Microsoft is checking everyone's bags for unsupported Office installs
I don&#x27;t run pirated Microsoft or other such software on my Windows PCs, it&#x27;s just too much trouble and ultimately more expensive&#x2F;time consuming.<p>However, I&#x27;ve long given up updating Microsoft software due to MS&#x27;s unacceptable privacy policies and changeing policy on-the-fly so it was interesting when I recently had to move my old MS software to a new machine after a mobo failure. Both Windows 7 and Office 2007 moved OK but after installing Office it was clear from the dial-home-to-Microsoft activation page that MS wasn&#x27;t happy that I was reregistering old software. (I couldn&#x27;t care less as I normally use Linux and MS stuff is now just legacy—for compatibility etc.).<p>That&#x27;s the background, the point I&#x27;m making is that I&#x27;ve always assumed Microsoft would spy on what I was using on my machine (both its own software and stuff from other vendors) and it would know if the software I was using was pirated. Anyone who doesn&#x27;t assume this I reckon is naïve.<p>Why wouldn&#x27;t MS do this? After all one hasn&#x27;t a clue what&#x27;s in the data that&#x27;s been sent back whenever software contacts MS.<p>Since XP, my practice has been to activate Windows with it partially installed—with only what MS supplied in the package&#x2F;ISO or with just barely enough third party drivers to get the machine functional with a basic network connection (other noncritical drivers such as nVidia video won&#x27;t have been installed). Automatic Updates is also permanently disabled.<p>Before proceeding further with the Windows install I&#x27;ll install MS Office with absolute minimum features—perhaps only PowerPoint (that&#x27;s if it&#x27;s installed at all—usually not as I normally use LibreOffice).<p>Essentially, both Windows and Office can only report home the absolute minimum of information during activation (Microsoft doesn&#x27;t tell me what&#x27;s in the info it&#x27;s sending home so I do everything possible to ensure that it can only skim off the absolute minimum).<p>Once activation is finished, the internet is disconnected and I finish both installations and install all other software I use.<p>That&#x27;s the last time both Windows and Office ever contact home except for Windows authentication. Any essential updates (KB files) are sourced from elsewhere—never from Windows Update. Even then, I carefully vet any update for nefarious content and unless I&#x27;m pretty certain the file is clean then it doesn&#x27;t get installed—no matter how important the update or security fix is.<p>The next step is to install the very nifty <i>Advanced Tokens Manager</i> utility which backs up the activation data. So come the next reinstallation one doesn&#x27;t have to reactivate Windows or Office at all. In essence, my PCs only ever need to contact Microsoft just once: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;download.cnet.com&#x2F;Advanced-Tokens-Manager&#x2F;3000-2242_4-75574829.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;download.cnet.com&#x2F;Advanced-Tokens-Manager&#x2F;3000-2242_...</a>.<p>Incidentally, the PC that failed last contacted Microsoft in 2012 (that&#x27;s when the software was last activated). That&#x27;s an interval of over 10 years, not a bad effort I reckon.<p>In my opinion all those who value their privacy should act similarly whether they pirate software or not—and especially so if they do.