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Leaked copies of Windows 7 RC contain Trojan
ComputerWorld ^ | May 4, 2009 | Gregfg Keizer

Posted on 05/05/2009 7:35:35 PM PDT by dayglored

Some pirated builds on file-sharing sites harbor attack code...

Pirated copies of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) on file-sharing sites contain malware, according to users who have downloaded the upgrade.

Windows 7 RC, which Microsoft Corp. will officialy launch tomorrow, leaked two weeks ago, with copies first appearing on BitTorrent tracking sites on April 24.

Some of the pirated builds include a Trojan horse, numerous users said in message forums and in comments on BitTorrent sites such as Mininova.org.

"Just a warning for anyone downloading the new RC builds of windows 7. Quiet [sic] a lot of the downloads have a trojan inbedded [sic] in the setup EXE," said someone identified as Frank Fontaine on a Neowin.net discussion thread. "The Setup EXE is actually a container, it appears to be a self-extracting EXE. There are 2 files inside, Setup.exe and codec.exe."

Fontaine's antivirus software identified the "codec.exe" file as a generic Trojan.

...

Windows 7 RC is not the first leaked software found to harbor attack code. In January 2009, for example, security experts warned that pirated copies of Apple Inc.'s then-new iWork '09 suite contained a Trojan horse that hijacked Macs.

(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: pirates; trojan; windows; windows7
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Now let's see how rapidly the MSM and mainstream Tech press pick up on this -- compared to how breathlessly they covered the Trojan in Apple's iWorks a few months ago.

Nope.

Windows pirated software is hacked? Who cares?

Dog bites man... not news. *sigh*

1 posted on 05/05/2009 7:35:35 PM PDT by dayglored
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To: ShadowAce; Swordmaker
Tech and Mac *pings*, please?

Who has the Windows 7 pinglist?

2 posted on 05/05/2009 7:36:49 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: dayglored

Windows 7... Trojan ? Screwed by MSFT again !!!


3 posted on 05/05/2009 7:37:19 PM PDT by Plane_Guy
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To: dayglored

Serves them right.


4 posted on 05/05/2009 7:37:24 PM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: dayglored

The high end versions of Windows 7 will have XP emulation in a virtual system. Anyone know if the lower end versions of 7 will have XP compatibility mode like Vista Home?


5 posted on 05/05/2009 7:37:54 PM PDT by Frantzie ("Remember when Bush was President & Americans had jobs?")
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To: Frantzie
> Anyone know if the lower end versions of 7 will have XP compatibility mode like Vista Home?

Probably not. The XP virtual is what will be supported for compatibility, only in the high end.

As far as I can tell, the low-end users are in the dust.

6 posted on 05/05/2009 7:39:08 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: Plane_Guy

So people who download a pirated copy of software from a file sharing site have Gates to blame?


7 posted on 05/05/2009 7:41:10 PM PDT by steveo
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To: A CA Guy
> Serves them right.

If by "them" you mean the idiots that download known-pirated software, I totally agree.

And what really gets me in this case is... Win7 RC is FREE!!! Why bother to get it from a pirate when Microsoft is giving it away???

I already got my copies from MS. Looking forward to playing with it soon....

8 posted on 05/05/2009 7:41:36 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: dayglored
Generic headlines:

Pope condemns violence

Britney Spears behaves irrationally

Flaw found in Microsoft Windows Operating System.

In all fairness to MS, this wasn't an MS release. It was on a bit torrent site, and it's dangerous as heck to download an executable off a torrent. I don't care how good the operating system is, if you download a program and give it permission to run, it can do stuff to your system.

9 posted on 05/05/2009 7:42:47 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
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To: Plane_Guy
> Windows 7... Trojan ? Screwed by MSFT again !!!

This is not Microsoft's doing. Their downloads are clean. This is somebody else, malware basturds.

10 posted on 05/05/2009 7:43:06 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: Richard Kimball
> Flaw found in Microsoft Windows Operating System. In all fairness to MS, this wasn't an MS release.

Yep. This has nothing to do with Microsoft's own release. This is about malware slime and the idiots who download it.

Hmmm, sounds like a title for a Jerry Springer episode...

11 posted on 05/05/2009 7:44:56 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: dayglored

MSFT is so screwed up. They put XP compatibility in Vista Home buty now they leave it out in low end Windows 7.


12 posted on 05/05/2009 7:46:48 PM PDT by Frantzie ("Remember when Bush was President & Americans had jobs?")
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To: dayglored

It seems the problem was in the 64-bit versions only....so far.


13 posted on 05/05/2009 7:47:33 PM PDT by Petronski (Learn about the 'cytokine storm.')
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To: dayglored

Yeah, I’m referring to the pirated stuff.

I have nothing against MS or their PC computers.
I think they are a much more efficient deal than Apple and unless you click stupid stuff, it is rather tough to get a virus on the web IMO.
I run with only a firewall and have had zero viruses in years.


14 posted on 05/05/2009 7:50:05 PM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Frantzie
> They put XP compatibility in Vista Home buty now they leave it out in low end Windows 7.

1. I don't know for certain that it's not in Win7 Home. But I have not heard that it is.

2. It would be very surprising if they left it in Win7, -along with- the XP VM.

3. Win7 is just Vista with the fat taken out. I'm willing to bet that XP compatibility in Home was considered "fat".

4. I'm willing to be proven wrong if anybody has a reliable Microsoftie quote about XP compatibility mode in Win7 Home.

15 posted on 05/05/2009 7:50:52 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: Petronski
> It seems the problem was in the 64-bit versions only....so far.

Interesting. Thanks for the extra tip...

16 posted on 05/05/2009 7:52:59 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: dayglored
malware slime

Now that is a great band name. Acid rock with a nod to Johnny Rotten.

17 posted on 05/05/2009 7:53:38 PM PDT by AH_LiveRight
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To: AH_LiveRight
>> malware slime

> Now that is a great band name. Acid rock with a nod to Johnny Rotten.

HA!! PERFECT!!

18 posted on 05/05/2009 7:57:00 PM PDT by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
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To: steveo

Yes. In socialist utopias like Obama’s america, all technology is a “right” and should thus be free.


19 posted on 05/05/2009 7:59:41 PM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican (Trust unto God and He shall direct your path)
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To: dayglored
Last year I bought a new laptop with Vista on it and it took me about a day to realize I made a mistake and wiped the harddrive clean and put win XP on it and it runs great. Yea it could be a little more classier looking like Vista but that's XP for ya. I know a lot of folks who did not upgrade to Vista from XP I wonder how many will upgrade to RC7 does the RC stand for Royal Crap #7?
20 posted on 05/05/2009 8:09:11 PM PDT by guitarplayer1953 (Psalm 83:1-8 is on the horizon.)
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