MS cleans up WGA

[W1nTry]

To those that didn't know, MS WGA used to send packets of info back to the mothership every time you booted your machine or on some other periodic scale. They didn't tell anyone, but like most untold stories in IT someone either spills the beans or figures it out. Well needless to say, not everyone likes the idea of MS knowing stuff about them all the time especially without you saying it's ok. So MS has fixed that err... 'bug' and it no longer sends msgs to the base. Have a read:

Microsoft cleans up its WGA act

No phoning home now


By INQUIRER staff: Wednesday 28 June 2006, 10:32

SOFTWARE FIRM Microsoft issued an update to its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) programme.
The firm tweaked it so that your PC doesn't automatically report in to Seattle Central every time it reboots, like it did before. If you had auto updates set on your XP, you might never have realised this.

Some people got a bit upset when they realised that, and so Microsoft relented.

The Vole has even produced a page which tells you how to disable or uninstall the pilot version. Except the page, here, says the instructions haven't been tested. If you want to twiddle around with the Registry then be it on your own head. µ

[Arcmanov]

Well, the 'phoning home' would have been the only way for the WGA app to find out if your Windows XP/2000 is genuine.  It sends your CD-key back to MS who compares it to a blacklist.  If your key is on that blacklist, MS would send instructions back to the WGA app to issue the nag screens and piracy warnings.

I've had to remove this on quite a few PCs so far, and it very simple:  reboot in 'Safe Mode'  (kill the app from the system tray if its running) and search for all 'wga' files, delete them, and then remove all 'wga' references from the registry.  Reboot normally and voila, no more WGA bulls**t.

[Saxito Pau]

nice tip for removal.

I'll have to e-mail that info off to a client of mine in Germany..

[disciple]

they got sued today..lol@bill

A computer user is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware.

        COURT DOCUMENTS
    
Read the court documents (PDF 505K)

The suit by Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn't adequately disclose details of the tool when it was delivered to PC users through the company's Automatic Update system.

[url]http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/275780_msftsuit29.html[url]

[Saxito Pau]

I found this VERY interesting and DISTURBING article on WGA.... things not looking good for the pirates:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=84

important point from article:

I like to review updates before they are installed. The only update that I have not installed is the latest WGA because of the security issues related to it.

I called Microsoft support to see if there is a hidden option to say, "yep, I've got updates turned to manual… it's okay." The rep said, "No and why wouldn't you want to get the latest updates to Windows."

I responded with the issues relating to WGA. He spent some time telling me that WGA was a good thing, etc. I reiterated that I have accepted all the updates except WGA and just want to review the updates before they're installed on my machine.

He told me that "in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn't installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now." [emphasis added]


I'm wondering if Microsoft has the right to disable Windows functionality or the OS as a whole (tantamount to revoking my legitimate Windows license) if I do not install every piece of software that they send it updates.

i make sure to highlight the text in yellow....

the articles further higlights that it is possible that even the genuine windows users could get shafted by WGA in the process.

Looks like i going back to windows 2000 in a few months time.....

[Arcmanov]

Americans have a habit of not taking any bulls**t, especially from Microsoft.  This is very disturbing news indeed.  If this is indeed true a lot of XP users out there will be suddenly without an OS to use, other than going to an older one of course.

[Saxito Pau]

I found a software program that makes WGA removal easy:

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/RemoveWGA/1151081362/1

[Jdcrys_Shinkuu]

wonders if all this is being considered with the program code of vista
built in windows killer in code if u pirate it men in white uniforms at ur door...

[Falener]

Problem already solved. Just follow the link below, download the .dll file and place the file in system32 in windows. The "windows xp" afterwards would be considered real.

http://rapidshare.de/files/21227918/e-wga155300c.zip.html

Note: You need to have a .rar file extractor (I personally use ExtractNow which is a freeware that extracts all types of files really easy) and you need to get rid of the WGA notification on the PC first by using the freeware RemoveWGA at;

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/RemoveWGA.shtml

Hope this helps!

[W1nTry]

I believe MS autoupdate has a fix for it now as well.