Attention : Windows Genuine Advantage = Spyware

A few quick tips on how to prepare yourselves, and get rid of this monster.

http://home19.inet.tele.dk/jys05000/

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 in case of a malfunction. For example, if the company suddenly started seeing a rash of reports that Windows copies were pirated, it might want to shut down the program to make sure it wasn't delivering false results.

"It's kind of a safety switch," said David Lazar, who directs the Windows Genuine Advantage program.

Lazar said the company added the safety measure because the piracy check, despite widespread distribution, is still a pilot program. He said the company was worried that it might have an unforeseen emergency that would require the program to terminate quickly.

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=33526

Soo.. what other things don't we know about this?

Any of us running a firewall have known this since day one... As soon as I was done installing Windows Defender, I blocked in my firewall.

Proper use of a firewall prevents 99% of this crap, even the crap microsoft tries to pull... I'm always blocking outbound microsoft crap.

Since it doesn't actually send anything of importance as near as can be determined, I would hardly classify it as a "monster"... Particularly since, by it's very nature, you're basicly intentionally putting a program on your system to spy on you. Any time you install something, particularly with the phrases "authorization" or "verification" involved, you have to assume that. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

I am all for Microsoft being able to detect folks with duplicated software. Death to the pirates!!

As a newbie to Windows XP - I use one of those new Macs where i can boot in Mac or that ugly Windows - PLEASE tell me how I can keep them out from my property..

Yes I have a personal firewall.. a Linksys - BUT bare with me I am not a technical expert at al..

AL suggestions are welcome..

/Tina

Damnit Bill! You're leaving in 2008, why do you give two shits?!


No seriously.

I don't pirate windows, but i hate product keys, i hate activation, and i hate all of this other bullsh*t. Its gonna get pirated no matter what MS does. If they'd just farking deal with it instead of making everyone miserable with this antipiracy crap, we'd all be a lot happier. IDFC what ms's purpose is, i dont care what any developer's purpose is. You do not put things on my computer without my knowledge and permission, and that goes doubly if it talks to the internet. Triplelly (is that a word?) if it has the potential to lock me out of my machine because a corporation decides they dont like my license key anymore (true story)!!

Firewalls FTW.

I hate bloody Microsoft and I hate bloody Windows!

As someone who makes quite a few changes to my computer, I am sick of having not only to reregister Windows, but also to have to ring them up to *explain myself*, which process involves entering an enormous number (34 digits I believe).

I bought a copy of Windows from a computer shop (at an extortionate price), but then, when I lost the serial number Microsoft refused to give it to me because they said the Windows I had bought was 'not legitimate' because it was an OEM version.

I ended up having to buy another version of Windows (at an even more extortionate price).

If they sold their software at a reasonable price they wouldn't get any problem with piracy. The only reason they get pirated is that they are a bunch of money-grabbing wankers.

I doesn't surprise me at all that they have a Trojan embedded in Windows, or that they are spying on their customers.

It's a question of scale. Back in the days of Windows 3.1, nobody bought Windows. If you wanted windows, you asked your friend who got it with his new computer. Back in the 95/98 days, some people bought windows - but I know personaly of whole networks and companies using nothing but pirated copies of windows. Schools, buisnesses, you name it.
When ME/2000 came around, this declined a fair bit. With XP, it's declined even more.

It's a PITA, yes. But its a PITA the public has brought on itself. Yes, a lot of people are innocent. An awful, awful lot aren't, though.



Do you know what every .DLL in your system folder does? No? Then microsoft does just that every time you install windows.

As far as WGA goes, you have to deliberatly install it, and it makes no secret that it's entire purpose is to make sure your running a legit copy of windows - as I said before, this should surprise noone.

Thanks for the tip. BTW: I purchased my copy of windows and it is Genuine BUTT I do not need/want it to phone home everyday.
BH

Then don't use it.



Hey, no arguement here... its a PITA, particularly since the verification system is so tempermental... huge changes dont trigger it sometimes, minor ones sometimes catch it every time.



WAS it an OEM version? Microsoft has always been pretty clear on the fact those arent meant for end-users.




Computer games that cost 50 dollars get pirated all day and all night. Shareware that sells for 10-20 dollars gets pirated and cracked constantly. The "I can't afford it, so I pirate it!" line of logic falls flat when confronted with reality.

Yes, it was. And when I complained to Microsoft I told them it had been sold to me as a legitimate copy of Windows. But they weren't at all interested, and didn't even bother to ask me where I had bought it. I suppose from their point of view they were making even more money, so they weren't concerned.

Well, I tried to disable WGA as the article instructs, but I hit a little snag. It won't let me turn it off. It says "This add-on is managed by your administrator," and the enable/disable buttons are grayed out.

WTF?! I'm the administrator. There's only one account on this machine, mine.

Out of all the add-ons in the whole list, WGA is the only one behaving this way. Anyone know how to solve this? I blocked the legitcheckcontrol.dll files (there are two of them in 2 different folders) with my firewall, but I don't know if that does any good.


And just so I can say I said it, if any MS employees are reading this, my Windows is legit, of course. I would never steal it. That isn't what this is about at all. It's the principle of the thing. I don't want anything on my machine talking to anyone without my knowledge or consent, no matter what the purpose. (Same reason I won't allow Messenger to be installed on my machine, by the way. Once it's on, you can't turn it off, and who knows wtf it's actually doing while it runs and runs and runs all day long. Even if it's totally benign, it should at least have an off switch.) MS, if you want to secure Windows update so that only those legit copies can't use it, more power to ya, and I totally support that, but this isn't the way to do it. Find a way to show your customers you trust and appreciate them or else alternatives like Linux are looking better and better every day.

Microsoft has been given absolutely no reason to trust any of it's customers, though.

I think it's normal to be suspicious though, even if you use legitimate software. My CD drives have never been well since I got hit by the Sony rootkit. Eventually I'm going to have to do a complete OS reinstall and hope that takes care of it, or pay someone to figure out what's still borked.

I'm going to migrate to Vista if it ever comes out. I work from home a fair amount and I have to stay current with my employer's software if I want to continue. I DO wonder what features will be embedded that I'd prefer not to have. Specifically things that 'phone home.'

I configure my firewall as best as I know how, but I'm never 100% comfortable that I everything set up as it should be.

Too true. I did a project for a software development company a couple of years back and around 80% of the software they used in the office was not legit. Which considering that they would have blown a gasket if their product got pirated makes no sense.

Old news folx, old news.

WGA was cracked within 24 hours of it hitting the Net.

If WGA annoys you, just go here for a simple method of shutting it down.

What pisses me off is Microsuck's arrogance in installing soemthng on my computer that I can't delete or disable. This ought to be flatly impossible. Sadly, it's not. And it's just going to just get worse with Vista, which is even more intrusive.

Fortunately, the White Hats will save us. I guarantee that tools for gutting all the cr@p out of Vista will be available within a week or so of it's release.

I called the local (my country's) Microsoft Hotline about this. After verifying that I am a legal customer (eh , they seemed a bit annoyed by my questions.

They said, that:
- They don't have any documentation about what the spyware communicates with Microsoft servers, but 'I can safely assume that it's NOTHING private' (how? if even they don't know?)
- After dodging the question about how to disable JUST THIS feature of the WGA check tool, they told me to uninstall the tool (see some Knowledge Base article). I told them that I'm not 100% happy with this answer, as I have no problem running the WGA check too, but I just don't want my private data to go to Microsoft.

Well... no good resolution in the end. I urge you all to call the Microsoft Hotline, too, and voice your concerns!

ZOMG Microsoft spyware!

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+ease+up+on+piracy+check-ins/2100-7348_3-6082334.html?tag=nl

The pasted-in javashi^H^Hcript doesn't work with the latest revision to WGA.

What exactly is your concern?

For all the screaming about this, all the tool is passing is your IP address and a timestamp, and checking with the server if the tool should be deactivated or not. Your web browser passes the same information to every single server you access on the internet.

http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000179.html

The web browser does NOT send a request to a predefined site on every boot, and then every 24 hours.

Why would anyone want the WGA to be deactivated? It should run ONCE, determine if my windows is valid or not (it IS valid), period. No need to get mysterious 'settings' files from Microsoft servers.

I didn't pay Microsoft for Windows so they could f*ck with my computer. (Though in a sense, they already do

But here's an interesting scenario: let's suppose a 'not friendly embassy' uses Microsoft Windows XP. By using WGA, which checks in daily, it's theoretically possible to check the IP where the request originates from, and send a 'special' settings file, which might contain a buffer overflow, a virus, etc.

And it doesn't matter if that person turned off Windows Update, WGA will ignore that and communicate every day, and act AUTOMATICALLY on the results. While many people are not enemies of the US -- though I'm wondering what's the current definition of US enemy today -- the Airbus vs. Boeing case (Echelon) shows that sometimes spying is done not for military, but industrialist goals.

As someone posted the link here, a quote:
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000179.html

What is a better price point for you?

Let's see the O/s run on at least 75% of the worlds computing population, a dev division, full support, various levels of O/s releases & languages, research and development division to innovate and stay competitive, integration with most of the worlds top developed/selling software and hardware. I am most certain I am skimming the surface on what comprises their price point for their O/s.

Which part of all that should they cut to get you a better price? I am sure you would get in line to complain about that as well.

Bashing Microsoft is so old and so worn out.

How is it Microsoft's issue that you bought an OEM copy? As far as I know those are not meant for individual resale and are labeled as such. Having to support non legit copies of Windows is going to increase support cost, increase the cost of doing business and you know that cost gets passed on.

Where do you draw the line? or should they just support any copy of Windows that a person gets their hands on?

How does Windows f*ck with your computer?

Since you are using the word f*ck I am assuming you feel they are maliciously messing with your computer and I'd sure like to know how that happens.

What do you think is their motivation?

Oh come on. Support? Do me a favour, try calling up MS with a problem with Windows, see what happens. R&D? Why has the OS not basically changed since XP was released? Innovation? Sorry, no.

All they're doing is sitting on an OEM monopoly. That's it.

Just checking, is Apple money-grubbing also? MacOS yearly point updates cost as much as Windows XP. Piracy has nothing to do with cost, that is a fallacy. All programs, from the lowliest shareware up to high end 3d rendering programs and everything in between get hacked, cracked, and pirated. "Waah, I can't afford it" is just a lame excuse.