Silly “Validation” from Microsoft

April 10th, 2008

Microsoft has been using a strategy of “validating” software for some time. They think that they can find out if you’re running a legal copy of Windows, and, if you’re not, stop giving you benefits. These benefits are downloads from Microsoft’s website that enhance Windows. If you’ve purchased a legal copy of Windows, then Microsoft has no problem giving you some applications for free. But if you’ve stolen Windows, they try to stop you from getting these programs.

Confused? Here’s an example for downloading Windows Defender. As you see, “Validation” is required. You must download another program that Microsoft can use to see if your copy of Windows is valid, before you can get to the download link for the file you’re after.

But do we really have to do this?

Looking at the page for the download, we’re given plenty of information about what it actually is. The file name is WindowsDefender.msi and it is 4.9MB. Lets search Google for WindowsDefender.msi and see what happens. The second link is to a website named MyTopFiles, and gives a direct link to the file, hosted on Microsoft’s website. Upon downloading this file, we can see that it is also 4.9MB and is almost without a doubt the same file listed on Microsoft’s download page. This time, however, there was no validation.

The key here is not that we obtained the file - this would be trivial, really, since of course people can search for files that have been stolen and re-uploaded to some blog. They key is that we obtained it from Microsoft directly, without validation.

Why does this matter? Well, often it doesn’t. Like most people who run Vista, I have a valid copy: it came with my computer. It’s merely kind of fun to just skip right on past their intrusive techniques of determining who you are.

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IBC:   82,725 – 90,251

Music: Yes - Relayer

Entry Filed under: Technology