Windows 7 Information

OEM such as Acer, Dell etc do a deal with M$ where they include a table in the BIOS which contains "secret" information that Windows checks to see if activation over the internet is required. OEM machines do not need to activate over the internet if 3 things are present

1. The table in the BIOS - called an SLIC table - different machines have slight variations in this table.
2. A digitally signed certificate matching the SLIC table - again different machines have slight variations in this certificate.
3. An OEM key that matches the version of Windows installed - ie the key for Home Premium is different to the Ultimate key - it doesn't matter if the key doesn't match the OEM name just the Windows version.

When Vista came out someone discovered it was possible to fool Windows into thinking there was a genuine SLIC table in the computer BIOS by loading an emulated table into memory during boot up. M$ changed the table for 7 but maintained backward compatibility for Vista as well - note Vista keys do not work for 7 and vice versa though.

Windows detects this emulated table and if the certificate is installed in the operating system and the key matches the Windows version installed it accepts it is installed on an OEM machine and activates itself without connecting over the internet.

I guess M$ could stop this but they run the risk of de-activating legal customers and if they did this to enough legal customers would face a serious backlash. Given Vista's failure to gain market share - if Vista wasn't on new computers it would have sold very poorly indeed - M$ need Windows 7 to be a success and this is not guaranteed given current economic circumstances.

Finally - no a loader cannot damage or change your hardware as all software generally can't - sure viruses can wipe out you harddrive content and some could - in the past - overwrite the BIOS code until manufacturers fixed the open invitation they gave for this to happen when they allowed BIOS changes without changing jumpers - remember the chernobyl virus that took down millions of computers ?