Vista Gets an Anti-"Activation Hack" Update

You'll recall I said a few days ago that not only would Windows Vista SP1 disable the well-known "Grace Timer" hack and the "OEM BIOS" activation hacks, Microsoft would soon be rolling out an update to non-SP1 Windows Vista to disable hacks in that version as well. It's arrived.

The update has only been picked up on some systems I have, not all. It's marked as "important." KB940510 is described as follows:

This update enables Windows Vista to detect activation exploits that bypass product activation and that interfere with usual Windows operation. An exploit is a form of software that replaces or modifies authentic Windows components. When exploits are present on a system, it indicates that a software or hardware vendor may have tampered with genuine Windows to enable the sale of counterfeit software. Therefore, the security and the privacy of the computer are put at risk. After this update is installed, you will know if exploits are present on the system.

If you install the update, and no hacks are detected, you won't see anything happen. If instead a hack is detected, you'll get the display above (click to enlarge).

As I indicated in my prior post, when a hack is detected, the update will not disable the hacks. You can go to the linked site to learn how to repair Vista. However, Microsoft has said that in the future they will integrate the removal tool with the detection code, and some users are saying that they've seen the hacks removed directly when the tool is run (I don't have a hacked system myself).

Don't want to ever get the patch, for - ahem - whatever reason? You can hide it as with any Windows Update item, by right-clicking on the update and selecting "Hide Update." Of course, you'd also have to avoid SP1, right?