What are the risks of using pirated Windows 10?

November 2022 · 5 minute read

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  • Millions of people use pirated Windows all around the world, it’s a fact. And in all honesty, it makes sense for them to do so. Especially in developing countries, where the price of Windows license is equal to someone’s monthly salary.

    The biggest benefit of a pirated Windows copy is, of course, the fact that it’s free. If you’re not a power user, using a non-genuine copy won’t affect your experience at all. Especially with all these activators and hacking tools available online.

    Pirating Windows has been a practice for years, and it’s still very active with Windows 10, as well. People who use this kind of Windows usually have only the price in mind, but they ignore various risks that come with using pirated Windows.

    Since we care about our readers’ security, and of course, don’t encourage using pirated software, we’re going to list the most common risks of using a pirated version of Windows 10.

    So, if you’re currently using pirated Windows 10, please keep this information in mind.

    Why using pirated Windows 10 is risky

    It’s all about a ‘good’ activator

    Let’s start with an application that makes this whole pirated Windows 10 thing possible – Windows Activator.

    We’re not going to dig deep into how this tool works, but the principle is quite simple. You just install the pirated operating system, open the Activator, press one button, and voila, you have yourself a fully functional Windows 10 OS.

    Performance of your pirated Windows 10 highly depends on the Activator’s quality. If the Activator is a ‘good’ one, you should be able to run Windows 10 smoothly for months.

    If you pick a ‘non-reliable’ activator, you can end up with a broken system from day one.

    But no matter what ‘quality’ Activator you use, you never know when your system may break. When that happens, you’ll be in a big trouble.

    Are Windows activators malware? Learn more about them in this detailed guide.

    Missing updates

    May pirated copies of Windows 10 fail to receive updates. And since updates are perhaps the most important aspect of the system, you’ll break a big circle.

    Back to Activators, there are some that allow you to receive Windows updates on a pirated Windows 10 copy, but you never know when the next update will interfere with your modified configuration, and make your system non-genuine.

    Perhaps the biggest threat of not receiving regular updates is that you’ll miss security patches, which will make your system vulnerable to various attacks. But we’ll get to that later in this article.

    In plain English, you simply can’t expect to run a non-geninue copy of Windows 10 and receive regular updates forever. You do the math yourself and decide whether it’s worth it or not.

    Performance may suffer

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    In order to make your pirated Windows 10 version work, pirates need to do certain changes within the system’s ecosystem. These changes often cripple the system, making some other features unusable.

    So, there’s a big chance you won’t be able to use everything users with a geninue system can.

    Performance depends on how good a pirated copy is. So, you might install a copy that won’t even run on startup, or you might stumble upon a nearly perfect copy. Once again, that’s all plain gambling and can lead to a lot of troubles.

    If you want to improve your Windows 10’s performance, check out this useful guide.

    Risk from security attacks

    A huge percentage of cyber attacks all over the world happens on pirated systems.

    Why? Well, as we said above, you won’t be able to receive all security updates on a pirated Windows copy, which makes your computer a perfect target for various cyber criminals.

    Okay, we know you’re probably thinking it won’t happen to you, but cyber criminal is at the highest rate now, and it can only go up.

    So, think once again, do you want to loose your sensitive data to some cyber criminal, just because you’re using a non-genuine version of Windows 10?

    Keep your Windows 10 PC protected with the best antimalware tools. Find our top picks in this article.

    Can’t use all apps and services

    And finally, if you’re a fan of Microsoft’s services and apps, we have bad news for you: they won’t work on a pirated system.

    Of course, there are also pirated versions of Microsoft’s program, like Office, but installing another pirated program can only lead to more problems. And by more problems, we mean more security holes that can attract hacking sharks.

    Also, buying apps from the Microsoft Store won’t be the most pleasant experience in your life. Because Microsoft will notice that you’re making a purchase from a non-genuine system, and you might end up with a banned account.

    Wrap up

    As you can see, using a pirated copy of Windows 10 brings a handful of risks, that can go way deeper than just breaking your system. So, even if the price of the original product is too high for someone, it’s usually not worth it in a long run.

    What do you think about using pirated Windows 10? Are you willing to take the risk, or you’d rather play it safe and legal?

    Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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