Windows 7 will phone home to Microsoft on a daily basis starting 16 February 2010 and alert users of pirated copies. PCs running a genuine version of Windows 7 with no activation exploits will see no prompts while the update runs quietly in the background. [Read more]

The update to Windows Activation Technologies (WAT) will be posted to Microsoft's download site on 17 February and offered as an optional upgrade via Windows Update later this month, where it will be tagged as “important.” Microsoft said today (11 February 2010) that it will soon Windows 7 users an update that detects illegal copies installed using more than 70 different activation cracks.

Purportedly, the update will reach Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise users, said Joe Williams, the general manager of Microsoft's activation and anti-counterfeit group. “I'd like to stress that the update is voluntary, which means that you can choose not to install it when you see it appear on Windows Update,” said Williams in an entry to the Genuine Windows blog.