Windows has been giving me warning about 'activation' all week.

My free ride is all done, apparently.

So does windows actually 'disable' or does it just constantly give you annoying pop-ups reminding you to buy it? Wasn't the Win7 supposed to expire past August anyways?

Anyways .. I don't have any legal or warez DVDs lying around .. so am I all set, or should I worry about finding a new copy of windows to install before the 1st?

Are you talking about Win7 RC Beta or an actual Win7 install that the new activation update found to be illegal?

I heard the new piracy update is just a nuisance, although it may prevent you from installing things in the future that require windows validation.

if you have the RC, it will go into full-on annoyance mode in March. This includes forced restarts every hour.

If it's RC then you are hosed come march.

I think there is away around the RC activation thing by changing actually just one text file haha. I forget which one though

It would still not update itself and be seriously vulnerable for virus's and other stuff.

I heard that the new activation thing they got going is completely voluntary. You don't have to install it, you can hide it so it's never shown again, and if you do install it, you can simply choose to uninstall it, and the error goes away.

Apparently they aren't targeting illegal copies of Windows 7 so much as people who may have been stooped into buying an illegal copy of it. So it's basically just to let honest people know they bought an illegal copy. Luckily I'm not one of them.

MS realized long ago that it would cost them more to fight pirates then the lost revenue.
And they aren't going to shell out 250$ every couple years for a new windows anyway.

What? I'm pretty sure Microsoft has a very active Anti-Piracy department dedicated to working with local police to bust piracy rings overseas. I'm not talking about P2P downloaders, I'm talking about bootleggers who crack Windows and burn it onto thousands of DVDs and sell them. Google isn't finding anything though bleh.



No security updates are always available, even for non-genuine Windows. Microsoft realized denying those updates would only help malware spread and infect genuine users as well.

Well those guys are different. I was meaning the average guy.

It's an optional update via Windows update, but unfortunately it doesnt clearly identify itself. It's just a generic looking "Update for Windows 7 for x64-based systems (KB971033)".

If you have your system set to only install Important (Critical) updates and never manually do a Windows Update then you should be fine. I don't know about the uninstall thing, sounds like Squirrel King should give that a shot.

Ok, I forgot I made this post.

So, yea, random restarts SUCK. I've been living with it since the first, but now I gotta do some school work.

mscbuck you remember what file to delete?

It's not random, every 2 hours.

Whatever.

It's random when you irregularly use your computer for periods of less than 2 hours at a time and it will restart anywhere from 1 second after you get on, up till 1 second before you get off.

Yeah, you're going to have to get a new windows

Your computer usage may be random. The restarts are not.

Just go back to XP or something, you aren't allowed to complain when you've been warned for a year before hand.

Well it's not exactly a complaint thread.