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111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

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Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#201

Post by psychphysic »

twawaaay wrote: post #8

It may sound strange to people who were born later. But in 90s these mechanisms were in infancy. It was normal for computers to auto-login and have no password at all, processes could each read entire memory on the machine. Software was cracked the moment it came out and it was assumed people bought any software because they feared legal action rather than because they had no other way to get their hands on it -- lat…

In the gaming space prompt cracks are still common place.

Empress cracked Hogwarts Legacy in about 2 weeks to much fanfare[0].

Cracker efforts are now even crowd funded.

Maybe this is a Peter Pan moment, you grew up but the ever-child world of Piracy continues.

[0] https://nfomation.net/info/1677131115.EMPRESS.nfo

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#203

Post by geraldhh »

dividuum wrote: post #76
LocalH wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in the Windows 9x days, even if the user did have a password, you could bypass that with the novel method of... pressing Escape.

Couldn't that be disabled? I vaguely remember bypassing the login using the little help icon, then opening the help and/or (not sure) printer dialog and finally using the file open dialog to run explorer.exe :-)

that was windows 3.11

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#204

Post by porbelm »

metadat wrote: post #39
YPPH wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>was normal for computers to auto-login and have no password This persisted for longer than it should have on Windows! I remember on Windows XP Home Edition, you could just press Ctrl Alt Delete to drop to the classic winlogon.exe screen and then log in as "Administrator" with no password! By that time, though, Microsoft had implemented product activation. To my knowledge, no one ever cracked the telephone activation…

Devils0wn Windows XP Final serial key, yeah baby! Seared into my mind forever after entering it so much: FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXKRT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 I used to reinstall windows anytime anything got weird, which was often because I was always messing with disabling combinations of system services in attempts to reduce OS memory consumption. Wtf is svchost.exe doing? I don't want it! Wireless Zero Config? I don't have Wi-Fi, too fla…

Very close to the key I had memorised, but now forgotten; although mine had RQ2D3 in the second part and something else at the last part (I think. But am positive about RQ2D3)

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#205

Post by deznu »

scambier wrote: post #195
aaronax wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not used characters: 015AEILNOSUZ So less possible combinations.

I get why some chars aren't used, but why the N and U?

Maybe to prevent certain words from being spelt? I have no idea though

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#206

Post by dieulot »

tastysandwich wrote: post #80

I recently wanted to use a program for a short amount of time for personal use, but the trial period was only 7 days. I used strace to find that it kept the timestamp of its first run in a text file, and would read that on startup. Deleting that completely reset the trial period. I was pretty amazed - I know most people aren't computer savvy to bypass trial periods, but I figured there'd be third-party libraries a de…

Most Mac-native apps operate pretty much (usually with binary plist, but MacOS includes CLI tools to operate them) like that today, and likely for ever. https://twitter.com/panic/status/679094045768073216

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#207

Post by porbelm »

phire wrote: post #187
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> software did not have ability to phone home This is the main reason for the simplicity of key checks. If you copied someone elses windows installation (cd burners were very expensive, but a floppy version existed), you'd also copy the serial number, and just use that. Even if the serial verification algorithm was complicated, noone would really have to crack it at all, because they'd just use the original serial fo…

> (cd burners were very expensive, but a floppy version existed) You just borrowed the install CD. The only time you needed it was for the install and (sometimes) installing drivers after installing new hardware. You could actually copy one of the folders from the windows CD onto your HDD and use that instead of the install CD for device drivers. From memory, you could actually complete a full install from a folder c…

Yeah, first thing reinstalling a computer was a clean format, copy the CD to C:\WIN.CD\ and install from there. That way, it never asked for the Windows CD when installing drivers or functionality later -- that functionality always read where Windows was installed and only asked if it couldn't find the source. It was really worth it taking up 1/20 of a hard drive back then.

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#208

Post by namaria »

isatty wrote: post #94
wkat4242 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to copy like crazy but now that I have a good job I pay for most of my software. Mainly because I like to keep my computer clean from malware. If I ever need to run something pirated because it's ridiculously expensive (like Adobe stuff or IDA pro) I run it in a VM or an isolated machine. It's less out of an ethical sense though. Video I still pirate by the terabyte. Most of that comes from large media concern…

Yeah the world has changed. Sure, limewire had tons of trustmebro.mp4.exes but these days I don’t trust cracked software to not be mining coins or exfiling my personal data. I suppose it was still the case back in the day (more for botnets than coins?) but I just simply cared less. Had to get my hands on the AAA games.

Hell I don't trust most legit software with my data. I still remember people being in awe of how I made Teams work on my Linux notebook (the previous guy couldn't make it right for some reason) by just running it in Chromium. The more sandboxed these 'apps' can be the better.

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#209

Post by raxxorraxor »

psychphysic wrote: post #201
twawaaay wrote: post #8

It may sound strange to people who were born later. But in 90s these mechanisms were in infancy. It was normal for computers to auto-login and have no password at all, processes could each read entire memory on the machine. Software was cracked the moment it came out and it was assumed people bought any software because they feared legal action rather than because they had no other way to get their hands on it -- lat…

In the gaming space prompt cracks are still common place. Empress cracked Hogwarts Legacy in about 2 weeks to much fanfare[0]. Cracker efforts are now even crowd funded. Maybe this is a Peter Pan moment, you grew up but the ever-child world of Piracy continues. [0] https://nfomation.net/info/1677131115.EMPRESS.nfo

The goal is to not have it immediately cracked on release, so for that the copy protection does work. To protect it indefinitely isn't the main objective. The copy protection should be called malware though, because it basically is. Same goes for some anti-cheat tools.

I think it should be made more transparent if a game uses such tools.

Re: 111-1111111 is a valid Windows 95 key (2021) [video]

#210

Post by FastEatSlow »

nicolas_t wrote: post #159
wkat4242 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True yes but a lot of cracks are real and still include malware. And it can even be introduced remotely. A malware downloader is a few lines of code hidden among millions. Also analyzing malware tends to make one more paranoid. This is definitely a thing too. And the most powerful features of it like hexrays require cloud cooperation so they don't work :( I really wish it was affordable for individuals because I woul…

Yes, if only IDA pro had a hobbyist license :(

There is IDA Home https://hex-rays.com/ida-home/
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