Should Microsoft supply patches for bootleg copies?
by Volker Weber
Interesting discussion:
An age old catch-22 illuminated once again by the recent Sasser outbreak among members of our Security forum: a large number of PC's run pirated copies of Windows XP, which aren't able to apply security patches because of invalid CD keys. Should these infected PC's be allowed to grab timely critical updates, simply to help lessen the impact of worms web-wide? Many users say pirates who can't find workarounds should "reap what they sow", but their infected pirated Windows boxes impact non-pirates everywhere.
Comments
One who can outrun the activation of Windows XP should be able to run a simple personal firewall. For the honest amongst us, the "3 steps ensuring your pc is protected" provided by microsoft can be a useful reading.
I friends who have pirated XP and they have no idea what a firewall is, nevermind actually BUYING and installing one. I prefer to just keep quiet about it as I used to be the free tech support line for way too many people.
Personally, I am considering moving from XP back to win2k. My clean install of XP ran much much faster before I applied all the service packs and security updates.
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