Microsoft Windows 7 Anti-Piracy Update Due this Month

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Seeing that Alex is very much focused on Microsoft related news this morning I thought I’d jump in with a little more MS related news too specifically concerning a new Windows Activation Technologies Update, which is due to land this month, that is designed to address over 70 activation hacks that are currently being exploited by software pirates.

The new Windows 7 Activation Technologies Update which, interestingly, will not be a compulsory update but rather an optional download the, should the user not install it, will not block future OS updates (are MS getting soft?) will also work behind the scenes once plugging known activation loopholes to address any future vulnerabilities found by MS thanks to checking in periodically for additional fixes (that it’ll duly install in order to address).

Aside from obviously wishing to cut down on piracy concerning its newest OS, MS also see the optional update as very much being in end users interests as a recent study made in Germany found that of several hundred illegal copies of Windows 7 offered online around a third transpired to come complete with malware.

“We do see malicious code–everything from easily discoverable malware to keyboard recording,” he said. “There’s all sorts of things we’ve seen that puts our customers at risk and their data at risk.”

The Windows 7 Activation Technologies Update is set to release from February 16^th via Microsoft’s ‘Genuine’ web portal followed by a release via MS’s Download Center and then, once again, via Windows Update where it’ll be flagged as ‘important’ though, as stated above, it’ll remain optional (for the foreseeable future anyhow).