Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on March 15, 2007 by CyberNet.

The day after Vista was released to consumers, we presented you with a workaround that would allow you to postpone Vista activation for up to 120 days. Now there’s a new workaround that I think you’ll enjoy. I just got done going through a webcast with Brian Livingston from WindowsSecrets.com who introduced a new way of bypassing Windows Vista activation that, when used in conjunction with slmgr -rearm, can get you by with one year of activation . This trick uses a registry key called SkipRearm which Microsoft’s own TechNet document says:

All licensing and registry data related to activation is either removed or reset. Any grace period timers are reset as well.

So what’s the trick? It’s actually unbelievably easy…

—Extend Vista Activation To 120 Days—

First off, Vista gives you a 30–day grace period to activate Vista if you don’t enter in a product key during the installation process (just press Enter when asked for a key to bypass it). Then at the end of each month right when your grace period is about to end you can get an additional 30 days by using this small trick that was discovered about a month ago:

1. First you need to start a Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by clicking the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You may also do this by finding the Command Prompt option located in your Accessories folder:
   
   If asked to approve a User Account Control prompt, please do so and provide an administrator password if needed.
    
2. At the prompt type the following command and press Enter:

   slmgr -rearm

   Every time you run this command it will add 30 days to the amount of time you have to activate Windows Vista. However, it will only be effective up to 3 times. If you add this time onto your original grace period it will give you 120 days total.
    
    

3. Reboot the PC to make the Vista activation deadline get pushed back.
   
    

—Extend Vista Activation Another 240 Days—

So what do you do after the 120 days is up? You could either purchase a product key from Microsoft, or use another method to extend the activation grace period another 8 times making it a total of 12 months (the initial 1 month + 3 months from above + 8 months = 1 year). Just like before, this uses the slmgr -rearm command, but it also uses a registry setting to allow the command to run another 8 times:

1. Click the Start button, type regedit into the Search box, and press Enter.
   
    
2. Find the SkipRearm key in the Windows Registry that you just opened which is located in the following “folder”:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ SL
   
    

3. Right-click on the SkipRearm and select Modify. Change the “Value Data” to any positive integer, such as 1. Press OK and close the Registry Editor.
   
    
4. Now you need to start a Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by clicking the Start button, enter cmd in the Search box, then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter. You may also do this by finding the Command Prompt option located in your Accessories folder:
   
   If asked to approve a User Account Control prompt, please do so and provide an administrator password if needed.
    
5. At the prompt type the following command and press Enter:

   slmgr -rearm

   Every time you run this command it will add 30 days to the amount of time you have to activate Windows Vista. Each time you run this command it will reset the registry key you modified in Step 3 back to the original value of 0.
   
    

6. Reboot the PC to make the Vista activation deadline get pushed back.
   
   You can always use the command slmgr -xpr at a Command Prompt to have it show when Vista will expire to ensure that the trick has worked.
    
7. Every time you do the steps above it will essentially reset all activation information on your computer. You’re really starting from a clean slate each time (in terms of activation) which means you will need to repeat these steps every 30 days.

Note: All of my PC’s are legally activated so I didn’t try this trick out for myself.

We are in no way condoning piracy, but we wrote about this because it was something that seemed just too easy and only utilized tools already found in Vista. After watching the webcast I was shown just how easy it was to extend the deadline. This is still quite a pain though, because at the end of each month you’ll have to make sure to reset the activation system. Your calendar would look something like this:

• Start of month 1: Install Vista without a product key (do this by pressing Enter during the installation setup).
• End of months 1 to 3: Use the first set of steps outlined above to extend the activation grace period.
• End of months 4 to 11: Use the second set of steps outlined above to extend the activation grace period.
• End of month 12: Reinstall Vista.

This could really spell disaster for Microsoft because hackers will probably come out with some little program that will automatically extend the period every 30 days, and then it will prompt you to reboot your computer. It sounds so simple and it really is…I could whip up a quick program in just a few minutes that would do everything that you needed to.

The real worry for Microsoft comes when someone figures out where the slmgr limitation is stored. There is obviously something in Vista preventing a user from abusing the command more than what has already been demonstrated above. Once someone finds out what’s the limiting factor, there is going to be a whole can of worms opened up.

—Why can users postpone activation in the first place?—

Microsoft implemented a new Volume Licensing system in Windows Vista to hopefully stop widespread piracy that occurred with previous versions of Windows. In Windows XP Microsoft provided a single product key for corporations that wouldn’t require that Windows be activated at all. This caused a huge dilemma so Microsoft sought out another solution…and the result was Volume Licensing 2.0.

This new licensing system requires all computers be activated which can be an unweilding burden for administrators with 1000’s of computers to activate. Microsoft offers several different ways for these computers to be activated, but all of them are still time consuming. Therefore Microsoft implemented the command slmgr -rearm that would push back the activation period 30 days at a time for up to 120 days. That way administrators would be given more time to get all of their systems activated.

There is one small catch though, this was originally intended for business use but also worked on home versions of Vista. Since then Microsoft appears to have patched all retail versions of Vista Home, but it should still work for Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, and Vista Ultimate since those were the intended operating systems. Of course, pirates would probably be downloading Vista illegally from torrents and they would undoubtedly go for the Ultimate edition since it packs the most value.

While this can easily be done, it is surely no fun having to watch what patches are being downloaded in your Windows Update…and using cracks created by anyone else but yourself is just asking for trouble. Who knows what information those cracks could be sending to some unknown source! Now I’m left wondering what kind of update Microsoft will push through to try and correct this issue.

Thanks to Brian Livingston for inviting us to be part of his demo!

Note: Our last post about Vista activation resulted in a lot of cracks being posted in the comments. Do not post any cracks, patches, or key generators in the comments as they will be removed.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

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This article was written on February 22, 2007 by CyberNet.

A new version of Google Desktop is available about one-month after Google was notified of a vulnerability in the desktop search application. Watchfire, a web application security company, notified Google about the loop hole on January 4th, 2007 and Google was able to make an updated version available on February 1st, 2007. Existing Google Desktop users do not need to worry about downloading and installing the new version because the software will automatically update itself.

The exploit comes in the the form of a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack that could allow a hacker to find private documents and even take control of the computer. A user’s computer can get hacked in multiple ways, including email attachments. Once the victim is hacked, the attacker can use Google Desktop to find the following information:

• Sensitive information: Search for the terms ’confidential’ or ’top secret’.
• Password theft: Search for ’username’ or ’password’ keywords and extract authentication information from mails/files.
• Bank information: Search for bank keywords and find Bank Web pages Google Desktop indexed, along with sensitive information.
• Track user activities: Google Desktop’s “Timeline View” option presents an extensive [chronological] log of files edited by the victim and Web sites visited, along with cached versions of both.

What’s even less reassuring is that Watchfire said four out of every five web applications suffer from the same vulnerability. Of course, Watchfire is a security company for web applications so they will definitely try and promote their services when opportunities arise, but it really makes you wonder how safe your information is.

If you want to read all of the details about how this works and how hackers can take advantage of searching your computer just checkout the whitepaper Watchfire produced on the vulnerability. I read through it and it was surprisingly interesting for being a whitepaper. Normally they are so boring that I can’t make it through the first page, but with all of the screenshots they use to assist in the explanation it really helps to convey what they are talking about. So if you’re bored one night and you’re a true geek, you may find this to be an enjoyable (yet informative) read.

Source: Google Blogoscoped, BetaNews, and MSN

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Google Security Woes ContinueGoogle Desktop Search 3 Sports A Quick Search FeatureGoogle Desktop Gets Some Additional FeaturesGoogle Desktop 4 Released And $5000 Competition AnnouncedGoogle Introduces Google Desktop for Mac

Mourn no more PS3 owners: what Sony hath taken away, the hacker community has given right back. The team at Gitbrew.org have returned Linux to the Cell-based gaming console with OtherOS++, which boasts a number of benefits over Sony’s official stab at supporting other operating systems. For one, Linux is no longer relegated to a performance-degrading virtual machine and has full access to the PS3 hardware, and two, it works on both old-school “fat” models and the newer “slim” ones. We warn you, though — this install is not for the faint of heart, and some older models that use NAND flash instead of VFLASH aren’t compatible (check against this list). If you’re undeterred, hit up the source link for downloads, instructions, and (most importantly) to stick it to the man.

OtherOS++ brings Linux back to the PS3, taunts Sony originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack a Day  |  Gitbrew.org  | Email this | Comments

We’ve heard Sony explain itself at length regarding the gigantic PlayStation Network breach, but this might be the most useful version of the story yet — it’s the one that Sony’s Kaz Hirai is forwarding to US Congress members concerned about your personal information. The official PlayStation.Blog has the full English document up on Flickr for your perusal, and we’ll warn you it’s much the same tale — Sony says all 77 million PSN and Qriocity accounts have had information stolen, but the company’s still not sure exactly which pieces have gone missing, whether credit card numbers are compromised or not, or who could be behind the hack. Sony does say, however, that it had 12.3 million credit card numbers on file, and 5.6 million of them from the US, and that investigators found a file on one of the servers named “Anonymous” with the words “We are Legion” inside it. Hard to draw many conclusions from that.

Update: Anonymous has apparently responded saying it “has never been known to have engaged in credit card theft.”

Sony responds to Congress: all 77 million PSN accounts compromised, finger pointed at Anonymous originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 12:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PlayStation.Blog, Joystiq  |  PlayStation.Blog (Flickr)  | Email this | Comments