Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of local PC users running pirated Windows operating systems will soon face the shame of being reminded of their illegal action every time they switch on their machines.
The feature will be added to the operating system by Microsoft Corp from tomorrow and cannot be erased. It will nag the guilty users and can be awkward if it shows up on corporate PCs.
The anti-piracy move is being kicked off in five countries tomorrow – the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia.
Users whose machines have been affected will only be able to get rid of the tattoo if they install a genuine copy of Windows.