Is your copy of Windows genuine?
How to Tell helps you verify that your Microsoft products are genuine.
To begin, choose the product category that best describes your Microsoft product. On the following product category page you will be able to select your specific product and the method by which you acquired it to learn more about genuine Microsoft products.
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Windows Vista Copy Protection Cracked
More than a year after Windows Vista was introduced, hackers have finally developed a clean crack of Windows Vista.
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5.3.2008 Fancy a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for FREE?
A little bird has informed me of an official Microsoft hosted survey in which the winner(s) will receive a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate after simply filling out a 4 question survey.
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30.6.2009 Windows 7 testers to get free copy from tomorrow
Last week Microsoft had a change of heart and decided to go back on what they had previously said by offering testers on the Windows 7 technical beta program a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, in reward for their efforts in testing the new operating system.
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5.8.2009 Did Microsoft copy Mac OS for Win 7?
Yesterday there appeared an interview with a Microsoft group manager who claimed that Microsoft copied the “Mac look and feel in terms of graphics” in Windows 7.
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12.11.2009 Blu-ray BD+ Copy Protection Cracked!
It would seem that there's absolutely nothing out there, no type of copy protection system that can resist the hard efforts of ingenious "security researchers", especially when the respective system is designed to protect valuable multimedia content (namely, movies).
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31.10.2007 Throw a Windows 7 house party and get a free copy
Microsoft is looking for some Windows 7 fans to throw launch parties between October 22-29.
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3.9.2009 Want Windows 7 for 50 Percent Off? Order an OEM Copy
Missed out on the early preorder discounts? Popular retailer Newegg.com has listed the OEM prices for Windows 7, which will be offered at less than half what Microsoft will charge for a retail copy.
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26.9.2009 Turn a counterfeit copy of WindowsXP into a free Vista license!
Perhaps you have bought a license of WindowsXP Home, Pro or Media Centerd Edition 2005 from your local dealer and afterwards it turned into a counterfeit while trying to validate it through WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) program.
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29.4.2006 Vista RTM Evaluation Copy Desktop Watermark Patch
Hi there people, here's a little guide on how to get rid of that stupid "evaluation copy" watermark in the bottom right corner of your Windows Vista RTM. Some may not see it yet, but believe me it will show up after a few reboots.
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14.11.2006 Windows 'patent tax' pegged at $21.50 per copy
Windows users on average pay $21.50 to line the pockets of third party software developers such as Sun Microsystems, Novell and Alcatel-Lucent, according to a calculation by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC).
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16.4.2007 Fancy a free copy of Office 2010 and a laptop to run it on?
Microsoft is looking for family, student or home business users of their successful Office suite to participate in the beta program for Office 2010.
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23.6.2009 Microsoft makes a u-turn, Windows 7 testers to get free copy
In a surprise turn around, Microsoft announced today that Windows 7 technical testers will be receiving a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.
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30.7.2009 Prevent 1.0 - Stop Unauthorized Copy, Delete, Move & Change of Settings
I am sure everyone has faced the situation where either their friends, colleagues, family member of kids renaming, deleting important files or changing settings like wallpaper, screen resolution etc. this is typical with younger sibling.
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17.9.2009 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
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27.5.2008 It's Time to Face the Ugly Truth, SP3 or No SP3, the Clock Is Ticking for Windows XP
As 2008 has kicked in, it's now time to face the ugly truth. The clock is ticking for Windows XP. And while Microsoft may view this as a natural stage in the evolution of a product introduced all the way in 2001, a healthy proportion of end-users and businesses will fail to see eye to eye with the company on this one.
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5.1.2008 The Only Way for Windows XP SP3 Is Down
SP3 will do nothing for XP, but still more than what SP1 will do for Vista - The third and final service pack for Windows XP will do little to nothing for the operating system, but will manage to deliver a superior boost to the platform's momentum in comparison to Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.
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12.4.2008 Office XP SP3 Info
Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office XP. SP3 contains significant security enhancements, in addition to stability and performance improvements. This service pack applies to any level of Office XP.
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Sneak Preview of XP SP3?
An unofficial preview pack containing what purports to be Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been uploaded to The Hotfix web site. The Hotfix is an independently-run site that specializes in downloads and discussions of Windows patches and bug fixes.
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Microsoft Delays XP SP3
Bink has an interesting article up on his site concerning Windows XP SP3. Microsoft has apparently pushed back the scheduled release date of SP3 to the second half of 2007.
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16.1.2006 Windows XP SP3 Preview No. 5
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11.2.2006 Windows XP SP3 On The Horizon
According to Microsoft press release about Unified Access Control and Network Access Protection, Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3) is in development and will be released later this year.
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24.5.2007 Windows XP SP3 Available for Download!
In two weeks too :) Microsoft confirmed officially that Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be made available for download in the next couple of weeks.
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29.8.2007 Windows XP Closes In on SP3
Microsoft's most successful operating system, ever, has inched closer to Service Pack 3. Release Candidate 1 is now available from MSDN and—so I hear—from TechNet. I can only personally confirm MSDN availability.
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4.12.2007 Deploying Windows XP SP3
With a pre-Release Candidate build of Windows XP Service Pack 3 available for download, the imminence of the final version of the refresh is starting to take contour.
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13.12.2007 Should You Upgrade from Vista to XP SP3?
Windows Vista was released to manufacturing and to businesses in November 2006, and the operating system hit the shelves only at the end of January 2007.
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27.12.2007 Will SP3 Save Windows XP?
Will the third and final service pack for Windows XP manage to breath new life into the operating system? Will users and original equipment manufacturers be able to apply enough pressure on Microsoft to keep Windows XP alive?
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15.1.2008 Is Windows XP SP3 just around the corner?
Clues that Microsoft is ready to announce the final version of Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 are starting to mount.
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20.2.2008 The First XP SP3 Security Vulnerability
The third and final service pack for Windows XP is not even out, and Microsoft is already hammering away at it plugging security soles.
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14.4.2008 The First Update for XP SP3 RTM
Although it was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, the third and last service pack for Windows XP has yet to make it to end users. Despite this, Microsoft has already made available the first update tailored on XP SP3.
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22.4.2008iPhone copy and paste nearing reality
Something all iPhone users desperately want is copy and paste, nothing is more annoying when someone sends you a link to a site in your text message
and you have to write it down so you can input it in Safari. It seems someone has at least tried to put this right by creating a service not an app
that allows you to paste between Mail and Safari.
Read full story.....
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11.12.2008Kevin Rose: iPhone 3.0 to have copy and paste
With more rumors and news coming down the pipes it is hard to distinguish between fact and fiction with unofficial iPhone announcements. According to
Kevin Rose, the iPhone 3.0 will be able to copy and paste. The Diggnation event in Austin, Texas was the meeting grounds for Kevin Rose to confirm
the iPhone 3.0 firmware will include copy and paste. Other rumors about requested features in the 3.0 firmware including background applications,
recorded video support and MMS were all confirmed that they will not be in the 3.0 firmware release. The announcement also said that Apple will bring
the iPhone to the Palm Pre level to rival the competition.
Read full story.....
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15.03.2009Wii update enhances Internet, adds USB keyboard support
Nintendo has launched a new firmware update for the Wii, adding among other things support for USB keyboard input.
The update
finally allows users to use any USB keyboard to enter text in the Wii's Internet browser. A few other adjustments have been made to the console's
Web surfing functionality.
Users can now send links to other Wii users, and a "copy/paste" feature has been added so users
can copy a line of text and then paste it in a search box or the URL field.
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11.10.2007iPhone 2.1 software beta adds better navigation, copy and paste
Apple has reportedly released a beta of its next significant release of the iPhone software, activating background push notifications, as well as
enhanced GPS functionality...
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25.07.2008Microsoft to ease XP activation with SP3
Microsoft Corp. will change how users activate Windows XP when Service Pack 3 launches in the first half of 2008, a company white paper said.
New installations of Windows XP SP3 will give users the same 30-day grace period currently offered to Windows Vista customers before they're
required to enter a product activation key, the 25-character code that proves the copy is legitimate.
Read full story.....
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28.12.2007Despite rumors, Windows XP SP3 still not quite ready
With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 out the door, Microsoft was largely expected to release Windows XP SP3 last week or this week. It didn't, instead
making public a refresh build of SP3 Release Candidate 2...
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26.03.2008USB tethering working in iPhone 3.0
The iPhone 3.0 Software Preview on Tuesday was a huge hit amongst iPhone users and Apple commentators alike. Numerous features which have been high on
the feature wish list since the initial launch in June 2007 were unveiled, including copy and paste, push notifications and MMS functionality.
Read full story.....
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19.03.2009Microsoft continues to warn of IE8 lock-in for XP SP3 users
Last year when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, Jane Maliouta announced that consumers using Windows XP SP3 would be locked-in with the
IE8 if they had installed the IE8 beta prior to upgrading to SP3. Microsoft again yesterday issued that same warning to it's consumers. If you are
still one of the millions of users on Windows XP with SP3 installed, Microsoft has provided crucial steps to follow if you're ready to upgrade to
IE8 RC1. You can obtain IE8 RC1 from the links on this page. To see if you're one of the people who will have IE8 locked in, follow these steps.
Is your computer running Windows XP SP3?
Read full story.....
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27.01.2009Windows XP SP3 moves closer to completion
Beta testers have received access to a release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3, but general consumers still have a long wait until they'll see
SP3 available for download...
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20.11.2007New Features Discovered in Windows XP SP3: Is It Better Than Vista?
The principal reason given for the tremendous under-the-hood changes to Windows unveiled early this year in Vista was the need to overhaul the
security model. Now it seems many of those changes are also coming to XP in SP3...
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10.10.2007XP SP3 RC Preview Clarification
I just noticed a post at
Bink.nu where Steven mentions that the XP SP3 RC Preview is now available on Connect. Just to clarify, Microsoft have not
released any new build of XP SP3 to the general Windows Beta Program. While there is the possibility that he may be talking about a different private
beta program on Connect, the main Windows Beta Program on Connect which houses the Vista SP1/Server 2008/XP SP3 betas was last updated with the XP SP3
Beta (Build 3205) in early October.
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24.10.2007Microsoft to push XP SP3 via AutoUpdate July 10
Microsoft is going to release Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 via its Automatic Update (AU) service on Thursday July 10, company officials confirmed
this week.
The client team has been vague about when it planned to push the latest version of XP to users. "Early summer" and
"sometime soon"were favorite comebacks when officials were asked for an AU timeframe for SP3.
Customers who have automatic updates
turned on but who don’t want XP SP3 to be downloaded to user desktops this week — for whatever reasons — need to deploy the Microsoft Service Pack
blocker toolkit to delay pushed-delivery of SP3.
While Microsoft will begin pushing SP3 tomorrow, not all users will receive it
immediatly, as the company will be staggering the rollout.
Microsoft has postponed and temporarily halted the distribution of SP3 a
couple of times this year because of compatibility and performance problems.
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10.07.2008DVDs Can Soon be Legally Burned by Licensed Services
After a decade and a half of
negotiations, waiting, and
litigation - with the emphasis
toward the latter - the DVD
Copy Control Association,
which administers the CSS copy
protection scheme, formally
announced yesterday that it
will soon become legal for
businesses to burn DVDs on
demand whose copy protection
includes CSS...
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04.07.2007iPhone OS 3.0 preview on March 17th
iPhone users need to set aside March 17th as that's the date Apple will take the cover off of iPhone OS 3. Not very much is known at this point
as Apple has a good track record of keeping things under wraps until the last moment. iPhone OS 3 will usher in another era for Apple and its
phenomenal iPhone. Hopefully in this update we may see copy and paste, flash, and native video recording on the iPhone. Add in those new features
and Apple may have the most robust phone on the market today.
Read full story.....
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12.03.2009Windows XP SP3 available for Windows Embedded for Point of Service and WinFLP
This download is a Service Pack 3 (SP3) update for Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) and Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP).
This SP3 update includes all previously released Windows XP security updates, hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases that are applicable to systems
running the WEPOS and WinFLP operating systems.
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08.10.2008Is Microsoft Playing Games With XP SP3?
Call it a Hamlet moment for the PC industry, filled with political intrigue and machinations worthy of the great Shakespeare play: to wait for XP SP3
or move to Vista now that Microsoft has released Vista SP1? Or in other words: "To XP, or not to XP?" That is the question.
It's a
question that is burning up the blogosphere with some speculating that Microsoft has delayed XP SP3, a long awaited release that could boost the
performance of XP, to get more users to adopt Vista, a potential cash cow for Microsoft and PC makers given the operating system's robust hardware
refresh requirements.
With many in the blogosphere speculating that Microsoft could release the final version of XP SP3 this week,
Microsoft late Tuesday snuffed out all hope that users would see the service pack, originally slated for release in 2006, any time soon.
Read full story.....
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26.03.2008Don't slipstream XP SP3 on Windows Vista!
This just in from Bink, seems he had a pretty interesting weekend attempting to Slipstream XP SP3.
"So I build a new Windows XP ISO with
SP3 integrated, this is a Volume License editions (VOL) which only accepts Volume License Keys (VLK). When I want to install it on a clean machine, I
noticed that setup prompts for a product key and it does not allow me to continue, which should be a new feature in XP sp3. OK so I fill in the VLK
but it does not accept it, I try another one from a customer of mine, does not work either. Angry
I found out that the problem is when you
do the XP Sp3 slipstream process on a WIndows Vista machine, the API gives a different response and screws up the PID process. This is a bug and
Microsoft knew about this in December, still the bug remained and made it all the way to RTM, nice work Microsoft.
So XP SP slipstream only
on XP or 2003 machines!!!"
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05.05.2008EMI, Apple Disagree on Copy
Protection
EMI said Thursday that its
copy-protected music CDs would
soon play on Apple iPods, but
the maker of the best-selling
portable player denied that
was the case. The record label
claims that Apple was close to
completing the work needed to
make EMI's copy-protection
compatible...
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18.11.2005DRM Debate Resumes Over 'Managed Copy' for Blu-Ray, HD DVD
A full three years after the
idea for it was first raised,
and well over a year since the
first generation of
high-definition DVD players
was supposed to have included
it, the debate over both the
meaning and implementation of
mandatory managed copy
(MMC) for the final 1.0
version of the AACS copy
protection scheme has been
re-ignited...
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24.05.2007Sony Yanks Copy-Protected CDs
Two weeks on, spyware-style
copy protection's flaws prove
too much for the market...
pcworld.com -
16.11.2005
