Windows 7 Uncovering the Mystery: How Was This Laptop's Specs Falsely Displayed?

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sameh83

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Before i begin explaining this weird situation, please understand that it's true and i seen it with my own eyes !

Today i was about to purchase a laptop from an individual i met ! I was told the laptop had a 4gb Ram, 250 gb HDD, 2.0 core two duo processor and running windows vista ! But, something seemed weird and wrong about this particular laptop. For example, according to the specs i outlined above, this laptop should be very agile, Yet, it was very slow ! So, i downloaded a program (CPUZ) to test the hardware specs of this laptop, and upon completion of the running software, it revealed the truth ! The truth is,,,this laptop was a 128 MB Ram, 40 GB HDD, and a processor of 900 and was running windows xp with Vista themes !

My question is simple ,,,,,,,HOW ?
How was this con able to alter the computer specs and make it look as if it was something else ?
Remind you,,,,when i right clicked on (My Computer) it showed me very clearly the specs mentioned above,,(4 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, and Core Two Duo),,,How was this possible ?

Please advise me ,,,,,I am baffled !
 
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sameh83 said:
Is there no one here that can explain this phenomenon ? Come on Geniuses ! I know you guys have some ideas,,,,let me hear them ! 71 views = 1 reply ? no way !
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You already have half of it... XP with Vista themes.

All the "about" information is stored in registry entries that are set when the OS is installed and they can be altered if you know where to look. (And no, I'm not about to itemize that because I wouldn't want this wanker's dirty trick to happen to anyone else.)

And FWIW... XP will run in 64mb of Ram, but needs a big swap file to do it... which probably explains some of the slowness.
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Wow what a sneaky trick! Well done for spotting the ruse although how it was done exactly I'm unsure. As your probably aware the GUI (graphical user interface) of windows is only a shell and I suppose if you messed around with it enough you can get it to look like anything.
 
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Well, i am soo determined to find out as to how it was done ! Although i am disgusted by the actual attempt of this clever idea, I am interested about the genius behind the idea ! I want to know what and how it was done for personal reasons (educational). Maybe someone here can figure this out !
 
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You have a good point, but,,,,,,,that's what made me second guess the laptop specs ! Like i said, i was surprised by the speed (slow), although i had in mind a 4 GB ram ! And another thing,,,,,the BIOS also indicated the above mentioned specs (high) that i outlined ! Could it be,,,,,maybe the individual altered the firmware of the BIOS chip ? my other thought is, could it be possible, that an internal memory chip of some kind (usb for example) was planted on the inside of the laptop, and was the first in the boot order ,,already packed with this fraudulent specs ?
 
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Is there no one here that can explain this phenomenon ? Come on Geniuses ! I know you guys have some ideas,,,,let me hear them ! 71 views = 1 reply ? no way !
 
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I can imagine a few ways - easiest would probably be to write a script/compiled program involving a few graphics captured from a pc with those specs and when you click on them they display the appropriate responses - so you're not talking to the op sys but running a simple script/compiled program.
 
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sameh83 said:
Is there no one here that can explain this phenomenon ? Come on Geniuses ! I know you guys have some ideas,,,,let me hear them ! 71 views = 1 reply ? no way !
Click to expand...

You already have half of it... XP with Vista themes.

All the "about" information is stored in registry entries that are set when the OS is installed and they can be altered if you know where to look. (And no, I'm not about to itemize that because I wouldn't want this wanker's dirty trick to happen to anyone else.)

And FWIW... XP will run in 64mb of Ram, but needs a big swap file to do it... which probably explains some of the slowness.
 
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Solution
Let's not forget i was the victim here (almost). And secondly, for educational reasons i would like to know as to the HOW it was done ! keyword,,,education !
 
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