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A former Microsoft engineer recently took it to X to share some tips and tricks about activating Windows 11 without paying the company a single penny (yes, pirating). While it was definitely a bit awkward to see a Windows engineer pedaling piracy to a couple of hundreds of subscribers, even more odd is that Microsoft's own Copilot is not shy about telling you how to pirate Windows. Users on Reddit noticed that learning about pirating Windows using Copilot is surprisingly easy. In the early days of the chatbot saga, some tried to use ChatGPT to generate Windows activation keys, but those efforts were rather unsuccessful (not the case with Windows 95). Now, however, Copilot gives clear, simple, and straightforward answers about pirating Windows with third-party scripts. All it takes is asking nicely. When I asked Copilot about it, the assistant gave me direct links to a GitHub repository that can activate Windows 11 with just two clicks. I even asked it to explain it in more detail, to which I received a pretty detailed guide. Of course, Copilot's response is nothing extraordinary by itself. They are not some previously unknown knowledge about pirating Windows. These scripts have been around for quite a while—all Copilot does is relay that information to you. What is interesting is that Microsoft does not seem to care about this and won't bother censoring Copilot in question like this. Such behavior further backs the theory that Microsoft does not give a single bit, whether you buy Windows 11 or pirate it. The goal is to convert as many people as possible to Windows and then earn money by selling other products or ads (Windows 11 is chockful of them nowadays, even though the OS costs $199). Whether to buy or pirate Windows 11 is up to you, but should you raise a black flag, always keep in mind the potential risks of running third-party scripts and activators. These are a common way to scam users and infect their PCs with malware, so beware. You can also ask Copilot about that and even have a real-life conversation with it since Copilot Voice and Think Deeper are now available for free and without limits to all. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

WinRAR 7.10 was released yesterday with numerous features, such as larger memory pages, a dark mode, and the ability to fine-tune how Windows Mark-of-the-Web flags are propagated when extracting files. WinRAR is a popular file archiver and compression tool for Windows that allows users to create, extract, and manage compressed files, primarily in RAR, ZIP, and many other file formats. The author claims that the tool is used by 500 million people worldwide. Yesterday, win.rar GmbH released the final version of WinRAR 7.10, listing numerous new features that increase the performance and usability of the program. These new features include enabling larger memory pages for increased performance, a reworked settings interface, and a long-awaited dark mode. WinRAR dark mode Source: BleepingComputer One new feature that stood out is a new setting that lets you strip information that may be considered a privacy risk from the Mark of The Web alternate data stream. "'Zone value only' option in "Settings/Security" dialog controls if archive Mark of the Web propagation includes only the security zone value or all available fields," reads the WinRAR 7.10 release notes. "While additional fields, such as a download location or IP address, might help to identify a file source, they can be a privacy concern if file is shared with other persons." For those unfamiliar with the Mark-of-the-Web (MoTW), it is an alternative data stream named "Zone.Identifier" that is added to files downloaded from the Internet, including from websites and email. This identifier tells Windows and supported applications that the file was downloaded from another computer or the Internet and, therefore, could be risky to open. When attempting to open a downloaded file, Windows will check if a MoTW exists and, if so, display additional warnings to the user, asking if they are sure they wish to run the file. Launching a downloaded executable containing a MoTW Source: BleepingComputer Microsoft Office will also check for the Mark-of-the-Web, and if found, it will open documents in Protected View, with the file in read-only mode and macros disabled. To check if a downloaded file has the Mark-of-the-Web, you can right-click it in Windows Explorer and open its properties. If the file contains a MoTW, you will see a message at the bottom stating, "This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protection this computer." Modern file archives will propagate the MoTW found in archives to extracted files, allowing those files to also be protected with the Windows security feature. MoTW is a powerful security feature that is commonly targeted by threat actors who attempt to find zero-day flaws that allow their malicious files to bypass Windows' security warnings. However, some may consider it a privacy concern, as if the file is shared with another person, the "Zone.Identifier" contains information that could reveal sensitive information about where a file was downloaded from. This is because the Zone.Identifier flag contains a lot of information about a downloaded file, including the Internet Zone (ZoneID) it was downloaded from, the URL to the file, the URL referring to the file, and in some cases, the IP address of the host it was downloaded from. Information in MoTW Zone.Identifier Source: BleepingComputer As part of WinRAR 7.10, a new setting is enabled by default called "Zone value only" that strips all information from MoTW alternate data streams other than the ZoneId when it is propagated to extracted files. MoTW settings in WinRAR 7.10 Source: BleepingComputer This allows the Mark-of-the-Web security feature to continue to work with extracted files, but the alternate data stream can no longer be used to learn where the file was downloaded. For those who wish to enable complete propagation of MoTW data, you will need to go into the WinRAR settings > Security and uncheck "Zone value only." While this new setting may hamper digital forensics, it is a welcome feature for those who want the strictest privacy. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend