18 ms·

Holy shit! Now that I have changed the password, can you please tell me how did you guess that?

by shubhamjain 8y ago

LolWolf 8y ago
I am also extremely curious! (I did not have this password, but would love to know why it was so common?)
- walrus01 8y ago
  It's the first few sections of product key for one of the original warez scene releases of the windows XP Pro gold master ISO.
pkulak 8y ago
I too spent most of my youth re-installing Windows on various machines. :D
osrec 8y ago
I'm only guessing, but this could provide a clue: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8&amp=true https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define....
- fxfan 8y ago
  What the actual hell. Who even remembers the key? And more importantly why? Why would you install XP once a week to remember it? I'm shocked by this subthread!
  - pvg 8y ago
    It was the first consumer NT-based Windows, the first with activation and this key, which let you bypass all that, was out before the OS was officially released.
  - rjf72 8y ago
    'Back in the day' regular formats were a pretty good way of maintaining system performance. They still are really but computers being an order of magnitude overpowered for all the tasks 90% of users do makes it less relevant. You'd be surprised how easy it is to memorize long series of digits when you enter them a few times. For instance FCKGW. Who was the president in 2001? You'll now literally never forget those 5 letters.
    - psalminen 8y ago
      That was the first thing I thought of at the beginning of this thread.
  - bluedino 8y ago
    Popular electronics stores would do a in-store setup of your computer before you left with it. Part of this involved entering the users name and windows key. I probably used the same key to setup over 1000 PC's when I worked there.
cam_l 8y ago
Windows XP..
ceocoder 8y ago
Because bunch of us memorized fckgw rhqq2 yxrkt 8tg6w 2b7q8 for the very same reason back in early 2000s
- iamgopal 8y ago
  :)
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- cheeze 8y ago
  Yup. One of the most famous longer numbers out there.
- lvs 8y ago
  Lol. Warez. It's been a long time.
  - johnisgood 8y ago
    To some. :P
- moogly 8y ago
  I preferred the rm233 2prqq ... one myself :)
- lsh 8y ago
  it's even on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys
  - shittyadmin 8y ago
    If I recall correctly this image helped make it famous: https://marco.org/2007/06/18/wow-fckgw-has-its-own-wikipedia-mention-flickr https://marco.org/2007/06/18/wow-fckgw-has-its-own-wikipedia...
shawnz 8y ago
Sorry to scare you! I didn't think you were still using it. Honestly, it was the first thing that came to mind in terms of "culturally important serial keys"
ceejayoz 8y ago
It's common enough it's in Urban Dictionary. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8 https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-...
giancarlostoro 8y ago
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8 https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-...
- mortenjorck 8y ago
  I laughed out loud when I saw the sponsored domain registrar links down the page advertising “FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8.travel” and other TLDs.
  - winrid 8y ago
    .com is taken :( https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?checkAvail=1&tmskey=&domainToCheck=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8.com https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?checkAvail=1&tmske...
    - kkarakk 8y ago
      It's also got some kinda german meme on it
      - fouc 8y ago
        So apropos
    - Corrado 8y ago
      .dev is not taken (yet). I think this might be one of the best uses for a joke .dev domain. :) https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/search?searchTerm=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8.dev&hl=en https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/search?searchTerm=fck...
atulmadhugiri 8y ago
It's a pretty well-known leaked key. And then you said exactly what part of it you used. Not the smartest move. It's like saying "My password is the first 10 characters of a really popular book about wizards" and expecting no one to figure it out.
- shubhamjain 8y ago
  I didn't know the well-known part. Besides, I was assuming that this was only of the multiple, multiple keys. But, it's funny how popular it is, and that so many had a reason to memorize it.
  - kakarot 8y ago
    Even if you've provided information which narrows your password down to ~5,000 possible values, you've effectively handed out your password to one of 5,000 internet strangers whom you will never meet in real life. Then consider that this is Hacker News, and how many of those 5,000 have both the skills and motivation to exploit the information you've provided. Never give out "hints" about your password. Not its contents, not its exact length, the physical location in which you store a copy, nothing.
    - Dylan16807 8y ago
      If giving out the length hurts anything, there's enough going wrong that you should probably assume it's already compromised. Unless there's something fundamentally wrong with the password, a public length of n is almost as secure as a secret length of n, and significantly more secure than a secret length of n-1 Never get into the specifics of a password, but explaining the basic structure should be a tiny impact and well within your margin of safety, or you didn't make a good enough password to start with.
      - kakarot 8y ago
        I'm willing to believe that if you could help me understand a bit more why that is so.
cesarb 8y ago
It's probably the most famous software license key, it can even be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rb808 8y ago
Its even in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys
rangibaby 8y ago
I guess Win XP would be one of the world's most pirated software (ever?)
- whatAsurprise 8y ago
  A dubious distinction. It's use probably lasted 10 years, and it's now obsolete. So, what does the "piracy" aspect matter now? In retrospect, it just got copied onto hard drives a lot. Big deal.
whatAsurprise 8y ago
The most surprising part of this exchange is your expression of surprise. Come on, dude. You fucking told us what you use.
Double_a_92 8y ago
You said you were 15 and it was a very popular software that needed to be installed relatively often. I guess people on here are 30-ish, so it happened 15 years ago in the 00s. This hints strongly towards WinXP, which has a few famous leaked Serials.
- I_complete_me 8y ago
  Whatever way you phrased this I feel Sherlock Homes mode is happening here. And the following is tangential to the OPs headline so it may or may not be interesting to HN folk. Last week in my local paper the daily quiz asked what is the common name for "Galanthus nivalis". To my younger self it would have seemed impossible, but now that I am older and more informed (though NOT smarter) I spotted the 'gala' at the start. Hmmm. The word 'galaxy' starts with 'gala'. I remember that galaxy and milky way are somehow related. Milk is white. What flower (given it is Spring here in Northern Europe) could be white (-ish?). Aha, snowdrop! And to me (seriously) I felt utter astonishment that I was right. I am not smart. But this machine that I seem to have could do that. Well, wow to the maker that did that.

Holy shit! Now that I have changed the password, can you please tell me how did you guess that?

LolWolf 8y ago

I am also extremely curious! (I did not have this password, but would love to know why it was so common?)

walrus01 8y ago
It's the first few sections of product key for one of the original warez scene releases of the windows XP Pro gold master ISO.

pkulak 8y ago

I too spent most of my youth re-installing Windows on various machines. :D

osrec 8y ago

I'm only guessing, but this could provide a clue: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8&amp=true https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define....

fxfan 8y ago
What the actual hell. Who even remembers the key? And more importantly why? Why would you install XP once a week to remember it? I'm shocked by this subthread!
- pvg 8y ago
  It was the first consumer NT-based Windows, the first with activation and this key, which let you bypass all that, was out before the OS was officially released.
- rjf72 8y ago
  'Back in the day' regular formats were a pretty good way of maintaining system performance. They still are really but computers being an order of magnitude overpowered for all the tasks 90% of users do makes it less relevant. You'd be surprised how easy it is to memorize long series of digits when you enter them a few times. For instance FCKGW. Who was the president in 2001? You'll now literally never forget those 5 letters.
  - psalminen 8y ago
    That was the first thing I thought of at the beginning of this thread.
- bluedino 8y ago
  Popular electronics stores would do a in-store setup of your computer before you left with it. Part of this involved entering the users name and windows key. I probably used the same key to setup over 1000 PC's when I worked there.

cam_l 8y ago

Windows XP..

ceocoder 8y ago

Because bunch of us memorized fckgw rhqq2 yxrkt 8tg6w 2b7q8 for the very same reason back in early 2000s

iamgopal 8y ago
:)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
cheeze 8y ago
Yup. One of the most famous longer numbers out there.
lvs 8y ago
Lol. Warez. It's been a long time.
- johnisgood 8y ago
  To some. :P
moogly 8y ago
I preferred the rm233 2prqq ... one myself :)
lsh 8y ago
it's even on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys
- shittyadmin 8y ago
  If I recall correctly this image helped make it famous: https://marco.org/2007/06/18/wow-fckgw-has-its-own-wikipedia-mention-flickr https://marco.org/2007/06/18/wow-fckgw-has-its-own-wikipedia...

shawnz 8y ago

Sorry to scare you! I didn't think you were still using it. Honestly, it was the first thing that came to mind in terms of "culturally important serial keys"

ceejayoz 8y ago

It's common enough it's in Urban Dictionary. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8 https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-...

giancarlostoro 8y ago

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8 https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fckgw-rhqq2-...

mortenjorck 8y ago
I laughed out loud when I saw the sponsored domain registrar links down the page advertising “FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8.travel” and other TLDs.
- winrid 8y ago
  .com is taken :( https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?checkAvail=1&tmskey=&domainToCheck=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8.com https://www.godaddy.com/domainsearch/find?checkAvail=1&tmske...
  - kkarakk 8y ago
    It's also got some kinda german meme on it
    - fouc 8y ago
      So apropos
  - Corrado 8y ago
    .dev is not taken (yet). I think this might be one of the best uses for a joke .dev domain. :) https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/search?searchTerm=fckgw-rhqq2-yxrkt-8tg6w-2b7q8.dev&hl=en https://domains.google.com/m/registrar/search?searchTerm=fck...

atulmadhugiri 8y ago

It's a pretty well-known leaked key. And then you said exactly what part of it you used. Not the smartest move. It's like saying "My password is the first 10 characters of a really popular book about wizards" and expecting no one to figure it out.

shubhamjain 8y ago
I didn't know the well-known part. Besides, I was assuming that this was only of the multiple, multiple keys. But, it's funny how popular it is, and that so many had a reason to memorize it.
- kakarot 8y ago
  Even if you've provided information which narrows your password down to ~5,000 possible values, you've effectively handed out your password to one of 5,000 internet strangers whom you will never meet in real life. Then consider that this is Hacker News, and how many of those 5,000 have both the skills and motivation to exploit the information you've provided. Never give out "hints" about your password. Not its contents, not its exact length, the physical location in which you store a copy, nothing.
  - Dylan16807 8y ago
    If giving out the length hurts anything, there's enough going wrong that you should probably assume it's already compromised. Unless there's something fundamentally wrong with the password, a public length of n is almost as secure as a secret length of n, and significantly more secure than a secret length of n-1 Never get into the specifics of a password, but explaining the basic structure should be a tiny impact and well within your margin of safety, or you didn't make a good enough password to start with.
    - kakarot 8y ago
      I'm willing to believe that if you could help me understand a bit more why that is so.

cesarb 8y ago

It's probably the most famous software license key, it can even be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

rb808 8y ago

Its even in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_licensing#Leaked_keys

rangibaby 8y ago

I guess Win XP would be one of the world's most pirated software (ever?)

whatAsurprise 8y ago
A dubious distinction. It's use probably lasted 10 years, and it's now obsolete. So, what does the "piracy" aspect matter now? In retrospect, it just got copied onto hard drives a lot. Big deal.

whatAsurprise 8y ago

The most surprising part of this exchange is your expression of surprise. Come on, dude. You fucking told us what you use.

Double_a_92 8y ago

You said you were 15 and it was a very popular software that needed to be installed relatively often. I guess people on here are 30-ish, so it happened 15 years ago in the 00s. This hints strongly towards WinXP, which has a few famous leaked Serials.

I_complete_me 8y ago
Whatever way you phrased this I feel Sherlock Homes mode is happening here. And the following is tangential to the OPs headline so it may or may not be interesting to HN folk. Last week in my local paper the daily quiz asked what is the common name for "Galanthus nivalis". To my younger self it would have seemed impossible, but now that I am older and more informed (though NOT smarter) I spotted the 'gala' at the start. Hmmm. The word 'galaxy' starts with 'gala'. I remember that galaxy and milky way are somehow related. Milk is white. What flower (given it is Spring here in Northern Europe) could be white (-ish?). Aha, snowdrop! And to me (seriously) I felt utter astonishment that I was right. I am not smart. But this machine that I seem to have could do that. Well, wow to the maker that did that.