hard disk loading
A type of software piracy that occurs when hardware dealers; brick-and-mortar or Internet vendors, install an unauthorized copy of commercial software onto a computer system. In many cases consumers will not receive any manuals or original CD of the software but the hardware dealer may charge for the illegal software in the total system purchase price. The end-user, or the purchaser in this case, will then use the computer system with pirated software, often not realizing that the software that was pre-installed on the computer system is not legitimate. This type of piracy is most common with operating systems, especially older Microsoft branded operating systems such as Windows 95 and Windows 98. Public awareness along with requiring users to activate or register their products has helped software manufactures deal with hard disk loading piracy.
See software piracy.
Also see”Is Software Ownership the Same as Licensing?” in the in the “Did You Know…” section of
Read Also:
- hard disk type
A number that indicates important features of a hard disk, such as the number of platters and cylinders. However, the numbering scheme has broken down over the last few years and is no longer used by most disk drive manufacturers.
- hard drive enclosure
The casing that holds a hard drive which can be externally connected to a computer system. Also called a hard drive cage. See external hard drive.
- hard error
An error occurence in a computer system that is caused by the failure of a memory chip. Hard errors can appear like chip-level soft errors, but the difference is that the hard error is not rectified when the computer is rebooted. The solution to a hard error is to replace the memory chip or module […]
- Hard Return
A return is the process of jumping from the end of one line of text to the beginning of the next line. Word processors utilize two types of returns: hard returns and soft returns. A hard return is an actual symbol inserted into the text. The hard-return symbol is usually invisible, but most word processors […]
- Hardware
Refers to objects that you can actually touch, like disks, disk drives, display screens, keyboards, printers, boards, and chips. In contrast, software is untouchable. Software exists as ideas, concepts, and symbols, but it has no substance. Books provide a useful analogy. The pages and the ink are the hardware, while the words, sentences, paragraphs, and […]