The good old days when anyone had a pirated and cracked copy of Windows on their PC are today, I'm not finished, but on the way to sunset.
Microsoft has gotten very clever over time, learning to protect its product from piracy quite effectively.
First of all, it blocked all the Loaders (for Windows 10 there are no Loaders), those crack software that in Windows 7 were able to activate the system using OEM licenses of the computer manufacturers do it but capable of deceiving the authenticity check.
In addition, Microsoft has discouraged Windows piracy in three very intelligent ways: the first releasing Windows 10 for free, the first year, for those who came from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 (also leaving this possibility to those who had Windows 7 or 8 cracked).
The second way is to have transformed Windows 10 into a service, which is improved and modified over time by functionality and version updates, thus constantly renewing the protections against activators and crack.
The third way was to tie Windows 10 to a Microsoft store, which may not work if the copy of Windows 10 is cracked.
To pirate Windows 10 and get free activation, therefore, crackers had to find another KMS-based method .
KMS stands for Key Manager System, and is a volume activation system used by Microsoft, so that in companies all computers can be activated regularly with a single tool.
Pirates then created KMS-based tools capable of temporarily activating the Windows license, such as in trial or trial copies.
To keep Windows 10 activated and working without limitations, therefore, the KMS activator must remain installed on the PC, remain running all the time of use of the computer, in order to automatically change the Product Key code when the previous one expires, renewing the license every three months or less.
While old Loaders (as Windows 7 crackers were called) could be deleted immediately after using them once, these Windows 10 KMS activators must remain installed and running in the background, creating a huge security risk and danger .
Risks and dangers
To begin with, already downloading the right activator is a business since looking for it you will be able to open many deceptive sites where downloads often only lead to malware and files that are everything but what we wanted.
Furthermore, malicious code is declaredly inserted within the KMS activator by the programmers themselves.
In other words, these activators (such as Microsoft Toolkit or KSMpico) are all malware, which must be placed in the antivirus exceptions, which require the administrator rights of the computer and which can do whatever they want, send data externally, spy activities and behave in all respects as computer viruses (and they are not false positives).
Finally, the use of an anti-WAT tool (Windows Activation Technology) to obtain the Windows 10 license almost certainly causes the alteration of the internal files, with the consequence that, at a subsequent update of the functionality or security, the system may become unusable and be reinstalled from scratch.
To all these technical difficulties to install an activator on Windows 10, the illegality of these activators must also be added, which if it is not a problem for home PCs, it really becomes a risk for a company or an office.
Alternative solutions
Fortunately, there are other safe and legal ways to get and activate Windows 10 for free or almost.
As mentioned above, Microsoft has left some roads open (without obviously advertising them) that lead to install Windows 10 for free or by paying the license only a few Euros.
In a completely legal way, therefore, we have already seen how it is still possible to switch from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 for free, proceeding to the simple update and without having to install any activator or loader or crack.
Furthermore, in the event that this road fails or if you want to install Windows 10 on a new PC, it is still possible, as seen in another article, to buy the Windows 10 license for a few Euros .
This is possible thanks to the ESD (Electronic Software Distribution) licenses which are distributed only digitally, without DVD and without boxes, manuals or pieces of paper.
You can then download Windows 10 for free from the Microsoft website and then activate it by buying one of these licenses from reliable and guaranteed stores such as Amazon or Ebay, at 10 Euros or less.
It is not a good solution, however, to stay still with Windows 7, given that support for Windows 7 ended in 2020
READ ALSO: How to activate Windows 10 and solve product key errors
Microsoft has gotten very clever over time, learning to protect its product from piracy quite effectively.
First of all, it blocked all the Loaders (for Windows 10 there are no Loaders), those crack software that in Windows 7 were able to activate the system using OEM licenses of the computer manufacturers do it but capable of deceiving the authenticity check.
In addition, Microsoft has discouraged Windows piracy in three very intelligent ways: the first releasing Windows 10 for free, the first year, for those who came from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 (also leaving this possibility to those who had Windows 7 or 8 cracked).
The second way is to have transformed Windows 10 into a service, which is improved and modified over time by functionality and version updates, thus constantly renewing the protections against activators and crack.
The third way was to tie Windows 10 to a Microsoft store, which may not work if the copy of Windows 10 is cracked.
To pirate Windows 10 and get free activation, therefore, crackers had to find another KMS-based method .
KMS stands for Key Manager System, and is a volume activation system used by Microsoft, so that in companies all computers can be activated regularly with a single tool.
Pirates then created KMS-based tools capable of temporarily activating the Windows license, such as in trial or trial copies.
To keep Windows 10 activated and working without limitations, therefore, the KMS activator must remain installed on the PC, remain running all the time of use of the computer, in order to automatically change the Product Key code when the previous one expires, renewing the license every three months or less.
While old Loaders (as Windows 7 crackers were called) could be deleted immediately after using them once, these Windows 10 KMS activators must remain installed and running in the background, creating a huge security risk and danger .
Risks and dangers
To begin with, already downloading the right activator is a business since looking for it you will be able to open many deceptive sites where downloads often only lead to malware and files that are everything but what we wanted.
Furthermore, malicious code is declaredly inserted within the KMS activator by the programmers themselves.
In other words, these activators (such as Microsoft Toolkit or KSMpico) are all malware, which must be placed in the antivirus exceptions, which require the administrator rights of the computer and which can do whatever they want, send data externally, spy activities and behave in all respects as computer viruses (and they are not false positives).
Finally, the use of an anti-WAT tool (Windows Activation Technology) to obtain the Windows 10 license almost certainly causes the alteration of the internal files, with the consequence that, at a subsequent update of the functionality or security, the system may become unusable and be reinstalled from scratch.
To all these technical difficulties to install an activator on Windows 10, the illegality of these activators must also be added, which if it is not a problem for home PCs, it really becomes a risk for a company or an office.
Alternative solutions
Fortunately, there are other safe and legal ways to get and activate Windows 10 for free or almost.
As mentioned above, Microsoft has left some roads open (without obviously advertising them) that lead to install Windows 10 for free or by paying the license only a few Euros.
In a completely legal way, therefore, we have already seen how it is still possible to switch from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10 for free, proceeding to the simple update and without having to install any activator or loader or crack.
Furthermore, in the event that this road fails or if you want to install Windows 10 on a new PC, it is still possible, as seen in another article, to buy the Windows 10 license for a few Euros .
This is possible thanks to the ESD (Electronic Software Distribution) licenses which are distributed only digitally, without DVD and without boxes, manuals or pieces of paper.
You can then download Windows 10 for free from the Microsoft website and then activate it by buying one of these licenses from reliable and guaranteed stores such as Amazon or Ebay, at 10 Euros or less.
It is not a good solution, however, to stay still with Windows 7, given that support for Windows 7 ended in 2020
READ ALSO: How to activate Windows 10 and solve product key errors
