Unsolved Eliminating Malware: does Windows offer some kind of protection/update for softwares which have been acquired illegaly?

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What happens when a company, that cannot afford to buy 1000 dollars softwares, decides to look for a pirated version of the software on the internet instead? Aside the potential risks of the software being a trojan or something else, I have always wondered about the updates.

Say that the software is working correctly, what if this software is known to have some vulnerabilty? If one didn't purchase the software, they will not receive security updates to fix these issues. Does Windows update known commercial products even if they are not from Microsoft. Or do you see updates of third-party vendors in Windows update manager only when you buy these products? I mean, are the third-party softwares themselves that tell Windows Update Manager that they can update, or does Windows offer known patches in order to better protect their systems?

Thomas,

Great question. It all depends on how good the crack to unlock the software, or the pirated version is at hiding from the vendor the fact that it is not licensed. I have seen some software work indefinitely, and I have seen others stop working almost immediately, or after a short period of time once a patch or update had been applied.

All vendors will apply patches to "legitimate" software, so the trick is to make the software appear to be legitimate so it fools the vendor's patching system into thinking it is legitimate software.

Microsoft does not bear any responsibility for patching any products other than their own, and as a result would not patch any third party software.

I hope that helps and answers your questions. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers,

Adam