Am I A Victim Of Piracy

I bought a computer off ebay.
It came with windows xp professional sp2. However as the seller clearly stated, It didn't come with OS discs and also has no recovery partition.

I have a feeling I am using a pirated copy
Could I get in trouble? Can I find out if my OS is pirated? Could MS find out?
Should I do anything?

Thanks

 

You could validate your system here: http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx?displaylang=en

 

Could I get in trouble? Can I find out if my OS is pirated? Could MS find out?
Should I do anything?

Could you? Yes. Could you probably get in trouble? Absolutely not. Windows XP is going to be thrown in June by Microsoft anyway, so at this point, it is pointless for Microsoft to do anything. Should you do anything? Nah. Just sit back and relax. If there is no Windows Genuine Advisor popping up, you're fine. Just do what booboo12 tells you to do. That will tell you if it is genuine or not.

 

The FBI will be pulling up to your driveway with an army of black SUVs at any moment. MS knows exactly who is pirating their OS and just waiting for the chance to nail you to the wall. Call your family, write a quick will and say your goodbyes, it won't be long now

 

i agree

 

Exactly, and if you find out it's pirated and are having trouble with your conscience using a pirated OS, then you can just buy an XP license, or use Vista. Don't have the money to cough up or don't wanna pay? Use Linux, the guys in the Linux forum(including me) would help you out.

 

Actually, system builders (like me) have access to XP until 2009, and keys are still available until 4 years after the general public no longer has access to the end product. Security support will continue until 2014. XP will be around for quite some time.

 

i'm hurt and dissappointed,, the most M$ ever did to a previous boss of mine was to send a few harsh letters.... and we all wanted to see that crook go to jail... he even stole the Taxes he had deducted from my paychecks..

just enjoy your PC,,, and if guilt gets to be too much then choose an option from above

later,
bigO

 

It has failed WGA. It could be pirated or a false positive. MS isn't going to come after you, but you won't be able to receive updates in the future.

 

I bought my laptop from retailer online and I received it without any kind of cd, just Vista Home Basic preinstalled and D2D partition. So maybe your laptop has no cds for the same reason

 

I've seen this a lot on eBay. Contact eBay and PayPal (if you used them) and you can hopefully force the seller to refund the cost of a new license.

 

LOL Thund3rball

I don't feel bad at all even if it is pirated, I was just a little concerned and curious. My conscience isn't bothering me one bit I hate MS! I only use their OS because I've been to lazy to explore Linux. A big reason I hate MS is because of halo 2 only being playable on Vista arrhhg I hated having to use Vista. Though after a while playing halo 2 I just quit, sold my halo 2 and went back to simple semi-rare BSOD XP
I have been being hounded for a few years by people telling me to use Linux, but I've never really wanted to. I'm seriously thinking about trying it out soon.

I'm just going to re-install my own copy of XP.

Thanks for the help guys

 

I think he will have navy seals in his bathtub

 

heh heh

 

Which can be easily cheated...

 

Definately contact Ebay about it, they like to crack down hard on pirated software.

 

I'm not totally sure what that Validate Windows thingy does.
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx?displaylang=en

What if someone installed a crack copy of xp on a computer, then used that site to validate it, then they sold the computer.
Would that keep them from getting in trouble?

 

While he should not get in trouble, the mere fact he is using a cracked copy with full knowledge doesn't exempt him from any possible legal issues.
Not that he is likely to get into trouble with Microsoft though.
I would only be wary of the fact that the cracked version has some 'nice' rootkit buried deep down somewhere. And is just waiting to come into action...

 

Does the laptop, perchance, have a so-called certificate of authenticity ("COA") stuck on the bottom?

 

Nope, the COA has been removed

 

Alright, I've had to do a little bit of thread cleanup in here since we have a few people who like to promote pirated software. Anyway, let me emphasize the risk . . .

I'd think that it is most likely that this rootkit could probably also transmit information to the authors . . . that you don't want transmitted.

 

LOL. No need to stress out.

 

In that case, you haven't been the victim of piracy, you've been the victim of fraud. If you bought through Paypal, you would be best advised to begin proceedings to recover your money because the copy of XP you got, while most likely legitimate in that it wasn't illegally copied in the first place when it was installed, or a cracked version, wasn't fully and properly transferred to you. Undoubtedly, the seller thinks s/he's being really cute by moving the OS plus COA to another system, and selling off the system you have with what amounts to a naked copy of Windows.