute' Force Attack on Windows Vista now 'Moot' Force Attack

Over the weekend we learned that the widely covered 'Vista Brute Force Keygen' turned out to be a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/05/2007

Brute force attack on Windows Vista product keys?

This morning as I was checking my feeds while standing in line waiting for coffee I saw a few...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/02/2007

Windows Vista Tamper Detection and misbehaving apps

We've seen reports indicating that customers are being prompted to activate Windows Vista on...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 03/01/2007

New WGA Notifications rolling out...

If you'll remember back in November we made available a preview of a new installation experience for...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/23/2007

Pirated Windows Vista may be worth-LESS

I saw an article in the LA Times this morning reporting that counterfeit copies of Windows Vista are...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 02/07/2007

More on: WGA False Positives

An Information Week article was posted earlier today that attempted to calculate the rate of false...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 01/23/2007

Report of a new hack - and one of my favorite websites stumbles

For me the report of this latest hack was a double whammy. First it's no fun to read a report of a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 01/02/2007

The 'Frankenbuild' monster

Over the last few weeks, we've seen a number of attempts at workarounds for Vista product...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 12/14/2006

New WGA Notifications Released

Yesterday we released the latest WGA Notifications Tool for Windows XP. This update includes a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/29/2006

Windows Vista 'Frankenbuilds' spotted in the wild

Last week saw a reported leak of an RTM build of Windows Vista. The reports I read indicated that...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/20/2006

Can numbers stand on their heads?

Sure they can but then they're just upside down numbers. Ed Bott posted on his personal blog a link...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 11/02/2006

Windows Media Player 11 released

As I'm sure most of you know Windows Media Player 11 was released yesterday. WMP11 is of course...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/31/2006

My Story

In my ‘what's the risk' post about the research done by IDC (PDF) on the risks of obtaining or using...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/31/2006

What’s the risk?

Could using counterfeit software be risky in and of itself? Yesterday we posted a report done for us...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/26/2006

IE7 now available

As most of you probably already know IE7 is now released and available for download. See the IE blog...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/20/2006

WGA service outage

Earlier this week a server on the backend of the WGA service experienced a bug that resulted in a...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/05/2006

New technology to protect Windows Vista and other products

This morning Microsoft announced a new set of technologies that will be included in the RTM of...

Author: MSDN Archive Date: 10/04/2006

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