“I was sitting around the other day listing all the things I just love about Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft’s antipiracy tool. But then I discovered a hidden WGA feature that I had never heard about, mostly because Microsoft had kept it a secret. It turns out that WGA actually connects to a Microsoft server every time you boot your PC. That’s right. It’s spyware. Microsoft actually installs a tool on your PC that does nothing more than check to ensure that you’re not pirating Windows, and it does this check every single day and then sends the results back to Microsoft. This insidious behavior was first discovered by Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility, and its touched off a debate about disclosure and privacy. But seriously, this is ridiculous,” Paul Thurrott writes for Windows IT Pro.
Full article here.
“Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that it needs to better inform users that its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker. The company said the undisclosed daily check is a safety measure designed to allow the tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to quickly shut down,” The Associated Press reports. “The tool, part of the Redmond company’s bid to thwart widespread piracy, is being distributed gradually to people who have signed up to receive Windows security updates. The company expects to have offered it to all users worldwide by the end of the year… So far, about 60 percent of users who were offered the piracy check decided to install it. Once installed, the program checks to make sure the version of Windows a user is running is legitimate, and gathers information such as the computer’s manufacturer and the language and locale it is set for. That information-gathering is disclosed in a licensing agreement. But the agreement does not make clear that the program also is designed to “call home” to Microsoft’s servers, to make sure that it should keep running. At least every 90 days, the tool also checks again to see if the copy of Windows is legitimate.”
“When Microsoft believes a copy of Windows is pirated, the user begins to get a series of reminders that the copy isn’t genuine. Such users also are barred from downloading non-critical updates, such as the new version of its Internet Explorer browser,” AP reports.
Full article here.
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ieeuuuuu….. what else would you expect from microsuck!!!!
SUCK IT!
I think this is GREAT!
I love it, LOVE IT.
Loosers
MW… big. as in big loosers
Whats the “Advantage” of having the wga tool? Or for that matter, Windows at all?
Please, give me MORE.
MORE.
Ah, yeah, that’s the stuff.
I love you Microsoft.
that’s losers
“Microsoft says it will improve Windows Vista’s battery life, but I have to think it will never be as good as that of XP, unless you turn off Aero Glass. And at that point, why bother running Vista?” – Thurrott
Does this statement by Sir Paul Thuridiot not read as his own admission Vista is nothing more than XP3 with better graphics?
Oh sweet POOEY Windows!
I love poo, just LOVE IT.
Give me more.
More poo.
Please.
I get the most poo from Microsoft, and I CAN’T STOP LOVING IT.
People get the governments they deserve.
Similarly, they get the operating systems they deserve.
Only Paul Thurrott would sit around and make a list of all the things he loves about WGA.
think of the security issues… with lack of updates the older ones become sieves and contagious, bummer for the pirates, and the unsuspecting.
MW side.. glad to be on this side of the OS war,.. sorry couldn’t control myself.
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This is just the first step in Microsoft creating a version of Windows where you have to pay a fee to keep it running, even if you don’t buy an upgrade.
MS loves this renting idea, it’s not just for music that they want a consistent stream of your money into their pockets.
How else would it know if you were pirating their software? A tiny scroll tied to the foot of a homing pigeon? That’s the point of the tool, fool.
“I was sitting around the other day listing all the things I just love about Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft’s anti-piracy tool.”
Wonder what was on this list?
– Gathers my personal information. Cool!
– Finds and catalogs MS apps/reg#s on my system. Cool!
– Dials in to check out if the above is legit… Wait a minute…!
MDN, It’s nice to hear how demented Thur-rot is from time to time , but please do not link to his site. He gets paid and get justification for his “articles” when he get clicks…
I sit around all day thinking about how much I love Window’s Registry…
All day!
And of course, all night and then the next day, and the next day, and then the next day, etc., etc…
MDN would never link to this story so….
Pixar on computers used for rendering CARS:
“This fits in nicely with Pixar’s corporate ethos, according to the exec. “When we got started, we didn’t have two nickels to rub together. We never bought the big SGI boxes or InfiniBand — we use basic Ethernet and standard Dell boxes.”
This, apparently, was Ibrix’s big selling point. “The idea they have is that instead of building special-purpose hardware, they solve the problem by using inexpensive, CPUs.””
——–
“we use basic Ethernet and standard Dell boxes.”
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=92075
Now you all understand the problem Apple has?
And here is a Steve Jobs company shunning Apples to use plain old Dells….
One more reason not to connect a Windows machine to the Internet.
Queezzie
read the article, gee who came up with NFS?? wonder if they used real computers like the quad I am on right now……nfs is NOT capable for this so they would have done better in the production time to use proper equipment. DELL SUCKS!
“Our central file system was getting hammered in a way it had never been hammered before. The NFS caches couldn’t go fast enough — they did not have enough RAM on them.”
Although he did not reveal which vendor provided the NFS, Brandeau confirmed that it was woefully inadequate for the demands of the new movie. “A gigabyte of memory on our file server heads was nowhere near good enough,
okay i was thinking NTFS oh well
at least i admit when i am mistaken
“Attention. If you do not remove all pirated Microsoft software The Creature will be sent to your location with a folding chair to whup yo’ ass.”
Also see http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/015863.html for more and related Microsoft junk.
Actually, this is great news for Mac and OSS users.
More people will get annoyed with that intrusion and look for alternatives.
Add the Vista fiasco and you can count on a few points of market share leaving the M$ field.
This is really great news.
“I was sitting around the other day listing all the things I just love about Windows Genuine Advantage”
Yikes! Who does that? Has this guy ever kissed a girl?
“at least i admit when i am mistaken”
LOL…you scream and yell and call names and you are wrong.
LOL.
————-
Bottm line:
PIXAR (owned by Steve Jobs) chose DELL running LINUX to makes its multi,multi-million $$$$ movie. Pixar did not choose Apple running OSX.
And check at the bottom of the article all the other organizations doing the same thing.
So who knows how to get rid of this Microsoft Genuine advantage spyware? I see no advantage having it.