Articles & guides
More on how HWID works and why you'd want to change it.
Subscription vs single change: which fits you
$1 per change or $10/month? We work out the break-even point, profile three user types and walk through the math for each.
Restoring licenses after a hardware upgrade
Replaced your motherboard or SSD and your favourite editor demands a fresh activation? Here's how to migrate identifiers correctly.
How anti-cheats fingerprint your PC (and how to bypass it)
Vanguard, EAC and BattlEye run in kernel mode for a reason — they read SMBIOS, disks and network adapters directly. Here is exactly what they see.
5 reasons to change your HWID in 2026
From HWID bans in Valorant to license recovery after a hardware upgrade — five real scenarios where changing your hardware fingerprint saves time and money.
HWID landscape 2026: what to expect
HWID landscape 2026 — what to expect.
E-sports and spoofing — the line we don't cross
E-sports and spoofing — the line we don't cross.
Windows 12 rumors and HWID implications
Windows 12 rumours and HWID implications.
Free vs. paid HWID changers — what really differs
Free vs. paid HWID changers — what really differs.
Android emulator HWID bans on PC
Android emulator HWID bans on PC — and how mobile anti-cheats spread to desktop.
eSIM and HWID — converging fingerprints?
eSIM and HWID — converging fingerprints?
Discord bots and HWID bans: a strange genre
Discord bots and HWID bans — a strange genre.
Does HWID change apply to MacBook?
Does HWID change apply to MacBook?
TF2 ban waves: a retrospective
TF2 ban waves — a retrospective and lessons learned.
Anti-cheat trends in Asia
Anti-cheat trends in Asia — Korea, Japan, China.
WMI and HWID: the API anti-cheats love
WMI and HWID — the API anti-cheats love most.
Kernel driver safety: what we ship vs. what you should fear
Kernel driver safety — what we ship vs. what you should fear.
How we accept Stripe payments — privacy notes
How we accept Stripe payments — and what we know about you.
Spoof-detection techniques used by modern anti-cheats
How modern anti-cheats detect HWID spoofing — and how to spoof safer.
Intel and AMD CPUID — what your processor tells the world
Intel and AMD CPUID — what your processor actually tells the world.
The psychology of HWID bans
The psychology of HWID bans — why a ban hurts more than it should.
HWID change on Linux — does it apply?
HWID change on Linux — does the technology apply?
Registry MachineGuid — the hidden Windows fingerprint
Registry MachineGuid — the silent Windows fingerprint, and how to change it correctly.
HWID change for software trials — the ethics
Resetting trial periods via HWID change — the ethics, the legality, and where we stand.
Microsoft Pluton arrives: a new HWID baseline
Microsoft Pluton arrives — what it is, and what it changes for HWID.
MSI and ASUS BIOS tools — what they expose
MSI Center, ASUS Armoury Crate — what these tools expose at HWID level.
CS:GO → CS2: how anti-cheat evolved
How CS:GO → CS2 changed anti-cheat — and what it means for HWID.
Console ban waves explained
How HWID bans work on PlayStation and Xbox — and why everything's different from PC.
Anti-cheat roadmap 2024: where the industry is heading
Anti-cheat roadmap for 2024 — where the industry is heading.
Fortnite HWID bans: anatomy of a wave
Anatomy of a Fortnite HWID ban wave — and what really gets you banned.
Windows 11 23H2: what changed under the hood
Windows 11 23H2 — what changed under the hood for HWID-related work.
License resale: legal status across regions
Software license resale — legal status across regions and how HWID change fits in.
HWID + VPN: do they work together?
HWID + VPN — do they work together, and which order to apply them.
Secure Boot and anti-cheat: living in harmony
Secure Boot and anti-cheat — how to live with both enabled.
GPU UUID — the silent fingerprint inside your PC
GPU UUID — the silent fingerprint inside your PC, and why every modern anti-cheat reads it.
QA and virtualization: testing on isolated hardware profiles
Why QA teams use HWID change instead of virtual machines, and where the tradeoff lives.
Trust and safety: legal use cases for HWID change
When is HWID change legitimate? A list of legal scenarios where the technology is genuinely useful.
Disk serial numbers: NVMe, SATA, and how they're spoofed
Disk serial numbers — NVMe, SATA, and how to spoof them correctly.
MAC spoofing myths and reality
MAC spoofing myths and reality: where it works, where it doesn't, and why some apps still see your real MAC.
EA FC bans explained: how the publisher tracks your PC
EA FC (formerly FIFA) bans — how the publisher tracks players across PCs.
Valorant Vanguard: a deep dive into the kernel anti-cheat
Vanguard explained — Riot's most aggressive anti-cheat and how it differs from competitors.
Privacy and fingerprinting: how websites track your hardware
How websites track your hardware even without cookies — and what you can do about it.
Windows 11 22H2 — what changed for HWID
What Windows 11 22H2 changed for HWID — and why some old changers stopped working.
TPM 2.0 explained — why anti-cheats now love it
TPM 2.0 explained — and why anti-cheats started loving it almost overnight.
HWID bans in 2022: how anti-cheat policies changed
Vanguard, BattlEye, EAC, FACEIT — they're banning more aggressively by hardware. Here's what changed in 2022 and why false positives spiked.
Windows activation after changing hardware
Will Windows still be activated after I change HWID? Short answer: yes, with one caveat.
BitLocker and HWID: changing IDs without losing data
How to change HWID without losing access to BitLocker-encrypted disks.
First-time user guide: changing HWID safely
A step-by-step walkthrough of your first HWID change in HWIDChanger — from launching the tool to verifying the result.
SMBIOS explained: the source of truth about your hardware
Why every serious anti-cheat reads SMBIOS first — and how the table is structured.
What is HWID and which parameters it includes
We break down which exact hardware identifiers Windows uses to recognise your PC — and why they're so hard to wipe by hand.