Have you ever wondered how much does it take to develop a crack or a workaround to the security features in Windows Vista? Well it took Microsoft five years to complete the operating system. So it takes a hacker just 3 (read' em TRHEE) hours to crack one of the Windows Vista validation proceses. That makes sense, doesn't it now?

The past week, when taking on the "frankenbuild" Windows Vista activation workaround, Microsoft applauded the release of an update to the Vista Validation process in order to render inoperable the operating systems activated with the "frankenbuild" crack.

Windows vista Validation update KB929391 has produced a small impact, but has generated some Brownian motion in the pirate community. As early as this morning I have reported that a crack for the Vista Validation Update was already available. You can read details about this, and even have access to the Windows Vista Validation update crack via this link.

At the time of this article, the initial crack has been joined by an alternative. As I mentioned in the other article, these are not actually cracks but workarounds, in the sense that they reveal the process to bypass the Vista Validation update introduced by Microsoft.

"Solution to Windows Vista Validation update (KB929391) - READ CAREFULLY AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS- This is for all you people, like me who were foolish enough to install the KB929391 Validation Update. After at least 3 hrs of hard work I have finally come up with a valid solution to this problem. The process is quite simple, yet confusing so read carefully," reads the invitation of the author.

Bear in mind that this workaround for the Windows Vista Validation update is different than the one reported earlier today, the syntax belongs to the author:

"1) Make a new Windows live account, and obtain a brand new xxx xxx xxx, once obtained write it down on a piece of paper. (The one you used to activate Vista Ultimate is useless now)
2) Reboot your computer into SAFE MODE
3) Make sure you computer is set to "View Hidden Files" and you have "xxx"
4) Delete the following 2 files-
C:Windowsxx--xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxxx-B012-9C450E1B73xxx6-A289-439d-8115xxxxx"
C:Windowsxxxx376B-497e-B012-9C450E1BxxP-1.C74834xxxx439d-8115xxxD005xxxxxxx"
5) Reboot your PC and log in
6) You will get a message saying something along the lines of " There has been a change to your Windows Activation Process" ( I cant remember what it exactly said but you'll see it, it will prevent you from going into your pc, unless you activate Vista or restart). It will give you the following 2 options-
i) Validate Windows online
ii) Close
If you click "Close" you will be sent back to your login
If you hit the "Validate Windows Online" thing (dont know the exact words) you will go to WGA Check and it will say " Your Version of Microsoft Windows is Not Genuine

7) Click on the top first option " Validate Windows Online" (Again, i dont remember the exact words, so dont be stupid, its the first option above "Close")
8) After clicking "Validate Windows Online" it will say "Your copy of Windows is not Genuine" and it will take back to the screen with the 2 options again-
i) Validate Windows Online
ii) Close
9) Manually restart the computer
10) This time it will say something like " There has been a change in the windows product key" ( Again don't quote me on the text, its a window that provides you with the opportunity to type in your product key, if the vista login shows up, then just login and it the product key window will appear.
11) Put your new product xxx xxx xxx
12) There you have it, now your Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is activated again.
13) Go into your Control Panel, updates, and disable automatic updates
14) Enjoy Vista and don't TURN ON THE AUTOMATIC UPDATES, READ THEM, RESEARCH THEM, BEFORE YOU INSTALL THEM

End Note Important- Now you will notice that in the updates the update KB929391 is still there, yes it is, but go into your System and your Windows is activated......I have restarted several times with network support and everything seems to be working."

As we here at Softpedia do not support piracy of any nature, the workaround posted above has been disfigured in order to make it useless. It is presented here only for informative purposes.