Windows 7 leaks vs MS Beta's

I'm getting confused about something - seems like a lot of you guys have these "leaks" that have popped up on torrents etc or maybe you have the authorized beta that is being distributed by MS. Either way everyone seems like they activated theres just fine. Question is, the keys that come with the "leaks" on torrents - are you guys just using that to authorize (which extends the OS for longer than 30 days) via the online option? Is that safe? I believe there is an activate option online (not 100% sure). Or is everyone using the official MS version? I'm not trying to point anyone out - I just wasn't sure if you you're all activating?

I'm not sure what would happen to be honest. Perhaps I'm being too cautious, but I'm personally going to wait just a few more days to get a legitimate copy.

You could always install it now and then just activate with the RC keys once they come out in May?

I activate with my original beta key.

If you use an "Official Leaked build" (I know it sounds crazy) then the Beta keys still work and Windows will pass validation checks and activate correctly.

To check whether your RC is a genuine one (even if got from a Torrent -- the "Real MS servers will be hugely overloaded for days if experience from the BETA was anything to go by) simply check the CRC32, MD5 and SHA1 hashes with thoes of the REAL DEAL from the MS site.

Even the most expert hacker with the entire computing resources of the earth would need longer than the estimated future life of the Sun (around another 4.5 Billion years) to crack this.

Cheers
jimbo

Even though the leaked torrent of the images match exactly to that which was made available to Technet/MSDN/Connect (still verify the hashes and CRC with the known values) and they will be exactly the same on the public offering on May 5th. I still don't blame anyone for waiting and getting it directly from MSFT.

Just please follow MSFT's recommendation to do a "clean" installation instead of an upgrade of any kind. Back up your important data (to a different partition or external device), use the MSFT Easy File Transfer (it really works) and then wipe your partition by deleting it, re-creating it, format it, and then install it. So many have done upgrades (in place or from boot) and are now flooding the various forums with issues caused by upgrading.

Also, keep in mind that you will have to do a clean install of the RTM when it released, so think about that as you continue to enjoy this fantastic RC of Windows 7.