We all knew the day would come and that day is today. A crack from the pirate group Pantheon has been released that allows Vista installations to be activated and made fully operational. The crack doesn’t use time stamp hacks or exploits for the beta version of Vista. The real news here is the the crack is easy to use.
Apparently it uses part of the same process that large OEMs use that allows them to pre-install Vista on a system without Microsoft verification.
The crack includes certificate files from ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo along with OEM product keys for Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate. It also comes with a BIOS driver that allows certificate information from an OEM to be installed on any machine, regardless of manufacturer.
The crack has been reported to work by Australia’s APC magazine and it passes Windows Genuine Advantage checks. So let the arms race begin but, seeing this crack uses the same process as the OEMs. Its going to be hard for Microsoft to stop. And the entire continent of Asia cheers although they would be better served by switching to almost anything else.