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Windows 7 RTM Cracked Already

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:24:42 -0500

A week after Microsoft released Windows 7 to OEMs, crackers have cracked Windows 7 RTM Ultimate. Tech website Softpedia was the first to report on the matter, though it stopped short of linking to websites and forums where the proof-of-concept of the crack can be found. You don’t mind, do you?

The OEM copy of Windows 7 RTM Ultimate being blamed for the crack is said to have been stolen/leaked from Lenovo’s safekeeping (or un-safekeeping). The crackers also managed to get their hands on the OEM-SLP (System-Locked Preinstallation) product key and the OEM certificate for Windows 7 RTM Ultimate, both of which are enough to crack open Windows 7 RTM Ultimate on a system posing as an OEM machine.

Image Credit: Hexus

Backing Up My Games

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:00:00 -0500

My question regards backing up games using tools like ImgBurn and Daemon Tools. I use ImgBurn to create the ISO from a disk and Daemon Tools to mount the ISO. But for some reason, with half of my games I get the message “Please insert the original disk” when I try to run the game from the ISO. My method works with older games but not newer ones. I understand that some of these games might have some kind of protection on them preventing me from running them off an ISO, but I paid for these games and I should be able to create backups of them. Do you know how I can back up my games so they actually work?

—Sgt. Christopher Basquit

Your question opens up a bucket of worms, Christopher. The technical answer is easy: Developers include protection mechanisms like SafeDisc and SecuROM on their game CDs to prevent consumers from making copies of the discs. The legal answer is trickier: Although you’re well within your rights as a consumer to make archival or backup copies of your games for personal use, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act does not make allowances for bypassing copy protection to do so.

Given the nature of disc protection, the only way you can make a backup is to create an image of the CD with an application that allows for data positioning measurement. This replicates the various copy-protection technologies involved in the original disc’s creation. From there, you have to use a disc emulation application to mount your image alongside a concealing application that hides this very act of disc mounting from the protection mechanisms. And that’s where you break the law.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

Adobe Hands Over PDF Format to ISO

Pulkit Chandna — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:34:21 -0500

Just in time for Independence Day, Adobe has unfettered the popular PDF file format. Adobe has abandoned proprietary control over the popular PDF format. Now the International Organization for Standardization will assume development responsibilities of the file format, which will be developed as an industry standard.

The ISO 32000-1 Document management – Portable document format – Part 1: PDF 1.7 is the official ISO standard that lays down the ground rules for developers of PDF-related applications. Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch said that this move is in keeping with Adobe’s “commitment to openness.” The release of PDF specifications should lead to a much needed rise in the number of PDF creation and editing tools.