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Software crack illustration. Software cracking (known as "breaking" mostly in the 1980s [1]) is an act of removing copy protection from a software. [2] Copy protection can be removed by applying a specific crack. A crack can mean any tool that enables breaking software protection, a stolen product key, or guessed password. Cracking software ...
The Activation Wizard in Windows XP. Microsoft Product Activation is a DRM technology used by Microsoft in several of its computer software programs, most notably its Windows operating system and its Office productivity suite.
Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) was an anti-infringement system created by Microsoft used to validate the licences of several Microsoft Windows operating systems upon accessing services such as Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center.
Product key on a Proof of License Certificate of Authenticity for Windows Vista Home Premium. A product key, also known as a software key, serial key or activation key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Product keys consist of a series of numbers and/or letters.
Copy protection for computer software, especially for games, has been a long cat-and-mouse struggle between publishers and crackers.These were (and are) programmers who defeated copy protection on software as a hobby, add their alias to the title screen, and then distribute the "cracked" product to the network of warez BBSes or Internet sites that specialized in distributing unauthorized ...
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Product activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary software programs. Product activation prevents unlimited free use of copied or replicated software. Unactivated software refuses to fully function until it determines whether it is authorized to fully function. Activation allows the software to stop blocking its use.
Since its January 13, 2005, [2] Microsoft releases the updated tool every second Tuesday of every month (commonly called "Patch Tuesday") through Windows Update, at which point it runs once automatically in the background and reports if malicious software is found. The tool is also available as a standalone download.