OEM BIOS emulators spoof Vista, make pirated copies look legit

Friday, 13 April 2007, 12:03 AM EST

Microsoft's anti-piracy team has acknowledged that hacks against Windows Vista's OEM BIOS activation scheme are circulating, but seemed to say it has no plans to immediately counter the threat.

Two days ago, Alex Kochis, senior product manager of WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage), spelled out the hacks, which try to spoof how major computer makers pre-activate Windows Vista before shipping systems to customers. To make OEMs' (original equipment manufacturers) jobs easier, Kochis said, Microsoft has long let them add a marker in the motherboard's BIOS to identify PCs licensed to boot Windows.

At Computerworld.

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