Windows Genuine Advantage Notification Starts This Week

[Parasitic]

Just pick up a copy of XP Home from Best Buy. It's $60 for the upgrade.
Not all of us use the extra features in Professional anyways.

 

[Seeruk]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

stealing from the rich has a long noble tradition, dating back to Robin Hood and beyond.

But didn't Robin Hood steal from the rich and give to the poor instead of keeping it for himself? You mean to tell me you're handing out burned XP CDs to the less fortunate?

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Nothinman
If you really need MS Office you can use it on Linux via Crossover Office you really want. Or last I checked MS Office was released for OS X so you could go that route.

I tried out Openoffice 2.0 a few months ago, and it looked great. It can read and write to most MS Office file formats, and the "PowerPoint" clone was virtually indistinguishable from using the "real" PowerPoint. I gave a PowerPoint slide presentation on MS Small Business Server, using Openoffice 2.0 as the presentation tool, and nobody was the wiser.

I've had the opposite experience. Making Powerpoints with OO was awsome and great...but a lot of my powerpoints from class lectures never display properly, that I now always ask for PDFs of the power points. I still thik OO Impress leaves a lot to be desired, but it is substancially better than during 1.X in which it was an absolute joke.
OO writer has ran perfect for me My friends even wonder how I export everything as PDFs ...because they all assume that Adobe distiller is the only way and that costs a nice chunk of change!

 

[RebateMonger]

I was working on a Gateway laptop tonight, with OEM Windows XP Home. When I ran Microsoft Update, it offered to install Windows Genuine Advantage Notifcation. I declined for tonight.

 

[bruceb]

I personally would not buy it at Best Buy or Staples or Office Max / Office Depot .. their prices are much higher than
what you can normally get a legit progam from mail order places .. I would also buy the Full Edition, not an Upgrade
just in case your old os cd gets defective or lost or if it will not accept the upgrade

Rebatemonger .... sooner or later you are going to need that Genuine Advantge tool
and since you have a nice legit OEM that came with the Gateway PC you should have
no trouble .. I did the updates yesterday on both my DELL & also on my Toshiba .. all fine

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: bruceb
Rebatemonger .... sooner or later you are going to need that Genuine Advantge tool
and since you have a nice legit OEM that came with the Gateway PC you should have
no trouble .. I did the updates yesterday on both my DELL & also on my Toshiba .. all fine

I was doing an emergency fix on a client's laptop. It was 1:00 am. I wasn't in the mood for any conceivable "Genuine Windows" issues.

 

[TheRyuu]

Was this covered yet? Didn't feel like reading through 5 pages of stuff. I'm posting this for people who bought a copy and Microsoft's WGA didn't like it. I'm NOT posting this for pirated copies. Just thought I'd share what I've found.

Do a search for wgatray.exe
Delete all copies - you won't be able to delete the onein the WINDOWSSystem32 folder

Reboot, start Windows in safe mode
Navigate to WINDOWSSystem32
Delete wgatray.exe
Create a text file using Wordpad in the System32 folder
Rename the text file "wgatray.exe" and make it read-only

I also created a textfile (after deleting the original) and renamed it "wgalogon.dll", made it read-only

Reboot.

So far all seems well. Tried a manual update and Windows Update detected that the wga update wasn't applied but was unable to install a new one.

 

[timswim78]

So...

What exactly is a "non-genuine" Windows version?

 

[stash]

A counterfeit one. Or one that has not been activated.

 

[Stomp357]

I've come across coutless users who bought Dell, and HP machines with XP OEM installed. When I would go in to update them to fix security holes, the WGA tool will not even install to check for piracy. I have to use my machine to manualy down load all the updates, and burn them to CD. This is just an attempt to make legit OEM users spend $150.00 for the full install versions. Pathetic indeed.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: Stomp357
I've come across coutless users who bought Dell, and HP machines with XP OEM installed. When I would go in to update them to fix security holes, the WGA tool will not even install to check for piracy. I have to use my machine to manualy down load all the updates, and burn them to CD. This is just an attempt to make legit OEM users spend $150.00 for the full install versions. Pathetic indeed.

sounds like a user error or FUD to me. try harder next time.

 

[bruceb]

I have both a Dell & a Toshiba with their OEM XP Home installed .... they update fine ... never a problem

 

[Cygnus X1]

Hypothetically speaking:
Say someone you knew did have a pirated copy of xp pro slipstreamed with sp2 dating back to november 2005. Could he install it and just turn off all updates? Sure you wouldn't get any support but would it be good enough for a windows gaming box?

 

[jjones]

Hypothetically speaking, sure, no problem.

 

[BetterThanYou]

Stealing is stealing, so true indeed. Of course that is all relative and depends on ones perspective. For example was it not Microsoft that stole certain ideas originally coined by Apple? Has not Microsoft routinely applied it monopolistic powers to force competitors out of the market, essentially stealing their profits? Does not Microsoft even today try to force companies, schools, and governments around the world to use its products?

Theft in the practical sense must have a tangible physical value. We are not talking about stealing food from the mouths of children, or the virginity from young maidens, but theft of infinitely distributable and intangible information. What is stolen is never missed, never noticed, and affects no one but the bean counters.

Oh they can say you are hurting their sales, counting each pirated bit of software as a lost sale, but the reality is few people would buy the product if they could not otherwise pirate it. A study in Japan assumed every CD-R ever sold in the country was used to burn pirated music. Extrapolating that argument to worldwide CD sales the music industry has been deprived of several hundred quadrillion dollars. The supposition that piracy takes such a high toll is absurd. The reality of the situation is people have discretionary spending, and the money saved on pirated software is spent elsewhere.

Perhaps I am somewhat biased on the issue since I pirate software. I have well over $100,000 worth of software on my computer right now. I have the latest up to date versions of many popular software programs, all pirated. Pirated software is always easier to use than legitimate software because anti-piracy measures only inconvenience legitimate users.

My copy of Windows XP does not need to be activated, and I simply elected to not install the Windows Genuine Advantage crapfest. There are already cracks out for WGA as it has been around for some time. Those of you who spend your hard earned money on this malware are deluding yourselves. You can take the high and mighty moral road, think of yourself as superior, but in reality you are just poorer than myself. My discretionary spending goes into building ever more powerful hardware systems. Enjoy your legit copies of Windows, Office, and Photoshop CS on your Pentium 3 computer. I will keep my pirated versions and my Athlon FX 60 if you don?t mind.

You?ve heard the piracy side of it, now let the flames of jealousy and righteousness begin. I have already informed the FBI and my ISP of myself.

 

[mechBgon]

LOL, now we have a warez exhibitionist flasher CYA...

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: BetterThanYou
Stealing is stealing, so true indeed. Of course that is all relative and depends on ones perspective. For example was it not Microsoft that stole certain ideas originally coined by Apple? Has not Microsoft routinely applied it monopolistic powers to force competitors out of the market, essentially stealing their profits? Does not Microsoft even today try to force companies, schools, and governments around the world to use its products?

Theft in the practical sense must have a tangible physical value. We are not talking about stealing food from the mouths of children, or the virginity from young maidens, but theft of infinitely distributable and intangible information. What is stolen is never missed, never noticed, and affects no one but the bean counters.

Oh they can say you are hurting their sales, counting each pirated bit of software as a lost sale, but the reality is few people would buy the product if they could not otherwise pirate it. A study in Japan assumed every CD-R ever sold in the country was used to burn pirated music. Extrapolating that argument to worldwide CD sales the music industry has been deprived of several hundred quadrillion dollars. The supposition that piracy takes such a high toll is absurd. The reality of the situation is people have discretionary spending, and the money saved on pirated software is spent elsewhere.

Perhaps I am somewhat biased on the issue since I pirate software. I have well over $100,000 worth of software on my computer right now. I have the latest up to date versions of many popular software programs, all pirated. Pirated software is always easier to use than legitimate software because anti-piracy measures only inconvenience legitimate users.

My copy of Windows XP does not need to be activated, and I simply elected to not install the Windows Genuine Advantage crapfest. There are already cracks out for WGA as it has been around for some time. Those of you who spend your hard earned money on this malware are deluding yourselves. You can take the high and mighty moral road, think of yourself as superior, but in reality you are just poorer than myself. My discretionary spending goes into building ever more powerful hardware systems. Enjoy your legit copies of Windows, Office, and Photoshop CS on your Pentium 3 computer. I will keep my pirated versions and my Athlon FX 60 if you don?t mind.

You?ve heard the piracy side of it, now let the flames of jealousy and righteousness begin. I have already informed the FBI and my ISP of myself.

ummm OK, what ever floats ya boat

 

[Rangoric]

For example was it not Microsoft that stole certain ideas originally coined by Apple?

Xerox. Both Mircosoft and Apple bought ideas from Xerox who didn't want the graphical user interface.

 

[nweaver]

one post....looks like a regular who created an account to post piracy, to avoid a vacation for their reqular account.

You can justify it all you wnat, but in the end you ware doing something worng. Lets say you quit your job and spend 1000 hours trying to write widget_00 for your computer. Now, you want to sell widget_00 but nobody wants to pay for it, they would rather pirate it. Now you don't have the money, because someone stole that from you. Regardless of if they would have purchsed or not, they HAVE IT and DIDN'T PAY FOR IT.

Piracy pulls money right out of my pocket, as I'm in the software QA arena. When you fail to purchase the applications, there is less revenue for the next release, so a lower overall QA budget. Plus, time spent to improve/add features is instead spent on trying to fight piracy at the software level. Perhaps all this WGA stuff is what has pushed some of the good features of Vista?

 

[n0cmonkey]

I'd like, have to turn my Windows XP machine on to experience this right? I turned it off before I left for a vacationish trip and haven't had a use for it since I got back. But I sure do wish there were alternatives to Windows out there... :laugh:

:evil:

 

[rchiu]

I am not saying I support software piracy, but I really hate the way MS almost force people into buying their operating systems.

If you really want the funcation of WinXP or really like the look of it...etc, it is only normal if you pay for it. But for people like me, the only reason I need XP is because some program I need doesn't work on Linux or older operating systems like Win2k. In fact I prefer Win2k and hates all the graphic options or other firewall/automatic update...etc XP force onto the regular users. On the only machine I use XP on, I turn off most of the options and make the XP looks and feel almost like Win2k.

So basically, I am using XP not because I like it or need it's function, but by other factors I cannot control. Microsoft with it's huge influence in the software industry get people write software that are not compatible even with their older OS and force people to upgrade and spend money on their newer OS.

I don't pirate XP, but sometime I feel so pissed at being forced into spending money on XP that I wish I pirated it.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: rchiu
I am not saying I support software piracy, but I really hate the way MS almost force people into buying their operating systems.

If you really want the funcation of WinXP or really like the look of it...etc, it is only normal if you pay for it. But for people like me, the only reason I need XP is because some program I need doesn't work on Linux or older operating systems like Win2k. In fact I prefer Win2k and hates all the graphic options or other firewall/automatic update...etc XP force onto the regular users. On the only machine I use XP on, I turn off most of the options and make the XP looks and feel almost like Win2k.

So basically, I am using XP not because I like it or need it's function, but by other factors I cannot control. Microsoft with it's huge influence in the software industry get people write software that are not compatible even with their older OS and force people to upgrade and spend money on their newer OS.

I don't pirate XP, but sometime I feel so pissed at being forced into spending money on XP that I wish I pirated it.

What does Microsoft have to do with a software application vendor not releasing software for Linux, OS X, a BSD, Solaris, or even Win2k?

Win2k is waaay too old these days. Look to the future, not the past.

 

[WildHorse]

My Windows XP Pro is legal, but I hate Microsoft's handling of this.

Suddenly now, there's no more option to NOT select Windows Genuine Advantage Notification (KB905474).

If we want any other update, we're forced to take this one too. Outrage!

 

[bruceb]

You could always get your updates from: autopatcher.com

 

[WildHorse]

bruceb,

Thank you!
That's new to me. I'll try it.