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The company is forging ahead with a program, Windows Genuine Advantage, tied to its free software downloads and updates, that checks whether the Windows installation on a PC is pirated. But some people, including some who say they own a legitimately acquired copy of Windows, have challenged the need for such validation.
Most of their criticism is directed at the way Microsoft's antipiracy technology, Windows Genuine Advantage, interacts with a PC. Recently, the software maker was lambasted over its WGA Notifications tool, which it pushes out as a "high priority" update alongside security fixes. There have also been complaints about the tool collecting information from PCs and causing system troubles.
"The issue is not that they are trying to reduce the number of pirated copies. It's the unethical way in which they go about it," a CNET News.com reader using the name "jabbotts" wrote in response to a recent story on Microsoft's antipiracy efforts.
But there is more going on than just talk. Some Windows users have started to search for ways around the antipiracy technology, setting up a struggle between Microsoft and WGA opponents. Since the 2004 introduction of the WGA program, multiple hacks and tricks to circumvent the piracy check or to remove the software have been published on the Internet. And the hunt for effective workarounds appears to be continuing.
Windows Genuine Advantage is a stepped-up effort by Microsoft to boost the number of Windows users who actually pay for the operating system. The company has said that roughly a third of Windows copies worldwide have not been acquired legitimately--as a boxed product or bundled onto a machine, for example.
Microsoft has gradually expanded its pirate-busting efforts. Today, Windows users must have their PC electronically approved before they can download add-on Microsoft software such as Windows Media Player and Windows Defender. WGA excludes security updates from this requirement. When the antipiracy program started, validation was optional for downloads.
As the program has grown, so have efforts to circumvent it. One Web site, for example, lists 15 methods--including step-by-step directions and links to file downloads--to disable Microsoft's copyright-check tools and WGA Notifications warning messages.
One of the listed methods is to install the "905474.exe" program. This "crack" was also suggested by CNET News.com readers providing story feedback. The file, named after the number for the support article for WGA on Microsoft's Web site, is widely available on the Internet. (Caution: CNET News.com hasn't tested this application, and it isn't wise to install files from sources that aren't known and trusted.)
"I have licenses for all my PCs," wrote CNET News.com reader "kamwmail-cnet1." But citing a lack of trust in Microsoft, this reader installed the 905474.exe tool. "Install this hack. Boot your PC. You're in business, private business," the reader added.
Other proposals to defeat the piracy checks vary from the simple--such as blocking the Microsoft applications using firewall software--to the more complex, such as replacing files that are part of the checking tools with cracked versions of those files. Some methods require changes to the Windows Registry, which calls for more advanced technical knowledge on the part of the PC owner.
The hacks and workarounds are a sign of the indignation among some Microsoft users, including some CNET News.com readers.
"A few days after the first WGA notification program was released, a workaround was found, so Microsoft reworked the program so the workaround doesn't work, then pushes the software onto people's systems under the guise that it's a critical update," wrote a reader using the nickname "thedreaming."
"It's not a critical update to users, just (to) Microsoft," the reader added.
Some readers say the workarounds are functional, but it isn't clear if they all are. A cautionary note on the Web page that listed 15 ways to bypass WGA also warned that, with the new releases of WGA, some cracks no longer work. It is even possible that some of the hacks will work for one user, but not for another, according to the Web site. CNET News.com did not test any of the workarounds.
Stepped-up effort
Microsoft advanced its antipiracy program in November last year, when it started pushing out a tool called WGA Notifications alongside its security updates. The tool has been sent millions of Windows users in a number of countries. In April, the U.S. joined the list of covered territories, as did the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
The first time a computer owner runs WGA to check if their version of Windows is genuine, the software sends data on the system back to Microsoft. This information covers the Windows XP product key, the maker of the PC, the operating system version, PC bios information and the user's local setting and language. Microsoft discloses that this information is transferred in its WGA tool license.
In past weeks, reports have emerged that the WGA Notifications software connects to a Microsoft server each time the PC is started--something Microsoft didn't previously disclose. Also, as it has become clear that the tool isn't a finished product, millions of Windows users may unwittingly be subjects in a trial run for a Microsoft antipiracy program.
This has irked some people, even those who have acknowledged Microsoft's right to fight piracy and who have supported the WGA program in the past. Users shouldn't be pushed into being guinea pigs, many readers argued.
"I spent several hours trying to fix an office machine which slowed to a crawl or froze after this update was installed," wrote CNET News.com reader "umbramistweave," in response to a story about the prerelease status of WGA Notifications. "It's beta. It's flawed. It should not have been released as an update."
Other readers also reported PC trouble after installing the WGA software.
"Windows Update should only be used for delivering completed, non-beta software, period," wrote CNET News.com reader "john55440."
In response to the criticism, Microsoft maintains that there is a real benefit in validating a copy of Windows.
"Our experience is that customers--as long as the process is understandable, unobtrusive, quick and painless--appreciate not only their copy of Windows more, but also appreciate Microsoft more," David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program at Microsoft, told CNET News.com last week.
That comment brought out some zealots. One reader, using the nickname "imacpwr" wrote: "Mac just keeps looking better and better and better...That's it Microsoft, just keep shooting yourself in the foot. Before you know it you'll be on your knees begging the public to come back."
See more CNET content tagged:
antipiracy, Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage, hack, reader, Microsoft Corp.




I don't care if Microsoft wants to validate my copy of Windows (copies, actually). But it CERTAINLY has absolutely zero affect on how much I appreciate them.
I have to wonder how they collected that "data" and the content validity of the question.
Hey Apple get real with your prices and compete for my business
They say this is to stop the back room resellers putting pirate copies of windows on machines they sell....sorry I don't buy it.
I don't like MS spying (it's spyware, isn't it?) but I also agree that there are too many illegal licensed machines...search the torrents, even google for Windows XP Volume License and see what's out there...
Bravo MS...keep us legit. Just make sure to keep charging us for an OS that allows trojans, worms, keyloggers, virii, spam and spy-mal-ad-ware...
And yes, I've switched to that "turkey OS called Linux" and haven't looked back. Spent a few years dual booting, then at the beginning of this year, I wiped Windows and went Linux only. CentOS 4 for a while, and a couple weeks back, Ubuntu 6.06 LTS.
Everything I need is here, web/email, office software, image editing, web page development, CD/DVD burning and multimedia, everything works. As a bonus, being a web designer, my favorite editor just happens to be Linux only, Quanta+.
I have never looked back. And when Vista ships & forces massive hardware upgrades for the new Aero interface, my NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX400 will be doing the 3d effects just fine with XGL.
Experience with WHO? I don't know a single legitimate customer that would validate (pun intended) that statement. Not to mention the fact that the entire process actually exposes some customers, such as those in finance or military, to violations of law by allowing their systems to be compromized by an outside entity.
As for Linux, yep, already looking into it. Will definitely install Linux on some of those PC cases with that Windoze XP sticker on the side. Hey, can I have a refund if I mail in those XP license stickers? I mean, afterall, you charged me for it and are now driving me off of it.
And please don't hack the product illegally and then bask in your own self-righteousness. That only makes life harder for the rest of us trying to make a living writing software.
Another stupid armchair lawyer.
Come to think of it, another stupid armchair economist too. "It's a free market", hey so why are you buying gasoline if you don't like the environmental impact? Just buy something else. "It's a free market".
That's what made the software so unpopular.
I bought a legit copy so what the heck should i be dealing with their problem?
Nice try in sounding self righteous and "knowledgable" (puke).
I am sure you'd add all sorts of anti-theft stuff to your car and brag about it (even if it malfunctions once in a while).
But when a software company does it (especially MS), you go bonkers!!!
Take a break guys! Be practical... Microsoft spends loads of money developing these software and nobody would want their hard work to be taken for a ride.
You don?t like it, don?t use it. But whatever u do, stop cribbing!
It sure beats M$'s, adhoc marginalizing approach by a large margin!
At least the net, does provide one with the freedom of choice at this point time!
was the final straw that made me dump my perfectly valid one year
old Windows XP Pro laptop for a wonderful MacBook Pro! Windows?
Never again!
Mind you, this will not be inexpensive for me since I have been running MS since MS started.
It's great. Excellent OS that pretty much does everything
Windows does and doesn't crash while doing it!
Don't get me wrong, I believe that Windows has it's place out
there, but the Mac OS is excellent.
Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com
to get a refund or get a bare-bones system yet I am
still forced to pay the Microsoft tax? Why??!
No one except an idiot would feel sorry for Gates. He is an extortionist. A thief. A liar.
He is getting his just rewards now, and still he is crying all the way to the bank.
Torrents forever!
Cheers.
The WGA tool encourages me to buy the software again (the software that I already own) and does not provide any way for me to contact Microsoft over the WGA error.
I am severely and negatively impacted in the following ways:
- Legitimate software that I own has been invalidated.
- I am denied critical Windows updates.
- I either have to take an excessive amount of time to track down contact information and argue with someone at Microsoft over the incorrect invalidation of my software, or I have to simply give in and buy the product again.
I am certain that I am not an isolated case. Microsoft has undoubtedly screwed countless other legitimate product owners.
got the latest patches (I do have it set to do this automatically,
but the machine isn't always on - or plugged in:). Unfortunately,
since I work with Macs at work, I got lazy and just installed
everything.
When the wga trashware tried to phone home, my firewall asked
me if I wanted to allow this. I said no, thinking it would be fine.
The machine kept working all night without issues.
Then I tried to start it again last night. WGA can't verify my
license (yes, it's a legally purchased copy with a real and legal
license), so IT WON'T EVEN LET ME LOG INTO MY OWN MACHINE!
To access MY OWN COMPUTER, I have to hook a phone line into
my modem and allow it to phone some 800 number to verify my
legal license. Nice way to get around my firewall.
Unfortunately for them, I'm too stubborn and ticked off to allow
this to happen. Unfortunately for me, it's hard to remove the
program and edit the registry when I can't even log into the
machine. I'll be looking for my install CD tonight (it's in storage)
and hoping there's a way to still roll back to a prior restore
point.
My point here? I'm a legal paying customer, not a pirate, yet I'm
being treated as a criminal by Micro$haft. NEVER AGAIN.
Once I get some dough together, it's MacBook Pro time for me.
My legal copy of XP will go into BootCamp and my current PC
will turn into a Debian box. Screw this noise MicroCrapWare - I'll
never be suckered by you again. May you burn in bankruptcy
hell.
Also, the way it just happens to take a flak cannon to your firewall and personal privacy is not great. It is horrible, I do not want my machine's to have these sorts of security flaws in them. If spend a couple hours locking down a WinXP box, only to have a "Critical update" blow it all to pieces is not great for me.
Ahh well, I could always kill it at the router, or if I can't do that, take it off the internet... Most non-techie users who are hassled by this are just gonna flop at this, and go buy another copy of Windows.
I just hope this helps push users to a better, more secure OS, like Linux, or if they're feeling brave, Linux (Ubuntu! go google Ubuntu) where YOU have control over your machine, not M$, or some cracker who managed to find an exploit in the WGA tool.
And the fact that it is just a beta, and normal users, and people who may be using their computers in corporate environments and *NEED* their computes for their day to day work, and may loose revenue if it becomes non functional due to beta software are being exposed to an unnecessary risk. If your machines are mission critical then sue Microsoft!.
Also, the way it just happens to take a flak cannon to your firewall and personal privacy is not great. It is horrible, I do not want my machine's to have these sorts of security flaws in them. If spend a couple hours locking down a WinXP box, only to have a "Critical update" blow it all to pieces is not great for me.
Ahh well, I could always kill it at the router, or if I can't do that, take it off the internet... Most non-techie users who are hassled by this are just gonna flop at this, and go buy another copy of Windows.
I just hope this helps push users to a better, more secure OS, like Linux, or if they're feeling brave, Linux (Ubuntu! go google Ubuntu) where YOU have control over your machine, not M$, or some cracker who managed to find an exploit in the WGA tool.
And the fact that it is just a beta, and normal users, and people who may be using their computers in corporate environments and *NEED* their computes for their day to day work, and may loose revenue if it becomes non functional due to beta software are being exposed to an unnecessary risk. If your machines are mission critical then sue Microsoft!.
In frustration, I have installed the same version on 3 other machines using the same license key (an OEM copy, so technically all these other machines are out of license/pirated) and they pass WGA perfectly.
If you think WGA is used to stop piracy you are wrong: it is meant to track you and send your information back to Microsoft. More likely it is reporting whether Office or Halo are legit rather than Windows. I doubt MS really cares whether Windows is pirated. It has sent internal memos in the past claiming piracy lead to windows popularity. A copy of windows on a machine, legit or not, is a good thing for Microsoft. However, the same can not be said for other Microsoft software.
If WGA is meant to detect pirated versions of Windows, then, by my tests, it fails horridly.
It's one thing to be the best, it's another to cheat your way to the top. If only more people would fight back.
According to MS dictionary, if you value the American fad called PRIVACY, YOU Must be a PIRATE.
Yuck.
Seriously - my Macintosh doesn't do this at all, and my Linux boxes were installed from .iso files that I legally and freely downloaded.
It must really suck to be forced to subject one's personal data and personal property to the capricious whims of a large software company.
Okay, I can understand the need of a given company to prevent piracy of their products, but seriously... this method is rather intrusive (and costly in terms of bandwidth for those overseas who get taxed for it).
No way, folks... I may never play HalfLife2 and such (though Quake4 runs just fine on my Mac...), but at least I know that no one is rummaging through my computer and leaving open potential holes for crakcers and script kiddies to wriggle in through.
Office XP 2003 Pro $25 dollars for everone
Trash all other versions (Home and MS Works Small Business)
All people will get first education on how to use Office software in their home.
All will be cheap enough making it worthless to pirate.
LINUX will be dropped for the cheaper Microsoft.
Mac's will become doorstops.
No more need Genuine Advantage Checks.
Everybody smiles everybody happy.
World Peace!
WOW...........The simple life!
Me too. That way no one in their right mind will buy it.
Living in the G8, as you would seem to indicate, companies are entitled to do pretty much anything that they dang-well please, just because, you know, they can? And that we are somehow vastly superior to the "degraded society" of Asia because of our system of copywrights and patents that have become patently (haha) intrusive and invasive.
Living in the "first world" of the G8, shouldn't I, as a taxpayer and a non-criminal, be treated as such? I have violated no copywright laws, every MP3 that I have is from my CD collection that I bought and paid for with the fiat money issued by my government. Yet I have to subject myself to the digital equivalent of a body cavity search just for the privilige of running overpriced bloatware just so that I can play Oblivion without heart ache? Ummmm... Well, hell no. WGA is not the straw that broke the camel's back (it was, truth be told, added after the fact; YAAOOK*) (*yet another act of overkill)
, it's just one more indignity. One more slap in the face.
If this goes on, then maybe we'll see guys dressed up as techs storming a boat in Puget Sound and throwing crates of Vista into the water. (+5 to your history exam if you catch this reference.)
Back to your comments regarding the Asiatic countries... I've got some Japanese and Chinese business associates that would take great umberage to what you've implied about their neck of the woods. While perhaps not as sophisticated as the people from the backwoods of West Virginia and Kentucky, I'm reasonably confident that there ARE a few homes in China that are wired for the Internet. I understand that a few of them even have broadband. One or two might even have some extra money that they use to buy, you know, stuff. And... If my sources are correct, then they even have a "white market" where they can buy... (and this is the real secret) AUTHORIZED VERSIONS. I've been hearing the cutest little rumors about this tiny, sparsely populated country called India. Maybe one day they'll even have tech and call centers there.
Perhaps you shouldn't be contributing to the general conversation. Take your condescending and rascist (and please, don't degrade yourself further by stating that some of your best friends are Asians) ravings, write them on little scraps of paper and keep them to yourself.
A final note... Your... Uh, I'll be charitable and refer to it as a "point" about the pirated software, a lack of capital justification, etc... I call attention to the fact that there is a very real and emergent OS and its attendant software packages. Linux... Coming to a desktop near you... (And if the Beta 2 of Vista is any indication... It'll be sooner than you think.)
- Turkey?
- by Penguinisto June 20, 2006 3:36 PM PDT
- Dunno ab't that - I've been running various flavors of Linux for over a decade and have been running an exclusive mix of OSX and Linux on my personal machines for three years running now - one of the Linux boxes even operates as a personal media center for my television - it replaced my old DVD player and TiVo very nicely (shrug). I've had to reinstall OSX exactly zero times, and I upgraded one of the Linux boxes once - from SuSE 7.2 to Fedora Core 5. Zero viruses, zero spyware, zero slowdowns in performance (no registry to get corrupted, y'know), and no machine has (to this date anyway) been compromised.
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Showing 1 of 4 pages (199 Comments)Haven't felt the need to go "running back" yet. ;)