Microsoft seems to be doing quite a bit of it since Windows XP came out. Their failures at stopping users from using their software in ways that Microsoft does not approve of are reaching comically epic proportions.

First was the authentication process which was supposed to keep people from using a copy of Windows on more than one computer which Microsoft dubbed Windows Product Activation (WPA). Supposedly Microsoft was going to generate a unique authentication key for each computer with a copy of Windows XP installed on it. The key would be based on the hardware installed in your particular computer and, once registered, would keep that copy of Windows from being installed on other computers. The idea was that one copy of Windows would only be installed on one computer at a time. (Make sense? If not, don't worry. There's much better explanations of WPA at the end of this entry.)

The WPA scheme was broken in manner of days after XP was released to the public. German hackers wrote a small program which generated unique authentication keys for all versions of Windows XP. This effectively broke Microsoft's efforts at stopping people from installing the OS on multiple computers. Want to install your one copy of XP on your other computers? Just generate a new authentication key.

Now mind you, Microsoft's WPA system didn't just stop people sharing their copy of Windows with their buddies. It also stopped people from re-installing their own legal copies of Windows on their own computers. Let's say you wanted to upgrade your computer and you changed several pieces of hardware. Since the authenication key was based in part on the hardware installed in your computer, once you restarted your computer Windows would no longer work. If too many components in your computer changed, Windows thought it was being installed on an entirely new computer! If this happened to you, then you had to call Microsoft to get permission to re-install your legally acquired software on your updated computer. And we all know what a joy it is to work with tech support over the phone. There were legitimate reasons to want to generate your own authentication keys.

Well, after four years of rampant piracy - you can see Microsoft is going bankrupt from all those unauthorized copies of Windows out there - they decided that if you were in fact using one of those cracked versions of Windows XP to get around WPA that they weren't going to let you download updates for Windows through Windows Update anymore. Microsoft called the new anti-piracy program Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). What advantage we're supposed to be getting from yet another hurdle to our legitimate use of software we've paid for, I'm not sure.

Now, when a computer accesses Windows Update a small program will be installed on your computer and will check to see if you have an authentication key installed on your computer that Microsoft approves of. If not, Windows Update will not allow you to download any updates and will invite you to buy an officially sanctioned copy of XP, as well as tell them everything you know about how you ended up with a pirated copy of Windows on your computer to begin with.

Windows Genuine Advantage was hacked within 24 hours.

How do you get around it? Simply by typing the following line of code into your browser's address bar before using Windows Update to scan for needed updates:

javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

That's all it takes to disable Microsoft's latest attempt to stem the tide of piracy driving Steve and Bill to bankruptcy court.

Now mind you, I've got no issues with Microsoft wanting to get paid for their products. But it seems to me their efforts at stopping piracy are so incompetent and ham handed that it does more to alienate legitimate users than it does to stop the illegal users. My question is this: at what point does Microsoft stop making itself look like an ass with all these half hearted anti-piracy schemes? If you can stop people from copying your software then go for it. But so far all they're doing is spitting into the wind. Every time Microsoft comes up with a new system to authorize their software, the hacking community takes it as a personal challenge to see how fast they can produce a work around. So far they're batting a thousand.

A couple of links if you're interested:

• View the original blog entry with the javascript work around for Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) here.



• View an article regarding the hacking of WGA here.



• View an article regarding the initial implementation of WGA here.



• View the official Microsoft press release regarding WGA here



• A couple articles about the initial breaking of Windows Product Activation (WPA) by German hackers here, here, and here.



• And finally, a much better explanation of WPA than I can offer can be found here, here, and here.