wga

A U.S. District Court Judge for Washington's Western District has dismissed a claim against software giant Microsoft over the use of its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program four years ago. One of many reasons that Windows Vista failed was ... because of widespread fear of something called WGA, or the Windows Genuine Advantage program. The drive behind WGA was simple: analyze a computer for pirated copy of Windows and report back to Microsoft headquarters. Unfortunately, the Windows Genuine Advantage stirred up plenty of fear and anger in the lead-up to Vista's launch. Plaintiffs Claim WGA is ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that it is updating the anti-piracy software in Windows XP Professional, making nagging more prominent for users running counterfeit copies. It will also give future updates of the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) increased ... validation powers and new forms of notifications. Microsoft announced the update, which is designed to increase the effectiveness of notifications and to 'align experiences across Windows XP and Windows Vista' via their WGA blog . The WGA update is offered to those using editions of Windows XP based on Pro code such as Tablet and Windows Media Center ... (view more)

A new version of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is being rolled out with the first "service pack" for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008. The new WGA will employ nagging alerts on computers suspected of using pirated software instead ... of disabling programs on the suspected computer. (Source: nwsource.com ) When computer users activate Windows or try to download software from Microsoft's web site, WGA scans their system for signs of pirated software. If WGA finds an unauthorized copy of Windows, in many instances the computer becomes non-functional, only allowing a user to connect ... (view more)

Once again Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) has gone awry, penalizing legitimate Windows XP and Vista users. The problem occurred when unspecified server problems caused by an unknown automatic update from Microsoft created a Windows Validation ... meltdown making Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage servers incorrectly flag legitimate copies of Windows XP and Vista as pirated copies. The damage created quite a stir in the Microsoft Support Forums , with disruptions lasting for about 19 hours over this past weekend. Windows Vista users who rebooted their computers were blasted with WGA pop-ups, ... (view more)

Last week Microsoft released their newest version of the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool. WGA is designed to make sure the Microsoft software on your computer is properly licensed (legitimate, not counterfeit) and supported by Microsoft or one ... of their trusted partners. Certainly, Microsoft would like to believe that their WGA software is reliable and doesn't make mistakes. When they released the original WGA software, however, it mistakenly identified potentially pirated software on several legitimate users machines. In a case of deja vu, the the newest version of WGA is also causing a ... (view more)

Last summer, Microsoft made a rather big mess of things with WGA, or the Windows Genuine Advantage program. The company had only recently delayed Windows Vista, and the public was primed and ready to jump on them for any other slip ups. That came ... with the aforementioned WGA, MS' attempt to introduce antipiracy software. The problem wasn't necessarily the concept so much as it was the nature in which Microsoft implemented the program. Well, it appears the Redmond-based company has drastically updated WGA, and some of the harshest critics from mid-year are now slightly less annoyed. Although ... (view more)

As tension mounts over Microsoft's use of the anti-piracy install Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), headlines today are reporting that Spyware goons have caught on and are circulating a program that poses as WGA. The new malware imitates WGA in its ... file name, and is allegedly found most frequently on file transfer sites and through spam emails. The new Spyware, acting upon the segment of the tech population that isn't already avoiding WGA at all costs, can be found in at least two different ways. The first pops up in peer-to-peer file transfer programs, such as Kazaa, and prompts the user to ... (view more)

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you've undoubtedly stumbled across the term "WGA" -- or more affectionately known as, The Windows Genuine Advantage Program. Reminder: What is WGA? Designed as anti-piracy software by ... Microsoft, WGA is an install designed to check the legitimacy of a user's Windows applications and Operating System. Those whose systems are running pirated software are given the chance to purchase legitimate identification keys or prove that they were duped into buying the illegal merchandise. Those who are victims of piracy dealers -- and can ... (view more)

Quicklaunch Your Usb Workspace The proliferation of portable applications makes it more and more convenient to carry your life on a thumb drive, especially if you don't do all of your work and play from one computer. But it could be easier. Rather ... than plugging in your thumb drive and clicking through your drive's file system to open every program and document, wouldn't it be nice if your workspace launched automatically? Set up your thumb to Autoplay, so that you can instantly launch your preferred workspace on any computer. All you have to do is plug in. http://www.lifehacker.com Remove Wga ... (view more)

I've been hearing a lot of hype about this Windows Genuine Advantage program. I especially liked Brandon Dimmels articles about it here at Infopackets (see "Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Under Fire"). I don't like programs that needlessly contact ... their home websites to report on me. Many people call that "Spyware" and I also agree that WGA fits the description. It's taken a little while for me to figure out what to do about WGA. The funny thing to me is that I've had the "Fix" on my PC for a long time. Here's what I've done ... Install BigFix Turn off automatic downloading of Windows ... (view more)