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Thread: WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage)

  1. #1
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    Exclamation WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage)

    As many of you will be aware, Microsoft has recently released a tool which can detect the presence of an illegitimate version of Windows. This tool (known as WGA or windows genuine advantage) sits in you system tray and continually prompts you in order to irritate you into paying for a genuine version of the software. There is also a countdown timer at the startup which prevents you from entering windows in a normal fashion and which forces you to wait 5 seconds before clicking "resolve later".

    My point is that, genuine version of windows or not, this tool seriously invades the quality of your experience in Windows and causes activity similar to that experienced when your computer contains spyware/malware. In addition to the activity mentioned above, the tool now reports back statistics to Microsoft without the users consent. This activity is generally halted in its tracks by a decent firewall. The tool doesn't even appear to be a proper update for windows; it's basically a poorly finished bolt on.

    I think Spybot should contain a rule to remove this tool; there's certainly a demand for it.

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    P.s. I just found this: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060608-7017.html

    Basically the tool invades you privacy regardless of whether you have a legitimate version of windows or not and is causing a fair amount of controversy.

  3. #3
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    Hello.

    Quote Originally Posted by Nibinaear
    This tool (known as WGA or windows genuine advantage) sits in you system tray and continually prompts you in order to irritate you into paying for a genuine version of the software.
    WGA notification should not behave in that fashion if one has a legitimate copy of Windows and there is good reason to have one.
    http://forums.spybot.info/showpost.p...90&postcount=4

    People who do not have legitimate copies of Windows will continually be re-infected and their computer could be used (unbeknown to the owner) as a zombie to infect many others and as a spam server.
    Piracy costs everyone.

    Quote Originally Posted by Nibinaear
    I think Spybot should contain a rule to remove this tool; there's certainly a demand for it.
    Possible to detect, but once installed it cannot be removed.

    More links:
    http://forums.spybot.info/showpost.p...44&postcount=2


    That said, it was an ill advised move imo. :(
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    Microsoft Consumer Security MVP 2006-2016

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    Also, have a look on this link about "Spyware accusations":

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Genuine_Advantage

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    Any program that "calls home" will be open to scrutiny no matter who the vendor.
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    The "Calling Home" home issue can be solved with this tool, and in fact the whole WGA issue can be solved ( = deleted ), but in my opnion it is not up to me to tell owners from illegal versions of Windows how to do that.

    Won't you agree tashi sweety

    Greetz, Red.

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    How to disable or uninstall the pilot version of Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications
    Article ID : 921914
    Last Review : June 27, 2006
    Revision : 1.2
    http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;921914

    SUMMARY
    This article applies to the version of Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Notifications that is distributed during the pilot program. For example, this version is included in the pre-release version that accompanies the Microsoft Software License Terms. To safely and easily uninstall the pilot version, you must install the general release version of WGA Notifications. If you do not install this version, you can follow the steps in this article to disable or uninstall the pilot version.
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    Those instructions are only for pilot version tashi sweety
    Important These instructions have not been tested on the general release version of the WGA Notifications. Therefore, these instructions are not supported. Microsoft will offer the general release version of WGA Notifications to users who uninstall the pilot version at a later date. These users will obtain the general release version through the Microsoft Automatic Update service. WGA Notifications is part of the Windows Genuine Advantage program.
    Greetz, Red.

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    Hello Rednose

    Thank you for clarifying.

    The Register
    Published Wednesday 28th June 2006
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06...t_wga_patched/
    Last edited by tashi; 2006-06-29 at 19:39. Reason: Added news link
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    I tried the following steps to get rid of those bloody annoying messages and it worked:

    1. Go to \windows\system32 in explorer
    2. Rename WgaLogon.dll to WgaLogon.dll.bak
    3. Create a new empty WgaLogon.dll in notepad and save to the same location
    4. Right click on the task bar, and open the Task Manager at the processes tab
    5. (Quickly) delete WgaTray.exe in the system32 folder, then it will give you approx 5 secs to click on WgaTray.exe in the Task Manager and click End Task, and confirm
    6. Restart your computer and the login and nag massages should be gone

    Make sure you have the Task Manager and the System32 folder open at the same time, as step 5 is really quick.

    Hope this helps someone.

    Get it up you Bill Gates.

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