hi

i installed AVG 7.5 on my winblow$ lappy about 6 months ago and today its just informed me that it "knows" ive installed a pirate copy (which is ofcourse true) ...

there was a window to prompt me to go and buy a legal copy online.

i wasnt laughing though because i thought the AVG was going to stop working and its the complete package with Firewall included so that would have been bad news, but i just hit Cancel and didnt buy it (with the intention of getting a new version from bit torrent) but then it proceeded to update its virus dat file and carry on working fine.

i dont know if its going to stop working at any point though.. perhaps i should be looking for a replacement now..

anyone else had this problem where an application has suddenly become aware that it is a pirate copy thats installed?

Yeah, Winblow$ itself, during the 'great WGA debacle' some good time ago.

Now, I just use Windiz Update to update any Win installs I want to update.

yep - a few times... most software 'calls home' these days... you gotta block them in your firewall and/or disable updates. not much good for AV software that needs hourly virus def updates though

use the free version - or install avast... or - dare i say it - buy a copy

hi scribble

does winblow$ stop working if it detects its a pirate copy?

im just surprised my AVG has carried on functioning... im not sure whether i should uninstall it and install a new AV and Firewall product...

Win doesn't stop working when you accidentally install WGA ('Windows Genuine Advantage) on it during an official update from M$, but it *does* stop you from downloading any further updates (from M$) that aren't considered to be 'critical security' ones.



e2a: I've always found 'F-PROT' (3.16f) to be a good AV for Win - it doesn't require a serial or a crack (duh!), so it can't 'phone home' and detect that it's a 'naughty' copy.

interesting...

my copy of winblow$ is pucka (the one that came pre-installed on the lappy), my version of MAC OS X though is a pirate copy which i downloaded from demonoid. good job os x doesnt seem to care whether its pucka or not.

thanks mate... what would you recommend firewall-wise?

I've always found 'BlackICE' to be a good FW for Win boxes - it *does* come with a KeyGen, but I've used it for *years* and it's never failed to update for me.

Harsh mate... like you say, nothing to worry about... just get your self another copy or crack downloaded....


Or alternitivly you could download NOD32, an excellent AntiVirus program and the crack "nod32 fix" has worked for a long, long, long time... so it doesn't fuck up everytime the program updates the software!
I'd use that or kapersky as they both have about the best software and definision database!

I personally use Zonealarm Pro but at the minute, the crack isn't working for the new version... so i'm on a trail at the minute... I think I'm just gonna install the free version, it's just as good as any, if not better!

I admit, i havn't used BlackICE for a long time, but when I did it was totally shite, a peak as piss firewall... althrough... somepeople seem to think it's good like... so... everyone to there own!

I find with software firewalls, most of them are shite as us lot dont know how to configure they correctly... even things like lettering programs with vunrabilitys having access to the internet... so like a buffer overflow can crash the software or the firewall....kinda like when they say "a chain is only as strong as it's weekest point".

I'd say use Spy Sweeper for your spyware scanning!! also good one's seem to be, Ad-aware pro amoung others... maybe Spyware Doctor... hard to get cracked all the time though...

Best of luck mate!

BlackICE has improved beyond all measure since the 1.0 versions, or whichever early ones weren't up to much.

thanks for the suggestions chaps.

Cheers Scribble, I'll give it a look mate!