Windows Genuine Advantage becomes nagware, Office gets it too

...in other news....

....Next week many websites will be reporting on the registry key that needs changing to disbale these nag screens.

Most people running pirated copies of Windows or whatever are probably doing so intentionally, so what is this really going to solve?

#2, this is to show the other people that the users are a "victim of software counterfeiting" Maybe they could add loud alert so everyone could spot the damn victims:)
I bought a tabletPC (ST4120) off ebay. It came with french windows XP tablet edition on it. I have a sticker on my laptop that prooves I have paid for a Windows XP tablet edition copy (which is 99% windows XP + 500k aditional software). Also, I have license for windows XP. On top of that I AM WILLING TO PAY for (third) windows XP tablet edition, that talks to me in English.
But, AFAIK, there is absolutely no way to buy tablet XP separately. Neither to install english tablet XP with my "french" serial number, nor to use my non-tablet XP and add somehow the extra 500k of software. Nor to use English language pack.
So here I am, having paid for two versions of Windows, and being FORCED to use pirated XP tablet edition. Or, to learn the french words for "copy" "paste" "restart" and nearly every word in every dll in the system.
Damn.

As you might have already found out, The WGA check will now install a nag screen if your license is allegedly invalid. It shows up at boot and on the log-on screen but you can remove it. Go to the Control panel/Add and remove programs and uninstall "Windows Genuine Advantage notification". Use Windiz Update Firefox to download patches and leave IE for good!

i'm one of the "lucky" ones that got selected for this test, and i can't find a way to remove it. the tray icon this update installs is bogging down not only my login time, but also my windows booting time.

MICROSOFT, REMOVE THIS CRAPWARE FROM YOUR OS!!! YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST ME FOR WHEN I SWITCH TO A MACBOOK PRO FOR COLLEGE, TRY TO REDEEM YOURSELF FOR A DUAL BOOT!!!!!!!

hehe, well it seems it works for some people. sure the people will a little above average knowledge will get around it eventually. but enough people might be pushed into going legal because of this.

For poor #3 I am willing to give you French lessons... Copier, Coller ... Using Windows in anything other than English is pretty distressing (even en French for a French speaker like me)

Also, I'm waiting for the vocal legitimate user whose the stupid new tools will claim this version of XP is not legit. Kind of like buying a Toyota, and everytime you start it, you ket a loud message "Warning, this Toyota may be stolen, you may be a victim. (Or a thief)"

That's bound to make any consumer feel really good.

Get rid of the WGA nagscreen easily by using the $ntunistallKB..... uninstaller Auto Updates dropped into the C:Windows directory around 25 April 06 when it arrived. Also disable automatic updates and just forget about them. XP is just about over now anyway. Use a decent third party firewall (Agnitum Outpost Pro is excellent. Seamless with P2P and all other apps and low on resource use) and AVG antivirus (its free and leaves NAV for dead on capability and reliability) Stopzilla is also good. Big Bill and Belinda have more than enough for now and besides, they actually owe us for all the countless lost hours of frustration and lost time their dodgy OS's have caused these last ten years.

M$ is doing its best to encourage me to switch to Linux/Mac systems; Activation was bad enough, this is getting infuriating.

Now I know for sure I'm going to be using my Linux till the end!

I found a workaround. Oh, in one year we'll all be laughing at how dependent we were on Microsoft. Search "wga" on your windows drive (probably C). Find wgatray.exe where it lives and get ready to delete it. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and end the process wgatray.exe then quickly delete it from where it lives. Then proceed to delete everything else. You would think that Microsoft would provide an easy uninstall, but they *curiously* didn't for this "critical update".

much easier to write a batch file. For thos of you who dont know how to do that, just create a text file and give it a name with a .bat extension. Include the lines:

taskkill /F /IM wgatray.exe
del C:Windowssystem32wgatray.exe
del C:Windowssystem32wgalogon.dll

Just did it remotely to my GF's machine because with remote console it's too hard to try to click that fast.

#12 I tried that solution, and now have 3 Icons that nag me....other suggestions?

i needed to reformat my drive the past 2 days ago
i was selected for this. they said i was running a pirated copy. bull crap i have authenticated it 3 different times before with no problems!!!!
i got this copy of xp with my purchase of my crappy
dell! im fuming mad at microsoft. i had to find away to get rid of this wga in my tray. i never asked for it or wanted it. i got rid of it and after downloading some security updates i cannot finish because i dont have it on my system even though its all ready authenticated. bullcrap.. its all about $ and control and its only the begining. soon we will be scanning in to the net with our real id cards.
its true! they all ready are doing it.....

i needed to reformat my drive the past 2 days ago
i was selected for this. they said i was running a pirated copy. bull crap i have authenticated it 3 different times before with no problems!!!!
i got this copy of xp with my purchase of my crappy
dell! im fuming mad at microsoft. i had to find away to get rid of this wga in my tray. i never asked for it or wanted it. i got rid of it and after downloading some security updates i cannot finish because i dont have it on my system even though its all ready authenticated. bullcrap.. its all about $ and control and its only the begining. soon we will be scanning in to the net with our real id cards.
its true! they all ready are doing it.....