OlmWeb

Vista is here, we all knew that. I was even thinking about buying it but then I read about Microsofts license policys which are outrageous! I can’t believe we customers are just going to swallow that kind of treatment! So I decided to stick it to the man.

Of course, sticking it to the man is never that easy. Vista needs to be activated by an authorized serial key within 30 days of it’s installation. There is a crack which makes it possible to extend that period to 120 days but after that time you’re dead in the water. You either need to reinstall it or go buy it - that’s the bottom line. There are some cracks out there on the net but I’ve gotten none of them to work.

Reaching that deadily 120 mark isn’t however the end of the line, it turns out. I found out that even when Vista presents you with an “activate me or die” window at startup there’s still a way to get normal funtionality back.

When you’re promted for the activation you can choose the option “Access your computer with reduced funtionality”. When you choose it, your default webbrowser starts (in my case it’s Firefox). Now choose “open file” in the file menu. In the window that pops up now (your normal Vista file browser) write explorer in the address bar and hit enter. The normal vista UI loads up and your computer is ready to go! The only thing that seems to be limiting is the fact that you can’t turn of the “Windows Activation” window. If you do, you will be logged out of Vista.

1. Choose “Acces your computer with reduced functionality”
2. Select “open file” in the webbrowser
3. Write “explorer” in the addressbar and hit enter

There you have it! Now let’s all start sticking it to the man… Or get Linux

So say we all