by Downloading the OS from the official website has become more difficult, and the supply of “boxed” versions has been completely discontinued. na-piratskie-versii-windows-906e5e6.jpg” alt=”Demand for pirated versions of Windows has grown in Russia” />
Viktor Podvolotsky
Over the past three months, searches on Google related to Windows 10 activation methods have grown by 80-250%, depending on the wording. Kommersant writes about this with reference to Google Trends data.
In June, one of the fastest growing requests was the free download of Excel (growth by 650%). And the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, which allows you to create bootable OS images, has been searched 47 times more often over the past week than before.
The reason for these changes was Microsoft's restrictions on downloading Windows from Russia and Belarus.
According to Igor Martyushev, a representative of Marvel Distribution, there are no new deliveries of boxed OS from Microsoft, and at the current level of sales, the stock will last for several months.
One of the sources of the publication Kommersant also clarified that buyers of the “boxed” version of Windows will now be able to use the OS only if they indicate another country, not Russia or Belarus, during registration. The same goes for new laptops with a pre-installed OS.
Recall that all Microsoft restrictions on downloading utilities and OS images can still be bypassed using a VPN.
Cover: Acer, Lifehacker
