In XP, your copy of the OS is checked when you first used a product key & whenever you download something (freebies & updates) from M$ site.

With Vista, the above no longer matters. According to this article...

WGA Technology built into Vista allows MS to periodically evaluate the OS to make sure it is legitimate, rather than just having one opportunity, when the product key is first entered at activation.

i_XpUser

My first question is: Do you or don't you mind M$ trespassing onto your PC (without you knowing it) just to check your Vista (and who knows what else)?

i_XpUser

I think it's good that they can then also check all the mp3 licenses to report back to the RIAA folks.
It's that Vista colaboration feature.

Bryan
(Of course I am being facicious)

You could be right - anything is possible and can be hidden from the world somewhere in Vista's 50 million lines of code.

i_XpUser

Gotcha ... this must be Vista ...
backdoor that never was ...
but may be now, who knows?

i_XpUser

I am now using Vista. Is it true that if I use a webcam the video feed can also be monitored by the NSA at Filingdales 'snoop' site in northern England?

Don't you guys think it is pretty scarey that 95 percent of us are using XP or Vista - not because we have chosen it but because there is nothing else worthy out there.
And is it true that VISTA is an acronym for Virtual International Spy and Track Application designed to allow the hidden world powers to monitor and control us in the 21st century?

Even the anti-Microsoft Linux users seem to have thrown in the towel and gone over to XP (and now they will be under the watchful eye of 'VISTA'.

I suggest we unplug our internet connections when we turn off the pc and never use a webcam (just in case biggus brotherus is watching us.

Who cares if MS checks to see if your copy is legal, Who cares if the Gov. reads our emails and listens to our phone calls, and who cares if every single site I go to is logged. That is of course if you have nothing to hide..

DO YOU!!!

You shouldn't care that MS is checking that your copy of Vista is legitimate...unless of course you believe that MS is not perfect, and eventually someone's computer will no longer boot, because MS believes that it's copy of Vista doesn't have a legitimate activation key. Don't think that will happen? I've seen it already, and I've only worked on (or seen for that matter) 2 computers with Vista, so far. So either this fellow bought a brand new computer from Best Buy with a pirated copy of Vista on it, or MS screwed-up. I'll leave everyone to judge which is more likely.
By the way, what triggered the computer to do this, was installing a printer, in case you were wondering. Beware!

-Red

redjwood