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General discussion

Major Fault Within Windows 7

Oct 15, 2010 3:45AM PDT

A Huge so called glitch was found on the 15/10/2010 by me I was doing my everyday tasks when an exe appeared on my screen with the name "xl240" this allowed me to hack passwords ILLEAGALLY within my LEGIT windows 7 os the OS was baught on the 12/06/10 at a "PC WORLD" in leictershire. I havnt informed microsoft yet as i kind of figure that they are going to see this post.

Discussion is locked

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How odd.
Oct 15, 2010 3:49AM PDT

There have been password crackers and revealers for years (all versions of Windows.) This is nothing new. And apparently not illegal.

However there are many sales of cracked or altered Windows 7 that have been sold. It is a sad fact so you may want to have Microsoft check if your copy of Windows is genuine. Be aware that the better cracks pass validation or genuine online tests.
Bob

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Mums the word
Oct 15, 2010 10:00AM PDT

I wouldn't tell MS because they'll probably confiscate your copy of Windoz and not reimburse you for it. (as cheap as they are) Thinking you may be the pirate or affiliated with him/them.

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Mums the word?
Oct 15, 2010 3:08PM PDT

How would MS confiscate an OS? Send in para-militaries bust in his door?

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More like
Oct 16, 2010 1:12AM PDT

More like just add that product key to the list of known pirated keys so that it's permanently blacklisted. They could also potentially initiate legal action, which could potentially result in the seizure of the system as evidence.

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Hacked on Windows 7
Oct 15, 2010 11:10AM PDT

Hello Ashcode6 I to have a new Windows 7 and was hacked about a month ago and had to changed my pasewords on most of my accounts. Hopefully that did the trick but never sure. I think it is a thing with Windows 7 as it remembers all of your pasewords so it may be easy for some kid to hack into your system.
Phil

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Are you sure ...
Oct 15, 2010 7:44PM PDT

that xl240.exe is coming from Microsoft? Did you check if it was present on 12/06/10 when you bought the machine. Or is something you put on the system yourself? In that case, you can't blame Microsoft, can you?

Things that are unclear in your post:
1. Where it appeared exactly (on the desktop, in a browser tab, etc)?
2. What exactly appeared (a filename, an icon, an open window)?
3. How it did allow you to hack passwords?
4. What passwords you were allowed to hack?

And, no, Microsoft is not seeing this post. And, no, without much more details (like the ones I asked and more) they can't do anything about it anyway.

Kees

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Win 7 from PC World (Part of Dixons aka DSGi PLC)
Oct 15, 2010 9:11PM PDT

The product you bought from PC world whether the operating system alone or a complete pc/laptop is certain to be a genuine microsoft product. DSGi might be sods at times but they are not stupid enough to sell illegal software either a stand alone disks or as part of a system. Microsoft would be a little annoyed if they were and I doubt even DSGi PLC is big enough to stand the penalties that would be imposed by the courts. If they were selling illegal software Microsoft would bankrupt them.

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Very Unlikely...
Oct 15, 2010 11:35PM PDT

It's very unlikely that the OS you bought from PC World was corrupt - much more likely that you picked up this "xl240" from somewhere in the intervening 4 months.

If you want to be sure, partition yourself a 16 GB section of your hard drive, hide the original partition and re-install the OS - you don't need to put in the product key for the test. As soon as the system is installed, do NOT connect it to the internet, scan it for "xl240". If you find it, go back to PC World and have their tech guys fix it under warranty.

But more likely, it won't be there. If not, connect to the internet and run Windows Update to apply all the outstanding patches. Rescan for "xl240". If you find it, contact Microsoft and tell them what you've tested. But if you don't find it, the OS isn't to blame and you need to look elsewhere.

You might want to start by checking when "xl240" was installed on your system (date stamps, etc.).

Oh, and by the way, it's "Leicestershire".

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Lexmark
Oct 16, 2010 12:11AM PDT

A google search for x1240.exe shows that this is a Lexmark printer driver.
Do you have, or have you had, a Lexmark printer on your computer ?

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Re: Lexmark
Oct 16, 2010 12:25AM PDT

I'm afraid he said xl1240, not x1240. And searching for that doesn't give such a clear result, alas.

Kees