•   microsoft.com/presspass
•   jcxp.net
•   betanews.com
•   neowin.net
•   winbeta.org
•   msdn.microsoft.com
•   windowsxp / expertzone
•   ms.com/windowsvista

• Windows 7 Wallpapers
• Vista Wallpapers
• Windows Wallpapers

I know many of you are aware of reports of hacks that attempt to exploit our OEM BIOS b..
neowin.net - 12.04.2007

Microsoft Responds to Reported OEM BIOS Hacks

The WGA team have finally provided a written response to the reported OEM BIOS Hacks regarding Vista:

I know many of you are aware of reports of hacks that attempt to exploit our OEM BIOS based activation. We're aware of this type of hack and I wanted to take a minute to describe how these work and how we plan to respond.

First, what is OEM BIOS based activation?

Here's a little more information on how OEM BIOS based activation works. This form of product activation is also known as OEM Activation or just OA, which is how Microsoft refers to it and how I will refer to it in this post. Back at the launch of Windows XP when Microsoft introduced Windows Product Activation, we recognized that as easy as end-user activation is, it still represented an extra step.

neowin.net - 12.04.2007

Microsoft blacklists leaked Windows 7 OEM key

Microsoft has responded to pirates by blacklisting the Lenovo OEM key that leaked earlier this week. On Tuesday Neowin reported that pirates were able to modify their BIOS and activate copies of Windows 7 Ultimate with a Lenovo OEM master key. Microsoft have worked with Lenovo to blacklist the master key before Windows 7 starts shipping with new PCs in October. According to Alex Kochis, Director of Genuine Windows at Microsoft: "we've worked with that manufacturer so that customers who purchase genuine copies of Windows 7 from this manufacturer will experience no issues validating their copy of Windows 7.

Read full story.....
neowin.net - 31.07.2009

Dell cures some Nvidia GPU woes with BIOS update

Dell has issued a BIOS update to prevent its notebooks equipped with faulty Nvidia graphics cards from overheating...
betanews.com - 29.07.2008

Windows 7 Ultimate cracked and activated with OEM master key

Windows 7 has yet to even be released officially to the general public, and already the dodgy folk on the Internet have fully cracked and activated the Ultimate version, with help from a leaked Lenovo OEM DVD .ISO file. The news comes from website My Digital Life who state that you can already pass Windows Genuine Advantage validation offline, OEM style. The leaked .ISO was originally posted on a Chinese forum, which was then downloaded in order for people to get hold of the boot.wim, and in turn retrieving the OEM-SLP key, plus the OEM activation certificate. Microsoft uses the same digitally signed OEM certificate, which has an .xrm-ms extension, as that in Windows Vista.

Read full story.....
neowin.net - 29.07.2009

OEM Microsoft Office and OEM Microsoft Windows licensing

OEM Microsoft Office and OEM Microsoft Windows licensing is a topic that seems to again be generating questions and there are plenty of people out there who are illegally taking advantage of others to trying to make a quick profit by selling counterfeit or unlicensed software.



Here are the facts and answers to many of the points of confusion around OEM Microsoft Office and OEM Microsoft Windows licensing so you are informed and can protect yourself from the scammers out there...




winbeta.org - 02.08.2007

Researchers Demo BIOS Attack That Survives Disk Wipes

A pair of Argentinian researchers have found a way to perform a BIOS level malware attack capable of surviving even a hard-disk wipe.



Alfredo Ortega and Anibal Sacco from Core Security Technologies — used the stage at last week's CanSecWest conference to demonstrate methods for infecting the BIOS with persistent code that will survive reboots and re-flashing attempts. The technique includes patching the BIOS with a small bit of code that gave them complete control of the machine. The demo ran smoothly on a Windows machine, a PC running OpenBSD and another running VMware Player.




winbeta.org - 23.03.2009

BIOS maker Phoenix reinvents itself as virtualization platform vendor

Over the past quarter-century, more than a billion PCs have been produced that use Basic Input Output System (BIOS) software from Phoenix Technologies Ltd. The BIOS provides a key interface between the hardware and the Windows operating system.



But with the BIOS business in a long-term decline, Phoenix is aiming for a rebirth as a vendor of application platform technology that instead of enabling Windows, starts to compete with it.



On Monday, the Milpitas, Calif. vendor unveiled a Linux-based virtualization platform called Hyperspace.



Based on the HyperCore hypervisor developed by Phoenix and embedded within its popular BIOS, Hyperspace provides a thin software layer upon which cut-down versions of popular open-source software can be loaded instantly without the need to boot up Windows, said Woody Hobbs, Phoenix's CEO, in a telephone interview.




winbeta.org - 05.11.2007

MS: It's Okay to Buy Vista OEM Software

Microsoft has given the go ahead for users to buy the low-cost OEM copies of Windows Vista now appearing on sites like Newegg.com; however, they would be expected to adhere to the licensing terms just like any other computer manufacturer...
betanews.com - 30.01.2007

Windows 7 OEM prices unveiled, 50% off list price

ComputerWorld is reporting that online retailer Newegg.com has unveiled Windows 7 OEM pricing. Newegg.com has priced the OEM version of Windows 7 Home Premium at $99.99 which is a price reduction of 50% down from the recommended retail price of $199.99. Other savings are available for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate at $134.99 and $174.99, respectively. This is a saving of approximately 50% on each version from the list price. OEM editions are priced lower as you typically do not get retail packaging, little official support and you're not able to transfer the operating system license from one PC to another.

Read full story.....
neowin.net - 29.09.2009

Phoenix Instant Boot BIOS starts loading Windows in under a second

Phoenix is showing off a few interesting things at IDF, but the real standout is their new Instant Boot BIOS, a highly optimized UEFI implementation that can start loading an OS in just under a second. Combined with Windows 7's optimized startup procedure, that means you're looking at incredibly short boot times -- we saw a retrofitted Dell Adamo hit the Windows desktop in 20 seconds, while a Lenovo T400s with a fast SSD got there in under 10. It's pretty slick stuff, and it should be out soon -- check a video after the break...




winbeta.org - 25.09.2009

July 1: No more Office 2003 for OEMs

Its only been six months since Microsoft launched Office 2007 at retail. But as of July 1, 2007, Microsoft wont be making the OEM version of Office 2003 to its PC partners, aka "OEMs."

Eric Ligman, Senior Manager of Small Business Community Engagement with Microsoft, reminded OEMs and customers of the pending cut-off date in a blog posting dated June 18:

"After June 30, 2007 , OEM Microsoft Office 2003 will no longer be availble from Microsoft. Some authorized OEM Microsoft distributors may have some remaining inventory left for a short time after June 30th; however, Microsoft will no longer be shipping OEM Microsoft Office to them." ..
winbeta.org - 18.06.2007

Microsoft block Windows 7 OEM key hack

Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage team have responded to this week's news that a Windows 7 Ultimate licensing hack had been identified. After a Lenovo OEM Windows 7 image leaked and was used to extract a license key, Microsoft have worked with the manufacturer to blacklist the rogue key and replace it - on genuine Lenovo PCs bought with the new OS - with a working version.




winbeta.org - 31.07.2009

World's First Mainboard with Open-Source BIOS

According to a post over at Gmane.org, AMD engineer Yinghai Lu has reportedly released source-code of the BIOS for the Gigabyte Technology M57SLI-S4 motherboard. This can potentially allow advanced users to "program their motherboards" by themselves, customizing and optimizing the BIOS to their personal needs, possibly even opening up more functionality for overclocking. The M57SLI-S4 mainboard is based on Nvidia nForce 570 SLI core-logic, supports various AMD processors in the AM2 form-factor, has four slots for DDR2 memory, has two PCI Express x16 slots for SLI mode, three PCI Express x1 ports for add-in cards, six Serial ATA-300 connectors for hard disk drives with RAID support, ten USB 2.0 connectors, three IEEE1394a (FireWire) ports and so on.

LinuxBIOS is a free software project started in 1999 and endorsed by the Free Software Foundation; the project aims to replace the proprietary BIOS firmware found in most computers with a lightweight BIOS designed to perform only the minimum of tasks necessary. " The need for a Free BIOS is even more pressing since DRM and Treacherous Computing have found their way into some proprietary BIOSes and EFI. From a practical perspective, LinuxBIOS removes the need for ugly hacks and workarounds in the kernel that compensate for buggy BIOSes we can now fix the BIOS ourselves ," a statement proclaims.


neowin.net - 26.02.2007

Microsoft recruits Altech for OEM distribution in Australia

Microsoft has struck an OEM distribution agreement with Altech Computers for its Windows Vista, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Server products lines. The OEM partnership is the vendor's first in nearly 10 years.



Microsoft SME and partner director, Pip Marlow, said the two companies had partnered closely over recent years.



The new relationship would expand its scope and enable Microsoft to deliver more support to the local system builder market, she said.



"Altech is the destination for small system builders - they do a phenomenal job supporting that part of the channel," Marlow said. Altech now shares OEM distribution rights with Ingram Micro and Synnex.




winbeta.org - 12.11.2007

Intel's BIOS tool spells death bell for third party utilities

ECS is showing Intel's backup utility called the System Recovery Tool.

This utility sits inside the BIOS of a motherboard that of course, sports Intel's latest chipsets. The application features partition and disk image backup and recovery, just like a lot of third-party applications. However, being built inside the BIOS, it has the advantage of not needing any sort of boot or recovery CDs, rather pressing a function key (F3 in the case of ECS's boards) on a keyboard.

The image creation process is very simple - press the F3 key, pick the option Create new image, choose what partition will be backed up and the destination (different partition, CD, DVD medium).

You can expect this feature to come on many motherboards in near future.


winbeta.org - 08.06.2007

Vista Update Fingers Activation Cracks

Microsoft has announced an update available to consumers next week which will detect two cracks commonly used to activate pirated copies of the operating system. One of the cracks refered to as Grace Timer, extended Vista's activation grace period, upto 2099. The other called as OEM BIOS, modified system files and the PC's BIOS to mimic the product activation done by computer-makers at the factory. If the sniffer detects an activation hack, it will pop up a warning that includes a link to the removal tool. Although SP1 will block these two cracks, " it's important to note that this update does not disable the exploits it finds, " says Alex Kochis. " It simply alerts customers that exploits exist. " However, MS will release a separate crack-removal tool at the same time that it rolls out the detection update.


neowin.net - 23.02.2008

Microsoft sends harsh reality check to OEMs

Last week, Microsoft sent certified letters to its OEM partners regarding Vista's anti-piracy technology -- or, more accurately, what happens if they dare ship a system with a "non-genuine" copy of Vista.

The answer: The system is crippled for 30 days, then hosed entirely until you pony up for a license. This is apparently what Microsoft means when it http://oem.microsoft.com/downl oads/public/US/wgavista/genuin e.pdf>warns of a "diminished user experience."

This would be fine if Microsoft were a reasonably competent organization and Windows Genuine Advantage worked flawlessly. True pirates deserve to be punished. But Microsoft isn't and WGA doesn't “ at least, judging by the many letters I got from Cringesters who bought legit OEM copies of XP from major manufacturers, only to have WGA label them as pirates. ..
winbeta.org - 04.06.2007

All Phenoms feature infamous L3 cache errata

Sadly for AMD, the Phenom launch was dumbed down by a nasty bug that stopped AMD from launching a 2.4 GHz variant (9700).



At the same time, problems with the OS freezing were solved by a BIOS fix inside the motherboards that actually reduces performance between five to 10 per cent, since that BIOS update did nothing but ordered a processor to avoid that ill-fated corrupted cache data.



The problem with L3 cache caused performance reduction on all clock speeds and yes, Phenoms 2.2 and 2.3 GHz are affected as well, but it was really noticable at 2.4 GHz. BIOS run-around caused a 2.4 GHz part producing performance of 100-200 MHz slower parts. Of course, standard disclaimer in some rare-found, practically laboratory-only instances applies here.




winbeta.org - 30.11.2007

Intel halts 34nm SSD shipments due to firmware defects

Tom's Hardware reports that online retailers including Newegg have pulled Intel's latest SSD (Solid State Disk) from their websites just days after being made publicly available. This was due to a defect in the disk's firmware that was discovered in the first batch which shipped last week, according to a blog post written by OEM system builder Puget Systems. Consumers who have already purchased the new 34nm "Postville" SSDs may face several issues, including data corruption when adding, deleting, or modifying the drive's password in the BIOS.

Read full story.....
neowin.net - 28.07.2009