14 DAY TRIAL // A Windows 8 hack has been updated, and tailored to work not only on the next major iteration of Windows, but also the next version of Office. Microsoft is currently hard at work on Windows 8 and Office 15, the successors of Windows 7 and respectively Office 2010.
With Windows 8 reportedly in the Milestone 3 stage of the development process, and Office 15 in M2, the need for a hack might not be immediately apparent to all.
However, there are no less than three leaks of Windows vNext and one of Office 15 available for download in the wild.
Users that failed to wait for the official testing releases from the software giant and grabbed the leaked Builds, are deploying hacks for a variety of reasons.
This because, the illegal tools serve multiple purposes. They’re used for everything from bypassing the expiration deadline set into the prerelease Builds of Windows 8 and Office 15, to circumventing the activation mechanisms, and to unlocking hidden goodies that the company packed inside the two products.
Both Windows 8 and Office 15 apparently feature new features / components that although built in already, are locked under the hood, not available to average testers.
Hacks are used in order to bring the new features to the surface. For Windows 8, using the hack can unlock Ribbon / Fluent UI, Modern Task Manager, Modern PDF Reader, Auto Colorization, Webcam App, Immersive Browser, Pattern Logon, Logon Metro and Applications folder.
According to reports from sources familiar with both the hack and the leaked copy of Office 15, the tool is capable of unlocking the new Moorea component of the productivity suite.
Of course, the idea of an all-in-one hack tool is not exactly new. There are already similar illegal tool available in the wild for Windows 7 and Office 2010.
Hackers have put together multi-purpose hack solutions which literally allow the user to perform a variety of tasks and circumvent multiple anti-piracy mechanisms in a range of products from a single program.