Attention torrent shoppers: Windows 7 RC1 is now available

Well if you are the pirating sort, maybe you can make use of the handy dandy new The Pirate Google Bay site, since you can now nab Windows 7 RC1 (Build 7100) on your favorite torrent site.

Many were watching and waiting for this release, and it’s now been leaked, with an undisputed authenticity. Although, as with any time you are on torrent sites, you do want to watch out for fakes. Apparently not too much is wildly new and different since the public beta, but if you are looking to get a feel for the performance, you’ll want to check this build out.

I hear that the full build string is “7100.0.090421-1700″ and you’ll want to check the file hash of the x86 (32-bit) ISO file with HashTab against the following to make sure you don’t have a fake. Not saying you should go find it on a torrent site or anything though. *ahem*

CRC32: E8A1C394
MD5: 8867C13330F56A93944BCD46DCD73590
SHA-1: 7D1F486CA569EFFFFB719CFB48355BB7BF499712

However, all is not totally nice and rosy in Windows 7 land. Two researchers at the Hack in the Box security conference, which is going on now, have announced an “unfixable hack” to Windows 7. It seems they have come up with a way to get in and control a W7 computer during boot up, by using a small 3KB program called VBootkit 2.0. This is a follow-up to a Vista hack a lot like it. It sticks itself on the system memory and skips the hard drive totally, which makes it next to impossible to detect. Once there, the hacker could pretty much do whatever they want. Get in any files, change passwords, whatever. And then, poof! Disappear like they were never there. The drawback for the hacker, and the good thing for the rest of us, is that this one can’t be done remotely. Better hope your hubby or wife isn’t mad at you and very tech savvy.

via: crunchgear