Windows Genuine Advantage: Good News and Bad

Amen. Doing this once a month is a pain in the U know what. I just did it again. Do they think I am going to pirate software I already have on my PC that has been checked already for about 15 times now? How stupid. As I see it they don't need to do this every month, of which they so far have done on my PC I know for the last year.

Just use Linux...

WGA alters or deletes all restore points of the systems if the copy of the os is pirated.
i just wanna know if this act of deleting restore points is legal or illigal...

If your product wasn't so buggy and horrendous to be gin with maybe I would have thought about paying for it. But come on You sold windows Millinem! a product worse then the original windows. You deserve to be pirated just for that! Windows 200 and XP are nice...Still nothing compared to OS 10 for the Mac..But Nice...BTW A long long long time IBM/PC user...But very tempted to switch Since OS 10! After a Long line of loser OS's On the IBM comp's.

If you like OSX so much, just swap to it instead John. Regardless of what Microsoft has done in the past, if you can afford to purchase Windows XP and you are using it, you should buy it. I sincerely doubt you could fathom the amount of effort that would go into an operating system like this, writing millions of lines of code is easy (assuming it doesn't do anything special), writing millions of lines of code that work together on many different pieces of hardware is incredibly complicated.

I can understand people who can't afford it going for the pirated route (if they need to use programs that only run on it and can't use linux), eventually though when they pick themselves up they should buy it.

Seriously though, if you're going to use ridiculous excuses like ancient software and compare windows to an operating system that runs on machines all designed by the same company, just don't post at all.

The fact is that MS has people stealing from them. Why do paying customers have to help them "catch a thief"? If you think someone is stealing from you, you call the police or the FBI, not foist a beta program disguised as a "critical" update on your paying customers that does nothing whatsoever to improve the XP experience and has given false postitive that have forced paying customers to jump through hoops just to use their paid-for software licence.

I would be completely in favor of Microsoft disabling pirated copies of Windows. As well as increasing the price of Windows to USD$500. Microsoft is a company, and as has been repeated ad infinitum, companies protect their own interests. Meaning, not yours.

Just read Microsoft OS Software EULA.
After that tell yourself is Microsoft and Bill Gates simple extortioner and a thief.

For what it is worth, I consider Microsoft's WGA program to be an obvious invasion to my personal privacy. I paid for an OS, it should be mine, it should not matter what else I run on MY PC.

IF M$ thinks we should rent software then I will move to another OS. Which by the way I am already in the process of doing. IF the rest of you have any brains then you will follow my lead. Boycotting Microsoft WILL force the behemoth to change, else M$ will continue to abuse its monopoly at your expense.

What they should to is loosen up a little and make people who have several computers in their home to be able to purchase additional liscenses at somewhere around the $50 mark. I think a few incentives like this would help a few people to actually pay for additional liscenses. But then again... I'm not a person with much business sense. :)

Every three or six months, I reformat my hard disk. I have observed that the operating system begins to occupy more space as it grows old. This is to keep my system lean. Is this OK? Is there any limitation on how many times I can install the software on my computer. If there is, then we should start looking for another one that allows you to do installation many times in your computer. This seem to me to be the easiest solution to problems that arise is to save your data, reformat, and re-install the system.

Bren D Buenaluz

Posted by lokster on Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 11:14 PM (PST)
Just use Linux...

that has nothing to do with this

Sure it does, if you switch to Linux, you will never have to worry about dealing with Microsoft EVER again. and your software will only check with it's home base if you need updates. Thnaks to the GPL, their are no pirated linux installs.

I am an employee of Dell inc, and I can confirm that there have been thousands upon thousands of false positives on legit operating systems. On top of that 90% of those false positives are followed by the system shutting down and refusing to restart. This has become a real problem, since the only way to restore these systems is to replace the motherboards, and harddrives....

We all pay more for EVERYTHING thanx to thiefs...retailers bump their prices to cover their theft losses...the problem here is MS and its OS is being used by millions every day all the time,continuiosly.Its like it still hasnt left the store,and we seem to be paying for the thievory.Is there a better solution?Lets hope so.....

To the poster who said he bought and paid for the OS and should be able to do what he wants with it. This shows he never read any of his EULAs. ALL commercial software is only rented (i.e. licensed to one user or one PC), the publisher states that they still own the software and if you don't need it remove it from your PC and destroy all manuals/firmware etc. The only sw you can own is labeled freeware.

My computer came w Windows XP Pro already installed. Microsoft gave me sp2 w sec. center and media player 10. Then about 6mos.-1yr ago I started getting ragged about my copy of windows. I have tried to explain to MSN several times to no avail. Instead of arguing w/MSN I simply went to the Opera web browser and haven't looked back. I've never intentionally pirated anything, and feel like MSN wants me to pay for the same product twice. You know what, I enjoy this Opera 9 web browser more every day and it's free, ya hear that MSN!!!

Hey Microsoft worked hard to get where they are. They also have fixed 800 or so security fixes within a year, compared to other OS's. It was estimated at 2000 security flaws in Linux, and took longer to patch. In my view buy it and stop ripping off MS. I would rather have the ease of mind knowing I will get all my fixes from MS then deal with this, just buy it. By the way MS has come a long way with Security with upcoming Vista release.

Does that mean Apple could put out software taht stops all copies of Winows from starting, since we all know that EVERYTHING Bill & Company have done on the OS is pirated from APPLE? Heh.

On the other hand problems like this keep literally tens of thousands of geeks gainfully employed. Between cleaning up spyware and trojans, fixxing failed WGA locks of authentic software, and routine defragging and registry cleanups, MS is a cash cow for PC support techs everywhere. If everyone switched to Mac or Linux, a bunch of geeks would be out of jobs like the Maytag Repairman :)

I find the comments about microsoft fixing flaws in a timely manner laughable. Sure there are flaws in other systems but when you have the OS that is most widely used it should be tested and fixed before being brought to market because everyone wants to take down the king of the mountain. Also I use a variety of OSs Mac OSX, Win XP, and a few versions of Linux and must say that I find that I run into fewer issues with updates and vulnerabilities on Mac and Linux.

Also the flaws and security risks in Windows are usually known throughout the world long before a fix is developed unlike Mac OSX where you might hear of a virus developed (generally proof of concept) and within a week or so they release an update to fix the flaw.

Obviously Microsoft has gotten to the point where they aren't worried about a worthwhile product because they have enough people who are stuck using their inferior OS due to investment in software that requires it.

why are they even obsessed over the WGA? They have a new operating system waiting at the gates. All the program is going to do is drive away customers.

MS BIGGEST PIRATE AROUND...Yeah, ever wonder why MS is always being sued, because they pirate everyones elses ideas and software..great marketing model MS, lousy product.

i have spyware that un-activates WinXP. it sucks and WGA is obviously vulnerable to attack and exploitation. another example of Microsoft making unsafe, untested, and vulnerable software mandatory.

OH MY GOD! If some of you losers had any idea about how a computer works, I will eat my own ass. First of all, MSN has NOTHING to do with how windows operates, Linux CAN, and WILL replace windows on many peecee's. and hey dood, yeah, you, the one who said follow my lead in switching to something other than windows...get a clue, people have been using Linux/UNIX for MANY YEARS, don't think you are going to lead the revolution, when it has been ongoing for years. Now, that said...if you don't like how M$ operates, take a Linux class, learn it, and be done with it, enough said...asshats!

To Nate you should read and learn a little more about Linux vs. Windows and how both are patched. You might learn something. Let's think for a minute you have one company that can't even figure out how to make a new OS and produce it on time. On the other side you have a community of programmers that are always producing products and fixes and making sure all security holes are fixed in a timely manner. I would bet if there was a security hole on both XP and Linux, Linux would be fixed a hell of a lot sooner then XP would be. Come on man, just read, look around and you will learn that Linux is and always will be more secure...

Ya know MS, it would be nice if you were as vigilant at pluggung the holes and security gaps in your software as you were about inflicting even more headaches and hassles with your paying customers !!

And this was my previous post...

I AM USING A PIRATED WINDOWS XP. Yes, with CAPITAL letters and everything so I can look as unprofessional as Microsoft looks to me.

I paid Windows98, Millennium, and XP. Microsoft never gave me my money back with that Millennium and it made me lost a lot of IMPORTANT information just because I didn't backup my files 2 days before the whole disaster. So, Microsoft has stolen my money telling me that Millennium was a major upgrade, but well that was 7 years before. Now for some reasons I don't know my Windows XP said that it was not a legal one. I called Microsoft and they said they were not able to help me. Why? simply because I bought the computer from Compaq and the manufacturer has to give me a new code... Well I called Compaq and they wanted to send me another set of Recovery Disks for around $37. At this time I got really mad. I didn't need another set of disk I just needed a new key. Finally I am not paying for that at all, and I have Micro$oft in my black list. They didn't support me not even when I'm using their product. So what's the point of paying for something that the company will brake down with a crappy WGA critical update and then it won't even give you any support for troubleshooting. Why if the CAN'T support my Windows they CAN install such a CRAP in my system? ... Why have I paid so many times for something that should be good since the first time I bought it??

NO NO NO uncle Gates you have pissed me off already... I'm not paying for your company hide and seek games anymore. You should not thread people like that. I did well at school. You can lie once and go away with it but that's it, only once. and NO, I'M NOT PAYING FOR MY WINDOWS NO MORE. I HAVE A PIRATED COPY. IT DOES NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IF YOU PAY FOR IT OR NOT. IT WILL JUST SAY IT'S NOT GENUINE EITHER WAY... F**K YOU AND F**K Micro$oft.

Don't talk to me about codification and how hard and complicated it is. I was about to lost my 2 years of hardworking when the WGA crashed my system... And Yes, I'm programming too.

I have good tools and my system runs smooth with all the maintenances, except for the Micro$oft updates that are known for crashing systems everywhere.


I am responsible for my opinion and PCWorld has nothing to do with it. :)

MicroCrap 2006 All lies Reserved

Yoni5002º

the only thing microsoft is good at is creating a platform for virus/trojan/spammers/adware/malware. I can't believe that they have provided a platform that allows processes to be run and not be detected. Why did they code that? What are they trying to hide? Go Linux

The MS product that "bugs" me the most is PowerPoint, the one I use everyday for work. MS killed off or bought out their competitors years ago and it's plain to me that they've since let this software languish. It's the only software out there that does what it does, yet it contains quite a number of bugs and/or annoyances that just never get fixed. Coworkers sometimes come to me trying to figure out what they're doing wrong and I will take a look and say, "oh, yeah, it doesn't work the way you think it should because it's BROKEN." New releases of the software are all shine and no substance. It's really sad that a truly PROFESSIONAL presentation solution does not exist and the reason for that is Microsoft. I think the future of presentations is in Flash.

There are some business cases where bugs can be tolerated, but software as widely used as Microsoft's should not fall into this category. But they show us time and time again that they make buggy software. For this reason, I don't think they have any business automating their copy protection. Too many people who pay for the software will be inconvenienced or even punished. It's so easy for MS to overlook those people for whom a crisis situation happens when they can't use their computer. I bet MS wouldn't employ this protection scheme if they were liable for the losses that come to their legitimate users.

Here is a very simple solution. Its what I do. Dual boot winblows and Linux. Use linux to surf and winblows for what isnt compatable with Linux. The only reason that you need those updates is because of security so eliminate that risk.

Windows Vista is realeasing shortly. WGA was a marketing scheme to disgruntle average people into upgrading to Windows Vista and computer literate people to switch to Linux.

To Jalderwood - Open Office has an application like powerpoint and it's free and it runs on windows and linux... Have fun with free software...Yeah!!!

i googled "remove wga" and found a link for a way to rip it out all wga files and then checked it with hijackthis and uncle bill's eyes are gone

Microsoft makes enough money without me paying for their OS. I am a computer technician, and have never paid a dime for any of the MS OS's, I consider it part of the perks of the job. After all, I am constantly maintaining their broken OS for them, so that it works and companies continue to buy it. Find freinds like me, and get a corporate volume liscense key, that simple. As for Linux and Mac being more secure, come on it's blatently obvious to me, as it should be to everyone, why they dont have as many security issues as Windows. Lets see, if I was a little punk hacker creating a virus, would I make a virus for OS's that nobody uses, or make one for an OS that is on 90 percent of the WORLD's desktops.... hmmmmm, that's a tough one.... if you're a retard....

To those dudes who earlier posted "Just use Linux"...

Rock on. I have no intention of paying microsoft another cent for anything. And don't go with Apple, either. If its not GNU, it's not what the people need. Help me force the corporations into submission to the people. DRM and all.

As for Minnesota's post, if you were a hacker, would you attack the operating system you use and your friends contribute to daily, or stick it to the the RIAA, M$, MPAA, Apple, and all those?
Dude, Linux doesn't have security holes. It's made by all of the world's best hackers. And when all other OS'es cease to exist, Linux will live on.

Eman out.

Linux has/can have security holes, bottom line... If it can be coded, it can be uncoded....

To jalderwood or anyone else bitching about Microsoft Office products.. To Hell with M$ Office. Use OpenOffice.org, it's free will read and write Powerpoint, excel, & word files. Oh yeah did I mention it's free now Stupid WGA there...

I've been a pretty hardcore Office users for several years now, But I installed OpenOffice.org on my primary station about 2 months ago, now I've completely removed All of MS Office. Firefox browser, ThunderBird email, OpenOffice.org productivity software. So the only MS programs I run are the ones I have to, Windows and Visual Studio..

You people are so NAIVE. You would be paying exactly what you pay now whether or not people were stealing copies.

You pay what the market will bare. Period.

And Apple is even worse regarding the way they rape their customer base so don't even talk about that.

I AM A PRIVATE PERSON. MICROSOFTS UNDERHANDED WAY OF INCLUDING MGA IN THE AUTOMATIC UPDATES AND HAVE IT REPORT BACK TO THEM ON A "LEGIT" COPY OF WINDOWS XP IS A CRIME IN MY BOOK. I CAN'T FAULT THEM FOR GOING AFTER PIRATED COPIES. BUT, I BOUGHT MY COPY AND I KNOW IT IS A LEGAL COPY. I TRUSTED MICROSOFT WHEN I SET MY SYSTEM UP FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATES. NOW I FEEL I MUST FIND A HACK TO REMOVE MGA FROM MY SYSTEM, EVEN IF IT MEANS I WILL NEVER GET ANOTHER UPDATE. AND HAY, THOSE PEOPLE WHO PIRATED MICROSOFT XP ARE NOT GOING TO SET THEIR SYSTEMS UP FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATES !

wga phones home every so often so they can tell if it's been tampered with. i found a package online that would 'crack' wga by replacing some dll that it uses with a modified dll. kinda like the frequent xbox dashboard updates after software mods were introduced.
i can't really think of why wga on a pre-verified and legit system would need to phone home, but i bet it is related to the above.

"Linux has/can have security holes, bottom line... If it can be coded, it can be uncoded...."

I think you are missing the point of open source here. The code is provided so anyone who cares can make sure there are no security holes. Sure Linux could have a security hole or two, but compare those holes to the ones in Windows. Windows is inherintly less secure than Linux because MS puts in their own back doors. Spyware was invented and produced by companies MS owns. Do you really want to support a company that sells OS backdoors to the highest bidder?

"Posted by lokster on Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 11:14 PM (PST)
Just use Linux...

that has nothing to do with this"

You can lead a horse to water..........

"Hey Microsoft worked hard to get where they are. They also have fixed 800 or so security fixes within a year, compared to other OS's. It was estimated at 2000 security flaws in Linux, and took longer to patch. In my view buy it and stop ripping off MS. I would rather have the ease of mind knowing I will get all my fixes from MS then deal with this, just buy it. By the way MS has come a long way with Security with upcoming Vista release."

You refer to a study paid for by MS to discredit Linux. It is purely propaganda and has no basis in reality. You really think Vista will not have back doors in it? Are you REALLy that naive? MS invented spyware and they are just going to bury it so deep in Vista no-one will ever see it (Or notice it with huge 15 gig install and steep system requirements).

I switched to Linux 3 years ago and I have never been more productive or happy with a OS in my life. Trust me, getting to know Linux is worth it!

As a computer professional, it's not unknown for me to re-install Windows several times a year. I demo a lot of software, upgrade my drives a lot, and also run multiple OSes. Of course, this entails re-installing all my software.

When product activation first came in, I didn't mind, because all my software was legit. However, the fourth time I tried to re-install FrontPage, I got a mesage saying it could only be installed a maximum of four times, and I had exceeded the limit. I rang MS, only to have the "consultant" say, "but you've already installed the software, why are you installing it again?". I had to keep saying, "but it's always the same machine". She eventually game me a code, but seemed unconvinced.

Now MS could say, "That was the bad old days - we've improved the activation system since then". To which I would reply, "how can I trust you in future when you roll out such a ridiculous system in the first place?".

To Carlos regarding his post of MS stealing ideas from Apple:

Perhaps you forgot or never knew that Apple stole their OS concepts from Xerox.

To all of the MS haters here:

Quit crying. Nobody here gives a rat's a**.

I like the social idea behind Linux and admire Mr. Trovalds because his ideas and programmers around the globe could help the undeveloped societies...
As for me, using free Linux distributions is so frustrating to find drivers, never mind if you would like to play games or have a multimedia pc center with PVR capabilities, or enjoy a DTS OR Dolby Digital movie, thanks to your upgraded souncard, for example....
Or for example I will have to buy a software just to enable a wireles adapter.... where there is native support for OX X and MS Os.
And what about Financial Applications, etc,? Unfortunately, that's one of the reasons I have not considered to buy a MAC laptop, since I have invested a few thousands of US dlls in a variety of software that sill not run in OS X...
So, I like Ubuntu, a lot, but for many other tasks I prefer to use Microsoft XP.

If Microsoft do cripple XP, people will stop using Live Updates - we'll really be knee-deep then!

Besides, why can't Microsoft give Windows free and have their games and other software as charged items?

If you do research you'll find that there was more bugs and security issues with Linux than Windows last year!!! I'm a gamer and like PC games, not many game manufacturers release games for Linux.

My personal opinion is "Until Microsoft reduce the price of Windows to under £10, I will never buy it!".

Hackers etc, who attack Microsoft products are only helping them - as they don't need to employ a team to do it for them - plus as soon as a 'hole' is found, it's patched my Microsoft... So at the end of the day who is better off? The hackers with their wee piece of code, or Microsoft who will clean the code, stop it from happening again and save money by not employring staff to 'hack' for them!

"f you do research you'll find that there was more bugs and security issues with Linux than Windows last year!!! I'm a gamer and like PC games, not many game manufacturers release games for Linux."

I hate to seem like a zealot here but this is so misleading! More bugs in Linux than Windows? Are we taking into account that their are 300+ distributions all with their own quirks? More bugs that are not critical in around 300 + distros does not mean Linux is buggier. If you spend the time to research these bogus articles you will quickly see the flaws in their methadology. You will also notice they are based on studies paid for by Microsoft.... Wonder why they say what they do hmmm?

As far as gaming the Linux community has came very far. Their are tons of games for Linux I love to play, and I was a hardcore Windows gamer in the day. Unreall 2004, Doom3, Quake 4, and TC:E are just a few of the mainstream ones that offer full Linux clients. Wine runs many Windows applications including my all time fav windows game Subspace. With Cedega you can really play just about any Windows game worth playing in Linux.

Do yourself a favor and download a copy of Ubuntu and give it a try. It takes time to learn a new OS but I promise you won't be dissapointed if you do.

This is a free world, Use what ever you want. Intead of saying stupid things here, better go out and have a live people. Learn about something else than spending the whole day infront of the internet talking about nonsense.

"I am an employee of Dell inc,"

- yeah sure

"and I can confirm that there have been thousands upon thousands of false positives on legit operating systems."

_ yeah sure

" On top of that 90% of those false positives are followed by the system shutting down and refusing to restart. This has become a real problem, since the only way to restore these systems is to replace the motherboards, and harddrives...."

_ what a pantload. You should have stopped at "thousands and thoudands of false positives"

Up to this point there have been 38 references to WINDOWS which has 90% of the desktop OS market, and 48 references to LINUX, which has some fraction of the remaining 10%. With that disparity in market share one should expect to see maybe 4 references to Linux.

Maybe if people just ignored the rabid Linux trolls they'd go away.

USE CUSTOM INSTALL OF YOUR AUTOMATIC UPDATES AND UNCHECK THE WGA(****IN SHIT)
THEN INSTALL...

SO NO NEED TO WORRY BOUT WGA..BUT U VE TO DO IT EVERYTIME THR S UPDATES TO BE INSTALLED AS I M DOING:(

AS I CANT SWITCH TO ANY OTHER OS RITE NOW SO ITS BETTER TO BE USE THE IDEA OF
"PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE"

I think that we must deeply support piracy of Microsoft s software,because Microsoft is a huge thief.

If m$ would issue timely patches (or software that wasnt full of holes to begin with) more people would buy it. I worked for m$ in Redmond (technically Bellevue). The reason that most of the software is total shit is because 1.) they've axed practically everyone in MS Games and Direct X departments. 2.) There have been problems with huge internal code regressions. and 3.) Vista has soaked up far more resources than ever intended (no big suprise here). I wouldnt be suprised to have several zero day vulnerabilities with Vista. There just arent enough people to go around. Sad but true.

hey people, you all always whining about Microsoft sold their products so expensively, now thay are giving out that WGA thingie for free, yet you still whine harder.....

ok, just kidding. :) :P

Hey, i didn’t know Apple pirated too. I thought Billy was the original Pirate, crying the loot has been swiped. Not crying, but just part of the marketing racket..
XP is the Only OS I like. Somethings I don’t like, but It works good, and is easy to use. However, not SP2. I cant quite explain it in logical terms, but I get a sense of quite a lot of back dooring going on.
I don’t even update any more. In fact since I removed SP2, it works far better. I have learned how to set up, use, and manage the system to work safely for me.
I don’t have an opinion regarding wether or not MS introduced viruses/ Malware, but I do believe they are control freaks and that a major part of their behind the scenes policy having back doors, and controlling (or limiting) in one way or another. (such as the Intell chip that will be in apple macs (if not already) that will have DRM/ control potential)
They have removed support for 98, are making it hard for genuine XP users to stay as XP users, and perhaps these are strategies to herd the uninitiated masses into the more heavily controlled/ backdoored system.
I am not a Linux fan boy, but because I do not wish to support what I see as controlling/ constricting values of Microsoft, I will most likely migrate to what I believe will eventually become more mainstream. ie Open Source software. (Linux is already pretty big with non western government departments anyway)
I don’t think its really about wether the software is paid or not, but more along the lines of wether one values control & freedom or wether one wants to stick with control and limitation. In my eyes, that is the essence of this matter; What are we really choosing here.
What do you think?

hey everyone...
i beleive that the new WGA patch is a load of crap... id admit that i am using pirated XP software.
do you wanna know why? its because i dont believe in paying hundreds of dollars for a system that is a either
A) going to be replaced in a few years
OR
B) is already extremely buggy and not worth the hundreds u pay in the first place.

id agree piracy is a problem that every company will soon look at limiting but if MS made a OS that was secure and could be installed a number of times without increasing in size then it might tempt me to buy a legit copy
(yes i kno im talking about the "dream machine")

but until MS makes a system that auctually works as it states without a new problem every other week i will remain using a pirated copies because it just aint worth me pissing that amount of money up the wall.

for the linux users i think its great that you guys are loving the system but i (and many others) dont wanna learn a new system as the system (in my opinion) just hasnt got enough "help" things. (you might be able to find help on the net if you looked for hours on end ... but who has that sorta time... Not me!)

and just to settlesome abuse i may get from this note.... i bout 98se (which i was happy with).
also 1 last thing why cant MS make updates to make thewhole thing a little better to use instead of creating patches that do nothing but cause trouble.....
once again just my opinion post ya criticisms please i wanna know if im full of sh...i....t or if i have the wrong idea

Microsoft is like the abusive husband. Why doesn't the wife leave? All the usual reaons. The learning curve for Linux, the time it takes to make the change, getting drivers for all the add-ons, whatever. Maybe we're just afraid the problems would be worse with a Mac or Linux.

I use an old Mac from 1993. I switched to a PC when my computer science professors required programming assignments turned in on a PC. But I kept my important business documents on the Mac. I kept thinking "I'll put them on the PC as soon as I know I can trust it ... The Mac just never crashes. It's rock solid. But underpowered now. I guess I'm hurting bad enough now to give Linux a try.

Linux rocks

This forum is now officially as bad as Digg.

Why?

All the "if you don't agree with me (or if I disagree with you) you are the STUPIDEST, most evil, impotent, halitosis-inflicted idiot to ever walk the earth."

Reasonable minds can disagree. The fact that someone disagrees with you is not cause to make personal attacks. Would you make such attacks in a face-to-face conversation? No, you would not. Unless you're just an a$$...and if that's the case, this comment is not directed at you, because, well, you're an a$$.

Just let it go.

On a secondary notebook, I've been in the process of moving my work and documents (with the help of Progression Desktop) onto Ubuntu Dapper Drake, 6.06. It takes a bit of tweaking, and there is a learning curve. But, given all the massive uptick in surveillance, marketing, monetization and social control that seems to be the fixation of the Fortune 500 (among others), FOSS seems to be the only real alternative.

The MS initiative represented by the WGA is only one symptom of a larger, and growing problem: The territorialization of the computers of each and all, and the policing of both content and functional programs.

"but until MS makes a system that auctually works as it states without a new problem every other week i will remain using a pirated copies because it just aint worth me pissing that amount of money up the wall."

Wait, you are saying that because XP doesn't work, you need to steal it? That doesn't make much sense.

As far as OS's, use whatever you want. XP works for you if you know what you are doing with it, I'm sure OSX works if you know what you are doing, Linux works if you know what you are doing. It is just personal preference.

I worked for MS for 10 years. After being away for 5 years, I took a short contract there. In my humble opinion, MS is a company in the inevitable final throes of paralysis. Its stock price has languished for years because investors are betting that it's all over for MS. When I returned, I found a completely insane corporate culture. My coworkers called our work "science fiction" because we frankly made up what we did out of whole cloth.

Basically Micro$ucks does not have any respect for their customers. They play with people's money and time. They send products to the market before they are certified and tested enough. Then they start the 10000 patches run and the "Fixing bugs in a timely manner" game. AND look what happened with Windows98 and Windows Millennium (MISTAKE) they finally stopped supporting them to force you to pay for a "More secure OS"... When they sold their product they never said they will stop supporting it because the structure wasn't strong enough to path all holes they left behind the scene. (Now, everybody would say "That's Logic" they will improve with a better OS and they will make you pay for it) BUT I haven't seen that improvement yet. It's all the same. How many changes in Microsoft codes have we seen during the last 10 years? Actually there are tons of dlls, and applications in XP that were in the Windows Folder since Windows 95 and are still there in %sysroot%/Windows folder. So Microsoft hasn't really started anything from scratch. Why 98 platform can not be corrected the same way?? Just because they already have your money and they just don't care!

How long Microsoft had to work to give their customers a """secure OS"""... 6 years so far and they are still patching and having problems with the patching machine... hehehe I guess it is too old.

And finally to run all the bases with the big Home-run they are betting for Vista to be the Best OS they ever had... Common just look at the monster they have built and try to find some stability on it... let me know when you find it. If they can't handle XP how are they going to patch that big big boy??

Don't count on me uncle Bill. I won't pay for that either. If you can't lift 30 pounds don't come selling me the idea you will lift 65 because that's not going to happen. Keep taking features away from Vista and you will make it stable some day.

Microsoft, If you ever happen to be liable for the things you have done you will find out that people that don't pay for your crap have a motive to do so. Unfortunately I included myself in the list of "Microsoft will improve" but that never happened and I ended up wasting my money all these years for something I should never pay for. That's it, no more tricks for me, I'm done. Enjoy the money you took away from me and take a picture at those bills because it will be the only way you will have to see my money over again, ONLY in PICTURES!

Micro$ucks Winblows 2006 All lies Reserved

GEE nobody mentioned all the NEW HARDWARE to run there new operating system VISTA .Microsoft, mpaa,riaa they all want control ,CONTROL.

I too frequently reinstall my legally bought windows XP in an attempt to keep this computer operating in a reasonably safe and sescure manner, or when something disastrous with Norton happens. When I completed my last install, it refused to validate, saying it had been installed too many times, and required me to call microsoft using a Phone. The microsoft lady, who did speak a version of english, verified my windows XP had been installed too m any times, refused to change the computer response. She did help me reactivate this copy after I read to her all those numbers, but really, what a pain. What a Royal Pain. I never agreed to this PAIN when I bought XP. No disclosure of this was made to me. Microsoft, if you are reading this, you may have convinced me finally to consider a different operating system.

How about this....If Microsoft were to price Windows at a much more reasonable price (i.e. $25 bucks)I think this piracy issue wouldn't be as much of an issue.

If I build a computer to replace a previously computer that had Windows pre-install, then why should i have to pay for a version of Windows. Technically I already paid once for Windows already

Since this is at the bottom and probably never read:

Earlier somone posted about microsft and its 800 security fixes and Linux and its over 2000.

What this Microsoft supported statistic did not indicate that the amount of linux security holes was a total SUM of all distrobutions of linux and there are quite a few of them. The total security holes in linux is less than 200 per distrobution on average and most of them are the same and will all be fixed at the same or nearly the same time.

From your blog: "If you have the old one, you can get the update or delete WGA Notifications (but if you choose the latter route you will, essentially, cripple your copy of Windows)."

Not true.... WGA Notifications does not have to be on your system for you to receive updates at all. You need the WGA, not the Notifications, as the Notifications just phones home. You cannot uninstall it from Add/Remove Programs, but you can use a program from Firewall Leak Tester. It is a trustworthy site and has been written about in some other Internet Tech magazines, and the SysInternals forums. You c an google it by using the search term: "Remove WGA Notifications".

I have it removed from my systems and I have been able to get the latest security updates without a problem.

Ray

Microsoft is making some stupid ways that they think that they protect the customers but it's the other way around. Almost all Microsoft users is now complaining about the way they provide services/products to their customers....
But why do we still use Windows ^_^?

When the bullwhip comes around on this one, it is going to snap. Gates and crowd cannot escape their karma no matter now much they donate or how long they run. Allegedly, Mr. Gates carries with him the karmic energy of a suicide of the man that first brought MS-DOS from DR-DOS, when IBM exec's were put off by the President of DR-DOS because the President was flying his small aircraft over Monterey and wouldn't come to meet with the three people that flew out from White Plains, NY. The *principal engineer* from DR-DOS was bought by Gates and crowd for $50K to do a clean room implementation of the MS-DOS operating system for the 80x86 chipset, that then could be used by IBM under PC-DOS.

No matter how much money goes into the M&B Gates Foundation, it cannot put back that life, or the jobs of many that were allegedly ousted due to alledgedly unfair business practices. Now Warren Buffet has tossed into that black pool...

Mr. McP formerly of Tandem can verify this story, as he was there and related this to me over lunch over seven years ago -- but his name is changed to protect the innocent.

The principal engineer had a nervous breakdown when he realized what he had done, and committed suicide after doing what was *tantamount* to stealing code from his colleagues, causing them to lose their jobs and investments. Know to what limits M$ will go, beyond alleged intimidation of vendors.

M$ also, on record [Computerworld, InfoWorld] donated $150M to the regimes in Philippines to use M$ware as the official government s/w. Wonder what the Philippine government is thinking knowing that spyware is throughtout their government infrastructure, and is it owned by a corporation that is often at odds with the USA?

The EU is aware of this behavior and thus M$ faces criminal cases in Europe, where Linux is preferred, and Lindows(tm) can be run to create a shell in which many Windows app can run.

Japan allegedly will have nothing to do with M$ since they are suspicious of the undocumented 2/3 of the code in the core OS that they reject on quality for non-compliance with ISO 9000 standards, not meeting the Deming criteria for TQM.

The DOJ allegedly knows all this. Allegedly many in the computer industry do as well... but cannot speak for fear of losing contracts.

Now you allegedly do.

NOTE: Disclaimer: This is *alleged* information, as charges have been alleged, *not* necessarily proven in court. That ought to keep the all the lawyers and litigants happy.

Me, I'm p*ssed off about their spyware.
It slows down my computer and that cost me time, which to M$ is money.

When my Commodore computer shocked the crap out of me, ( hooked to my Tv set) I said forget this, Then one day I I went to Radio Shack and bought ( charged to their card) a IBM computer with win98 alot of time spent getting the proper drivers, Then 98 SE arrives Hmmm 98 dollors for upgrade, really good Os, THEN WIN ME OH MY GOD!!!! that cost me over 100.00! to upgrade(downgrade in my eyes)and we all know about ME.
After spending all this time upgrading buying memory, cd burner memory so forth, I had a somewhat stable system. Then the speed years 233mhz 433 500 700 thanks intel, should have bought stock in 92 but Radio shack broke me.. I went to the loc computer store had 1 built, Found out about OEM software and XP,support-contact where you bought, they closed, talked to Bob in India,(broken english)
did help somewhat. Service pack 2 install(Product Key not genuine)After 4 Hurricaines major damage I only have my thinkpad, wheres the XP CD ?My reciept? Yea right.Win98SE AntiVir(Germany),Linux mandrake and a Linux OS that runs on a cd, Firefox Mozilla

If miscrosoft made the OS affordable then most would gladly pay for it.
Current price for Windows XP full retail - $279.00 Aust. (Its dropped $20.00 since Vista release was announced)
Drop it to lest than a hundred dollars and gone is the piracy problem in most cases.
Simlple solution to WGA and all the hassles is : TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES FOR GOOD!

M$ can go to hell with Vista. I had XP set up for automatic updates, now I have WGA sitting in my task bar, (That's is where it going to stay). I have turned off auto, no more of this crap for me. If they want to disable my system, fine, then I move to another OS. I paid for my copy of XP, I did not steal it.

I'm with you Daz. If the price was more reasonable for what is essentially a defective product, then it would be worth paying for. Like most others, I have to use Windows for various reasons. It's not like the only thing I do is play games and have to worry about if it will run on that alternative OS or will there be drivers for that OS. I have to use Windows for work and have no other choice, but a lot of my work is at home, so I personally have to buy Windows for home to be able to do this work.

To me, everything has a value according to how useful it is to me. If a product is very useful to me, and that product does what it's advertised to do, and the service I get from the company who sells that product is good, I'll pay top dollar for it. In the case of Windows, it is defective (full of bugs and security holes) and the support sucks, so Windows is of little value to me and I wouldn't pay much for it. In fact, I wouldn't pay for it at all if I didn't need it. but since I do, I think that if they charged a fair price such as $75 for the full install, I wouldn't be so quick to complain about it.

On another topic - Why is it that every time hardware technology increases (processors get faster, hard drives get bigger, etc.) MS has the urge to use every bit of that extra technology? Why not go the other way and make the OS smaller and more lean so that there is less chance for security holes, it'll run faster and be more stable, and we can use that faster processor and bigger HD for other reasons than to host a more bloated OS. In other words, I shouldn't have to buy a bigger computer every time a new OS comes out.

You gotta love this stuff! As irritated as I am by the fact that MGA aka WGA has inhibited the ability of my purchased,licensed XP to use Microsoft Update aka Windows Updates (so abandon that crap and access the catalog directly or use automatic updates to notify then download), I know full well that "It's the architecture, stupid!". I've been supporting the Dinosaur[sic] mainframes for 20 years now; thank goodness corporate management STILL has enough wisdom to trust the most vital corporate data aka customer data aka our data ( I ain't talking about email and Powerpoint presentations) to that venerable, reliable, secure,purposefully engineered workhorse.

after reading all the post i fell the need to add my 2 cents worth.my win xp pro came with my pc and after all this sh*t came down,m$ tells me its fake.i need to pay again for what i paid for once.i refuse to pay again.i was egerly awaiting vista's release till they gave me my free copie of wga.now i have auto downloads turned off and it will stay that way.and im allways ready to learn.so now i think ill teach my self how to make my own copy of vista when comes out.why pay first time when they will most likley do the same thing all over again,& want you to pay when they screw up your legit copy.but hey why are we so down on the poor little billion aire.he is donating money to his OWN charity to spend as he see's fit and not paying his share of tax's because of his donations.you see how he sticks it up our a*s in more ways than 1. " keep up the good work billy the kid"

Not to change the subject, but what ever happened to the refund we were to get from the law suit that Microsoft lost?. (For all the software we bought, ie: win95, 98, me, dos & office. I filled in the forms and that was the last I seen or heard of them. Anyone get a refund?.

Mr. Gates possibly has forgotten, how he has started with his emperium, EX Programmer of Big Blue, robbing the source of languages like IBM DOS, Basic, C, Pascal, transforming them to Basic++ etc. The tribunal he has won based on lag in the copyright laws.
On the other hand I understand, that Mr. Gates and al other programmers has to be payed for their work.
But how is the daily live of a serious programming company.
20 % of the bill in the beginning
30% during ... and the rest if the programming works PERFECT!!!!.
Can the OS of Big Bill fullfill this norm?
Someone say yes... therefore why we need critical updates

I was shocked when I looked at the WGA log!!! You want to get the creeps of just how invasive WGA is, go take a look at the log; it's in the Windows folder.
Creeped me out!!!! I felt totally "invaded".
I have just about had it with Microsoft and their flawed system. If my car had to be "updated" that many times to run right, I would have set fire to it after the 3rd update!!!!! ...and the "lemon law" would have come in handy at that point!!! Now tell me "how about a "lemon law" for the Microsoft Operating System!!!!!! Let's just sue them - or burn their system - you know, sort of like "bra-burning"!!!!! A world-wide "burn Windows" day!!!!!! Hey - I am serious!!!!!!

Yeah, check the WGA log file.

You will find your system properties, Software, your wife's last period date, your dog's name, the order of the food for last night, your shoes size, Your pets doctor's name, and some other things that are less important and "common" as the information Microsoft is recollecting from your system... F**CK YOU Uncle Gates and F**CK Micro$ucks...

Micro$ucks 2006 All Lies Reserved

Microsoft is making many customers rethink their operating system, only none will be moving to Windows. Instead, OSX and Linux are garnering a whole lot of attention from this whole WGA fiasco.

While WGA shouldn't be a problem for -most- legitimate copies of Windows, Microsoft have certainly shown the way they are heading with the introduction of more and more intrusive anti-piracy tools over the last few years. And, while Microsoft continually say these tools benefit legitimate end-users, they don't have me convinced.

Unfortunately, Linux has for a long time been too complicated for the mass computer market. In fact, most users have enough problems with Windows. However, by the time Vista is released, Linux, in combination with the more user-friendly OSX, will provide much-needed choice, which actually will benefit consumers.

one more reason for linux,let us stand and shut down the monopoly,for starters,lets send a message by refusing to purchase vista,this is all they understand is dollars.bill wants to give away millions ,how about an ounce of respect to the p-ss ants who made you rich ,pardon the french, sore spot 4 ms. thanks 4 listening tj

Gee wizz people stop commenting on OS'es you haven't tried lately , I don't have any problems with windows (although I did install a copy (Delebertly rekeyed for testting)to get a better idea of what the fuss was about and ther were a lot of interestting packets (especially when in none genuine mode) sent/recieved via firewall and packet logging..) but to get to the point I am sitting here reading this while running mepis and most of the post on trying linux seem very out-dated because I see no problem with Linux/Mepis (has a super packager) so I guess since I don't see Mepis mentioned then I'll have to say T R I M E P I S ! BEFORE POSTTING THAT OBVIOUSLY UNSUPORTED vision of the desktop Linux.! And as far as Windows goes err whats Windows? and who is Microsoft? O the giant that keeps shootting himself in the foot and now the kneecap and about to take a blow to the temple? right? P.S. O that one dude was right about the gamming I supose but then I am not a gammer so check that out for yourself to be shure; But I think thats changing also I know I have played some older ones like Doom.
P.S.S. And make shure you get the latest version of Mepis like 6.0 or so (Or ubunti or what ever your hearts desires for that matter. )
If things are that bad (and I'd have to say it apears they are)Why would anyone ever buy that vista ? Sounds like taking a pill to get a bigger head ach to me , rather than lessening the first head ach. One other thing ;suport you favorite GNU/Linux distribution when you find the one for you; I have already tried them all. (except for a few minor ones.) and for the record I do work on machines and there are a lot of complaints commig in from licenced customers and even my mothers had a board to go down (OEM BULLICENCE NOT SOLD version And not worth the phonecalls due to a none genuine replacement board) Don't blame her fellas it came with her desktop and my neighbors too (same brand name also).
SpyResearch: > but let the basket fill before letting to many eggs out . Okey Dokey ? ((Wink)

Vista Beta 2 is out for download free, or on disk if you want to pay for it. and when it is in the shops for sale as a fully fledged operating system, early next year you will still need to buy the retail version, the Beta Version is on a slow fuse to go off to the Beta verions in the sky. you can bet it will still really be a Beta Version. After all XP still is, Because they still have not got it right, after all this time. Wasn't XP suposed to be the system to top all systems, to be so secure, Hang on a minute till I finish my laughing fit. Didn't Microsoft say we would not need to keep downloading updates for glitches and security when SP2 came out, and claimed a gigantic lump of our hard drives? Even when there have been huge holes in the sytem, for hackers to use, and they have been informed by some observant young student living some where like Germany, of the risks. They then ask that person not to let anyone know till they sort it out. Then after six month, Microsoft are still sitting on it. Thats what happend when Blaster started smacking people a couple of years back. What I am really saying is, a Beta Version is something we test for them free, and we get it free. Windows XP is still really being tested and has been since day one of it's release. You would have to be an idiot to pay for somthing advertised as Fully Operational when in fact it is not, would you go out and buy a car that was not properly tested, maybe after a few hundred people had crashed because the brake blocks have locked, the company sends you an updated version of the blocks, then something else goes, and on and on till they bring the next model out. Just like Microsoft, I think people who have paid full wack for XP should get their money back. Good luck to those with pirate versions. and as for the WGA I do not want it on my machine, My Dell laptop has genuine XP that was already on the machine with the COA on the bottom. I hate the way the WGA checks with Microsoft everytime my system starts up, Luckily I am broadband, it must cost a fortune for people on dial up. My home build machine has an upgrade to XP which although genuine, now brings up the message that it may not be genuine, just because I keep upgrading it. I do not see why anyone should have anything on their machines they do not want. It's Orwells Big brother is watching you all over again, and unless Microsoft looses the claims that have been taking against it, it can only get worse. By the way some Motherboards like HP and Compaq ( which are both really HP) are TATOOED, so everything is tied to the board and bios, even just putting a stick of memory in or changing the graphics card can have an affect on the way the WGA will judge you to have an illegal copy.

Forget windows on computers.
Houses have windows,
ships have windows,
cars have windows,
but computers don't need windows at all.

As said before; just use linux.
And for those who are scared:
Try a Linux live CD first (just download, burn, boot and work with it. It does not install anything on your harddisk).

Slax is a nice Linux live CD distro. But there are PLENTY !

WGA is without a brain in my opinion. Theres no way in hell I would ever install it on any of my computers. Valid or not.

I just bought a new computer from Circuit city, so I know that the software is valid already. But do I want to see if WGA will agree? Frankly no. I refuse to play in this game. I didn't spend a grand of my hard earned money on this machine just to jump through hoops to use it. And if it comes to the point where its mandatory to have it installed and any computer without it will be disabled, then Im just going to have to switch to Macs (probably what I should of bought).

And what if it does flag my computer as illegal? Will MS help me? Probably not. As iv read in other reviews, they expect you to buy a new copy. I think not! I have 5 computers, I don't intend to pay $150 for each of them to have valid operating systems to please WGA or MS.

A computer is a tool, it's not my jugde and jury, all I want it to do is bloody work and do what I bloody command, my calculator doesn't validate whether or not I have the right to use it , and I don't want my OS jugding whether I have the right to use it by logging and monitoring me, it's invasive and as far as see completely f*cking unecessary, microsoft has already monopolised the market. I bought my computer with my own money, So F*ck microsoft if it says it isn't genuine, all this WGA stuff does is piss people off and annoy the heck out of me. Secondly from what I've been seeing with people who bought the OS disk and installed it mutliple times on their machine, that restriction crap is just WRONG, it's your software, you payed for it and you should be able it install it as many times as you bloody want. Now this vista thing, do you know how much Memory that thing uses! It's more bulky back door crap!, the only reason I haven't switched OS to linux is because of my design software

WGA is Naziware, plain and simple. Those commentators (like Bruce) still making excuses for MS are simply living in their own little right-wing universes. MS has played hardball with its competitors, distributors, and customers for decades. No one will ever reign them in, no one will ever stand up, because those of us with money can simply tell ourselves to go make more. Those without... well s----w 'em, they never counted anyway.

In flights of fantasy I've often wondered about what I'd do if diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and told I had just a few months to live. Who might I take with me into the Great Beyond? What evil S.O.B. is going down with me?

Time after tim the answer has been obvious: Bill Gates. No one has done more to make my life miserable, on an hour-by-hour basis, than this one amoral businessman. And I think no one would shed a tear for him except Scotty, Melinda, and a handful of Africans. You can't stop WGA, but you can stop Bill.