Last year around this time, I blogged about some changes for Windows Vista that were released with SP1. These changes included an update for Windows Vista users which helps detect the presence of activation exploits, then alerts the customer (if affected) and provides some guidance and a Web link to learn more about what can be done to fix it. I'm excited to announce that beginning this week, and over the next several weeks depending on where you are, we will be releasing an update to that particular technology to help Windows Vista Ultimate Edition based systems detect the presence of additional activation exploits, namely the activation exploit commonly referred to as the 'SoftMod hack'. We're releasing this update to Windows Vista Ultimate Edition only at this time and only to systems with English as their primary language. As I've said before, we continuously evaluate the risk each reported hack poses to our customers, our partners and the protection of Microsoft's intellectual property; then we plan our activities accordingly.

Below is a screenshot showing what a user would see on a system that has detected the SoftMod activation exploit.