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Windows Geninue Advantage Attacks preinstalled machines

GarfieldLeChat

GarfieldLeChat

fucking awesome but wrong
Ok so i have been having a world of pain with this from frineds and family etc about the fact that at some poin their preinstalled machines with xp on them have needed reinstalling using the recovery disk OME software or similar.

Due to the most recent WGA (windows genuine advantage) software updated (downloaded by having automatic updates on) have crippled their machines, even though they have bought the machines have come through with the software preinstalled....

So microsofts answer is that this is unfortunate but they would need to purchase the software again as in effect they have installed a copy which is outside of the EULA (terms of Windows service) Dell and HP have collectively said that technically their licence keys are only vaild for 30 days after purchase, after which point they recommend you make a full system back up either via ghost or similar...

Not really solving the problem for legitimate users is it?

So what's the solution? Other than buying a mac or using linux (all well and good but these don't really offer themselves are a method of recoverying your machine)

Well there are a number of ways to resolve this problem, though none are fool proof.

For a start turn automatic updates of, really, then follow one of the other examples of how to recover your machine posted here....

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/...age-notifications-nag-screen/comment-page-13/

one further method i have used in the case of a particularly shattered machine was to do all of the above (delete reg keys and files and system restore) the problem possed was that the 'call back' that WGA does had locked the machine so nothing load other than the warning desktop nag screen.

In this instance you can still access the computer via control-alt-delete and then choosing new task and clicking browse find run regedit from here and then use the browse function to delete the relevant files and then also to run system restore.

Once you have your or your freinds/family etc pc back up and runnign turn off automatic updates and then download all the Security updates (not the additional updates - with out confirming the WGA you can no longer download the other not essential updates, till some one works around it) do not redownload the WGA update....

previously this was an issue which was solved by unchecking the tab in explorer or by adding a line of java script to the browser and or using the WGA in 2000 compatibiliy mode now this latest verison is significantly more prone to cripple genuine machines....

This is posted for informaiton and does not consitute condonement of software piracy (or summit!! equally disclaimerish...)
hope this helps anyone in a similar boat...
 
Hiya Garfield,

Got an unused Dell with XP recently sold cheaply via BT/Dabs cos it was built in November 05. I had 35 updates waiting to be installed and have spent too many hours trying to weigh up whether or not to turn automatic updates on. Have used www.askwoody.com for info and though it's a bit too techy for me to understand I have at least (i think) avoided downloading the WGA thang.

Garfield, would be interested to know your opinions about askwoody.com and whether or not there are any similar but less techy sites you could recommend/provide links to?
 
powerbook15.jpg
 
highpriestess66 said:
Hiya Garfield,

Got an unused Dell with XP recently sold cheaply via BT/Dabs cos it was built in November 05. I had 35 updates waiting to be installed and have spent too many hours trying to weigh up whether or not to turn automatic updates on. Have used www.askwoody.com for info and though it's a bit too techy for me to understand I have at least (i think) avoided downloading the WGA thang.

Garfield, would be interested to know your opinions about askwoody.com and whether or not there are any similar but less techy sites you could recommend/provide links to?
Click to expand...
I have looked at askwoody for the first time today but the info on the page Bosky has provided is sound enough.

with regard to the old machine with the preinstalled xp chances are it's ok at this time however if it's preinstalled unless you got a copy of the original xp disk then it is almost certainly an OME copy meaning should you need to reinstall you will have these problems (intial install should be fine).

this doesn't mean however that you should turn on automatic updates.

if you do turn on the automatic updates version which says notify me of updates and then notify me again once their are downloaded.

then select custom install and uncheck anything which is not a security update do not under any circumstances install the windows spyware tool or any of the non secuirty updates (these are indicated by the words security update next to them). the rest is merely updates for programs etc. there are better anti spyware tools out there and are indicated on the sticky thread in this very forum.

this is a work around if you think your machine will not pass the WGA authentication.

The other alternative is to buy a new copy of xp but as they are planning to release vista some time this year (maybe depends on the push back date... ) i'd wait till it's discounted to do so, as most users will not need all the add on updates and they just take up space

personally i can't see many people switching to vista as early adopters unless they are geeks xp is a stable enough platform for most home users and is in effect going to be a huge market for M$ to have to retake... what with macs becoming more affordable and linux coming on in terms of compatiblity in leaps and bounds when people's old machines die is really going to be the only way that people will upgrade, and again it's going to be an OME version of the most basic vista package... (just like xp home) so i wouldn't be to worried that you dell is from last year it'll keep up just fine unless you are an exetreme gamer or needing it to render 3d graphics etc browsing, word processing bit of light photoshopping and html work it'll be fine... :)
 
boskysquelch said:
not that I've had this problem...yet...but hence why I am getting more into Ubuntu...the game is getting boring now. :(
Click to expand...

it might be boring to you but the majority of people still just don't want to think about it whent hey turn on the pc they just want it to do the things in a familar way. From any tech heads POV this may not be the most senible approach but people have and do buy windows machines, maybe they should have bought macs or installed linux but they haven't. Most work places aside from maybe the creative arts type work places will give users a doze box not a mac very few will give users a linux box, this may well be their first outing with a pc so they assume it's the only way to do things, it's a problem of market domence, couple with schools who run doze boxes as well and they are going to buy what they are familar with. the rights and wrongs of it don't really enter the equation for most home users.

besides this is a thread to help those who maybe in the situation described in the OP not a rerun of the which OS has a bigger Twacker thread innit :D
 
Microsoft Sued Over WGA :)
A computer user is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware.

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.
Click to expand...
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
with regard to the old machine with the preinstalled xp chances are it's ok at this time however if it's preinstalled unless you got a copy of the original xp disk then it is almost certainly an OME copy meaning should you need to reinstall you will have these problems (intial install should be fine).
Click to expand...

You should be able to re-install occasionaly without any problem. I've reinstalled from my hard drive on one of my home machines half a dozen times already this year, and three of those have been since WGA was installed, with no hassles. There is an algorithm governing this, but two of those last installs have been due to hardware changes, and the validation has gone fine.
 
This has just started happening to my machine actually & has been happening to Choc's for quite a while. It confused me greatly as I was almost certain that I *did* have a genuine copy.

I don't understand this thread though, particularly. Do I need to do anything? Other than always click "resolve later" when it comes up on my screen?

:confused: as usual.
 
Vixen said:
This has just started happening to my machine actually & has been happening to Choc's for quite a while. It confused me greatly as I was almost certain that I *did* have a genuine copy.

I don't understand this thread though, particularly. Do I need to do anything? Other than always click "resolve later" when it comes up on my screen?

:confused: as usual.
Click to expand...

as fingers has mentioned already
i have found the following ms page to work so far
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=921914
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
it might be boring to you but the majority of people still just don't want to think about it whent hey turn on the pc they just want it to do the things in a familar way.
Click to expand...

I meant boring as in all these things they do to make you jump about...not resolving the issue...hence the links.:)

I'm by no way belittling the grief...I was simply expressin' disbelief ,and the luck, that I have two current versions of XP(knocks wood) that have stood up to inadvertently_tempting fate and grabbing Updates willy-nilly.:o (<<<but I no longer have the discs...grrrr:mad: )

As it happens that's why I've got into Linux/Macs and Windows across the board now so when Windows does go down on meh... I can no way afford the XP Pro let alone jus XP atm..I can revert to a Linux only or use a mates Mac. :cool:
 
Vixen said:
This has just started happening to my machine actually & has been happening to Choc's for quite a while. It confused me greatly as I was almost certain that I *did* have a genuine copy.

I don't understand this thread though, particularly. Do I need to do anything? Other than always click "resolve later" when it comes up on my screen?

:confused: as usual.
Click to expand...
if the machine cannot call back to microsoft (ie verify it'self) eventually it will lock you out ...

My suggestion would be to follow the link and use the removeal tool before this happens or face the greif of having to understand this thread fully then :)
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
You should be able to re-install occasionaly without any problem. I've reinstalled from my hard drive on one of my home machines half a dozen times already this year, and three of those have been since WGA was installed, with no hassles. There is an algorithm governing this, but two of those last installs have been due to hardware changes, and the validation has gone fine.
Click to expand...
not really the browser based wga is or was ok it'd allow you to download the updates the recent change which flashes up the you may be running a pirate version and locks the machine if it cannot call back (which also changes your machines eula to a more resetrictive version with out telling you) is a problem other wise i have fixed 8 or so machines which locked up as a result... and procter and gamble and the us military wouldn't be having the same problems...

my guess is rather that you are the exception not the rule...
 
KeyboardJockey said:
The best way to solve this problem is to................


................use Linux. :)
Click to expand...
can yu show off your penis at a sex club rather than on this thread no ones intrested which had you read the comments above rather than been so intrested in show people your cock you'd have seen...

good for you you like linux we still don't need to see your cock...:rolleyes:
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
can yu show off your penis at a sex club rather than on this thread no ones intrested which had you read the comments above rather than been so intrested in show people your cock you'd have seen...

good for you you like linux we still don't need to see your cock...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Loon.:p
 
Vixen said:
I don't have: "Windows XP - Software" under "Add or remove programs" like it instructs there.
Click to expand...

you have to click show updates, at the top of the install/remove menu
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
can yu show off your penis at a sex club rather than on this thread no ones intrested which had you read the comments above rather than been so intrested in show people your cock you'd have seen...

good for you you like linux we still don't need to see your cock...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Off to watch KeyboardJockey's cock at a sex club. And let you brainy MS-ers figure out this connundrum. Though if you want help, please do as ask, and don't get offended at our answers.

It might be old news to some but I've got a spare bob or two and nothing to do for 30 mins... :D
 
jæd said:
Off to watch KeyboardJockey's cock at a sex club. And you let brainy MS-ers figure out this connundrum. Though is you want helo, please do as aks, and don;t get offended at our answeres.

It might be old/ new to some but, but I've got a spare bob or two and nothing to do for 30 mins...
Click to expand...
gosh you are tideious what gives people who use M$ stuff might need this info it's not an inditment on you sexuality or abilities or anything other than people who use something might need this info... why the total fuck would you want to sneer at someone for providing that info... serious tiny cock problem...
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
gosh you are tideious what gives people who use M$ stuff might need this info it's not an inditment on you sexuality or abilities or anything other than people who use something might need this info... why the total fuck would you want to sneer at someone for providing that info... serious tiny cock problem...
Click to expand...

oh god, boys will be boys :(
 
my mum has been using pc's to email and surf the web for about 4 years at most. she is not an advanced user by any stretch of the imagination.
She uses Ubuntu on her personal laptopn. Is very impressed with it and complains about how shit the pc's they give her at work are.
Using linux is not Willy Waving, it's fiscal common sense. But if you enjoy having to pay £30 a year for AV, £100 extra on your PC to use an OS that criminalises you to use it, £300 for an office package, and so on... thats down to you.
Just don't knock the rest of us that are smug.

:)
 
Boris Sprinkler said:
my mum has been using pc's to email and surf the web for about 4 years at most. she is not an advanced user by any stretch of the imagination.
She uses Ubuntu on her personal laptopn. Is very impressed with it and complains about how shit the pc's they give her at work are.
Using linux is not Willy Waving, it's fiscal common sense. But if you enjoy having to pay £30 a year for AV, £100 extra on your PC to use an OS that criminalises you to use it, £300 for an office package, and so on... thats down to you.
Just don't knock the rest of us that are smug.

:)
Click to expand...

when i tell people who do not know about free os's , software etc, they immediatly reply , nothing is free in this world, but of course your point is valid.
it is possible to pay for a AV, http://www.sophos.com , they make a linux package, infact thats what gmail uses. mcafee make linuxshield and f-secure have a linux version too,
 
GarfieldLeChat said:
gosh you are tideious what gives people who use M$ stuff might need this info it's not an inditment on you sexuality or abilities or anything other than people who use something might need this info... why the total fuck would you want to sneer at someone for providing that info... serious tiny cock problem...
Click to expand...

GarfieldLeChat in sense of humour failure shocker...!
 
Hopefully this will inspire more folk to dump MicroShite altogether.
The company is destroying friendships (something you don't want to do in the tech sector if you are already known for weak products and big delays on new ones). There was a day when there was no competitor to Windows, but times have changed. Not only is there competition, but folks are finding that competition either vastly superior or vastly free, characteristics that can seriously damage the entrenched.
Click to expand...
Link.

I see that MicroShite are now providing a removal tool themselves, presumably in a bid to retain customers - link
 
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