Microsoft announced that on Tuesday it will make Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) more bothersome than ever. A new update for WGA is now on the Windows Update website as a mandatory update. Once installed, your copy of Windows will be checked for validity. If your Windows installation is found not to be genuine, Windows will display a message telling you that “This copy of Windows is not genuine.??� Windows will check and display messages on every boot as well as once an hour (or so). The new WGA tool also puts an icon in your system tray if your copy of Windows is not genuine.
Once notified and prompted to validate your copy of Windows, you will have 14 days to do so. If after 14 days you do not comply, you will not be able to download updates from the Windows Update website. Critical security updates will still be available via the Automatic Update built into Windows.
Microsoft hopes that by nagging users to get a genuine copy of Windows, it will cut down on piracy. We all know how much we despise pop-ups. Microsoft also urges anyone who purchased an illegal copy of Windows to report the counterfeit dealer. As a reward, Microsoft will (in most cases) give a free license to victims of counterfeit.
If you do not wish to validate your copy of Windows, there is a way to turn off the notifications by clicking on the system tray icon. If you decide to do so, Microsoft notifies you that you will no longer be able to receive updates via Windows Update. Once you agree to these terms, notification will be disabled. However the tray icon will remain in your system tray. When a new version of WGA is available, the notifications will be enabled again.
The download from M$ is:
Windows Genuine Advantage Notification (KB905474)
The Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool notifies you if your copy of Windows is not genuine. If your system is found to be a non-genuine, the tool will help you obtain a licensed copy of Windows. The download can also cause some freezing and lock ups when you try and block the 'actions' of it's program. Best to just not download it!!
I downloaded it, and it came with the 'star' in the tray and the nag screens. There is already a new dll 'fix' already out...v.1.5.526.0 of the LegitCheckControl.dll that can be copied and let overwrite the one the KB905474 places in your Sys32 directory. This will get rid of the nags and the star, but the new download of the KB905474 places a 'call out' feature that you will have to block with your firewall. It's all getting to be too much of a hassle for the stupid updates...get them elsewhere! To h*ll with M$.
The program you have to block with your firewall is "Windows Genuine Advantage Notification" the product name in your firewall will be "Windows Genuine Advantage". File program name & location: "C:\Windows\system32\WgaTray.exe" v.1.5.0526.0
Frankly, I'm going to shut down all Auto Notifications and kill the service for AutoUpdate and just update from a site manually from now on...a good one to use is:
CODE
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/index.html It is ridiculous to just keep patching and patching this dll. Just update manually, and you will be fine.
If you haven't downloaded the above M$ download, just mark it hidden and stay away from M$ update all together, kill the service, and definately stop the autoupdate...read a IT news messaging service, or just read the forum or other forums and you will know that on the third Tuesday of the month is when M$ puts out their 'normal' critical updates, or better yet, just check the link I posted above. They have all the latest updates posted on the day or before they are put on M$'s site.
