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Microsoft DRM Tool Locked Out Genuine Users
News Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is the mechanism that Microsoft uses to validate genuine copies of the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. The problem arose at the weekend when users of genuine Microsoft software found that their...
[August 28, 2007, 17:32]
Windows 'piracy' Checks Rounded Again
News Microsoft's efforts to curtail counterfeiting hit a snag when hackers discovered a new way to bypass its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), only days after the licence-checking software's official debut.
[August 1, 2005, 12:40]
Microsoft's Anti-piracy Plan Condemned
News Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) programme, which is designed to help identify pirate copies of Windows, will increase the security problems faced by enterprises, according to research group Gartner.
[January 31, 2005, 8:00]
Microsoft Disables IE7 Validation Process
News Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is part of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative. Previously, to download Internet Explorer 7, users had to authenticate to WGA. Microsoft said that it had dropped the requirement for WGA for security reasons.
[October 8, 2007, 14:11]
Microsoft's Genuine Advantage Hits Problems
News The problem is with Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's licensing tool, which offers Windows users more secure software in return for their conformance with a vigorous Microsoft licensing strategy.
[October 5, 2006, 14:05]
Microsoft To Push Out Revised Validation Tool
News The updated WGA Notifications package includes additional changes in response to continued criticism Microsoft has faced over the software, the company said on Tuesday. In the original version, WGA Notifications displayed only a wordy user licence...
[November 29, 2006, 8:21]
Microsoft Offers WGA Workaround
News The updated WGA Notifications package includes changes that respond to criticism Microsoft has faced over the software, the company said. For the first time, though, Microsoft is offering guidelines on how to remove WGA Notifications.
[June 28, 2006, 11:20]
Microsoft Admits Targeting Wine Users
News A Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet UK it made sure the validation tool used by its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) programme identified Wine users, so that only users are running a genuine version of Windows could download updates and add-on tools.
[February 25, 2005, 11:30]
Microsoft Draws Fire For Stealth Test Programme
News The original WGA programme, launched in September 2004, calls for people to validate their Windows installation when they download additional Microsoft software from a Microsoft Web site. The tool, also known as WGA Notifications, is used to...
[June 14, 2006, 9:15]
Microsoft Antipiracy Tool 'acts Like Spyware'
News The first time that a user runs WGA Validation to check if their version of Windows is genuine, the information sent to Microsoft is the Windows XP product key, PC maker, operating system version, PC bios information and the user's local setting...
[June 8, 2006, 9:10]
Fighting Microsoft's Licence Check
News 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. Some Windows users have started to search for ways around the antipiracy technology, setting up a...
[June 21, 2006, 9:10]
Wine Maker Relaxed Over Microsoft's 'blockade'
News Last month Microsoft said from the middle of 2005 customers will need to verify that their copies of Windows are genuine before downloading updates and add-on tools, through a programme, called Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).
[February 23, 2005, 12:00]
Microsoft Targets Counterfeiters On UK Auction Sites
News Many of the alleged infringing sellers were identified through tips submitted by consumers through Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage, or WGA, programme, the company said. WGA requires people to validate their version of Windows as properly...
[October 31, 2006, 8:20]
Microsoft 'frightened' By Police XP Hack
News McGrath denied that Microsoft's anti-piracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), which prevents non-critical updates from being downloaded from Windows Update without WGA validation, was a security issue.
[November 13, 2007, 10:26]
Microsoft's Licensing Check Rounded Again
News For the software maker, the news is not the first time people have attempted to outwit WGA. Earlier this year, during WGA's pilot phase, a security researcher outlined another way to trick the check. The primary WGA checking mechanism uses ActiveX...
[August 8, 2005, 9:35]
Apple Files For DRM System Akin To Microsoft
News In August, around 12,000 Windows users found that they could not either register their software, or found that parts of it became unusable, because Microsoft loaded the wrong software during a WGA update.
[December 24, 2007, 12:15]
Rupert Goodwins' Diary
Blog And it's also the reason Microsoft is being so daft about some of the implications of Windows Genuine Advantage, or WGA. WGA is designed — let's be charitable — to encourage people to buy legitimate copies of the operating system.
[August 11, 2006, 19:15]
Counting The Cost Of Counterfeiting
News You launched the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) scheme in April that gives users access to more tools if they sign up to the service and register their copy of Windows, but blocks some downloads to customers who don't.
[May 22, 2006, 13:30]
Second WGA Lawsuit Faced By Microsoft
News Microsoft has been named in a second lawsuit over its antipiracy Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program, which plaintiffs allege acts as "spyware" on their systems. Microsoft, however, contends the two lawsuits do not present a fair picture of WGA.
[July 6, 2006, 9:45]
The Genuine Advantage In Windows' Woes
Leader WGA went AWOL — and with it, many Windows users' abilities to prove their legitimacy. The biggest problem isn't that WGA is flawed in concept and execution, it's that it introduces a single point of failure.
[August 28, 2007, 16:29]
