Warez or no Warez?

[zen-r]

How many people here have had their computers destroyed or harmed by infected warez? Anyone ever hacked?

Good point/ question.

Most people don't even know they are infected. There are so many new viruses & trojans (malware) being released every day, that people's anti-virus/ anti-spyware filters have no way of being sufficiently up-to-date to pick up all the attempted infections on their machines. Before malware can be recognised by your software it first has to be 'caught' in the wild & submitted to the software makers, analysed, a signature has to be created, the signature has to undergo quality assurance testing, the signature is then published, and finally has to be downloaded and activated by your security software.

So when you use cracks & warez, even if you scan it first, you have little assurance that it won't still infect your machine with something. And most infections now don't reveal themselves to you. They secretly sit on your machine, stealing your ID, passwords & other sensitive data, & continually send them back to the malware creator without your knowledge.

Another increasingly common use for your infected machine is to make it part of a botnet - used in various illegal activities such as sending spam, hosting illegal pictures/ vids etc or launching denial of service attacks.

In fact, whilst you are sat in front of your warez-installed computers, right now you & your machine could well be "owned" by someone else ! wned:
.

 

[balaji2u]

well said...

 

[Sohail]

My answer would simply be no, warez are simply ruining the economy, people may think that it's just a few people and doesn't do much but it's damaging the economy and soon people will notice these companies have stopped producing because you have made them bankrupt for not buying!

 

[Twinkie]

My answer would simply be no, warez are simply ruining the economy, people may think that it's just a few people and doesn't do much but it's damaging the economy and soon people will notice these companies have stopped producing because you have made them bankrupt for not buying!

Making one product, tweaking it a little every year or so, and selling copies of it for $50 plus is a pretty sweat deal. If those who are under aged and out of a job find a way to get the software they need for free, then it can't hurt them. At most, it may carve a little of the exceeded pricing out of their greedy hands (except those AV companies, who really need the money for ongoing improvements).

For my question, I meant any one who had any conspicuous harm done, such as identity theft, overridden BIOS, needing to format, slow computers... Not what might be happening. But for me, I take security measures like never using the included installer and monitoring the activity of the cracks with my firewall.

Nicely put Zen-r, and I am sure everyone using warez is aware of the risks. But, not having adequate security because AV and privacy software is too expensive is even more risky.

 

[themasterrocker]

All the people who posted one line posts. please DON'T I don't want to give you an Infraction This is against the rules of Crossfire. Happy talking.

Regards,
Themasterrocker
X10 Moderator

 

[Archkronos]

Ill be quite honest. I use Cracks, and Warez. As a student, I cant afford to be shelling out $1,000 for Photoshop, which is required in my Graphic Design Class. If Companies were to be SMART, and lower the price, then I would pay for them, but since they are greedy, and want all that money for ONE copy, I figure they deserve to lose the business.

Actually, its good for Adobe's business. Companies can't skip on paying licences, so the more people that are familar with Photoshop from using it at home, legally or not, the better, since these people will probably request it for their work.

To the topic at hand: yes, I use Torrents. Private trackers specifically.

And I won't state what trackers or what software, I don't really want to get v&.

 

[loveispoison]

that still wouldnt matter unless you run a strong magnet over your HDD the FBI or the CIA have software that can recover files you may not believe it but its true, but why would the FBI, CIA confiscate your hardware anyway, unless your a damn good hacker that hacked the Pentagon or something

there are billions of people using warez and the fbi or cia cant track each one of them cat they no unless you go to them and tell them what you have been doing:biggrin:

How many people here have had their computers destroyed or harmed by infected warez? Anyone ever hacked?

once i have been hacked and my email and domains and ad service network account like adbrite was hacked i made about $349 on adbrite account i contacted them they said its not my account probably the hacker changed everyhting so how this happens i downloaded a ip changing software so next day everything was gone sence that i never use warez just watch like tv shows like heroes and smallvile etc online people upload them on youtube or supernova tube i watch there.

as far as i know most of warez owners are students and some not

 

[zygzag]

As a High School Student, I'm nowhere near affording software like Photoshop. Also, they don't really sell Photoshop CS2 anymore, and I can't run newer versions on my machine.

If I had money, I would definitely pay for it.

 

[Sharky]

I don't want to know what you were looking for when you found this thread.

And if you don't have the money, you can't afford it, and shouldn't be using it. Try Photoshop Express (review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2290387,00.asp ), Paint Shop Pro, Paint.net...

All these justifications for using pirated software are rather funny. Fond memories of having a good chuckle when it first came out. People admitting to using unlicensed software, which does account to theft.

Instead of the (old) stealing a Ferrari argument, what about this: You own a small software house that makes some totally awesome app/game/whatever. You notice it on your favourite torrent website. Are you going to say "Hey, it's ok, none of them can afford it?" or "OMG THIEVING BAS***DS" then try to prosecute?

 

[galaxyAbstractor]

Instead of the (old) stealing a Ferrari argument, what about this: You own a small software house that makes some totally awesome app/game/whatever. You notice it on your favourite torrent website. Are you going to say "Hey, it's ok, none of them can afford it?" or "OMG THIEVING BAS***DS" then try to prosecute?

I would have loved it, as I know my apps is popular. +it could earn me some more money, because those who really love it might buy it too (Here is where many persons don't think it's possible... But it is... I bought all seasons of Futurama on DVD after I downloaded season 1 from a torrent site, I would buy photoshop etc too if I could get money from somewhere).

 

[Sharky]

See, this is the difference in age showing between me and you... You're imagining that it's just you making some small app, and going for the whole 'Open Source' thing, not a team of developers that need money to pay the bills...

 

[galaxyAbstractor]

See, this is the difference in age showing between me and you... You're imagining that it's just you making some small app, and going for the whole 'Open Source' thing, not a team of developers that need money to pay the bills...

I don't like Open Source. I don't like the idea that other people will see my code. So why do you think I'm for Open Source?

 

[stunna]

*h*pi*a**b**.com straight!

 

[zen-r]

*h*pi*a**b**.com straight!

The last I read of them, they were to be bought & made a legal site (much like Napster was).

 

[csc2ya]

Yep...I use warez sites. However, only for testing software, or for using legal versions that won't activate normally.

I have a copy of SAM Broadcaster (internet radio broadcasting software), that was originally cracked, but it kept having problems with the crack, and I liked it, so I eventually purchased a legal copy.

The copy of XP i've got on this laptop was cracked activation wise originally (it's an oem copy from my old laptop (no longer installed on the old laptop), and wouldn't activate normally originally).

I eventually got round it by doing a repair install, and it then activated. I also reupgraded vista home premium to ultimate and found it wouldn't activate, so had to phone up to activate it....if it hadn't activated though, I would have cracked it....I hate microsoft telling me what I can and can't do with software and operating systems that i've legally paid for.

I also have about 18GB of os's on here for running in virtual machines that I got from torrent sites (they're only used for testing and to play around with though....i'd never use them on a production machine).

I also ran a torrent site a few years ago, which offered some cracked software (it's no longer operational though...I ran out of money to renew the domain, and also lost the hosting it was on, along with the dedicated server I used for serving the torrents from).

The main reason I run cracked software is to do with cost....i'm in the UK, and everything is much more expensive than it is in the US, which is not always due to exchange rates, shipping etc.

PC pro magazine ran an article a few years ago actually where they investigated the price differences between software in the US, and the UK, and in every example, poeple in the UK pay a lot more than the US does...link to article: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/119660.

 

[galaxyAbstractor]

The main reason I run cracked software is to do with cost....i'm in the UK, and everything is much more expensive than it is in the US, which is not always due to exchange rates, shipping etc.

PC pro magazine ran an article a few years ago actually where they investigated the price differences between software in the US, and the UK, and in every example, poeple in the UK pay a lot more than the US does...link to article: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/119660.

You don't wanna see the prices of software prices in Sweden. The price for an Autodesk Maya license is around 10 times more than in US (1 licence is $11 000 here in Sweden). Then the licenses for it suck too, as if I would buy a new computer, I will need to pay $11 000 more.

 

[stunna]

The last I read of them, they were to be bought & made a legal site (much like Napster was).

I dont think the deal has gone through yet.

 

[deltavolt]

I don't use them; I'll either buy the software or find another one that suits my needs just as well that's free. Office suite? OpenOffice for Windows, NeoOffice for Mac (though a Mac comes with it's own, free Office suite). Photoshop? Gimp. Though, I personally prefer Photoshop enough to have gone and bought it.

Also, my college required us to buy the Microsoft bundle for around $120 that gives us access to Office and Windows from the point we enter college to the point we leave, with all updates included (such as Windows 7, and whatever comes after).

 

[halo3gopher]

Yeah Adobe really had great student discounts, even though warez is still cheaper. Even after all of these P2P busts, it's really the music industry that cares as much about pirating. You don't hear much about software pirating busts, and you'll always be able to find free music on the internet, whether you strip it from youtube videos, search for it with google and project playlist, or straight up P2P it.

 

[dexodro]

The only time I feel it is appropriate to use p2p networks is when the company that developed, released, and worked on the game/program is out of business and won't be making money off of it, OR, if they don't support linux and I'm currently using a Linux distro. ( I download it, run it (if it works on WINE, if it doesn't, I don't bother downloading it), and use it until I reinstall Windows. If I still have need for it, I buy it. ).