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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]
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 Offers WGA Workaround
News WGA Notifications displays alerts on systems running a pirated copy of Windows and includes a separate tool called WGA Validation that runs a piracy check. Microsoft has faced a lot of heat over WGA Notifications -- in particular, because it...
[June 28, 2006, 11:20]
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]
Microsoft's Licensing Check Rounded Again
News WGA is a stepped-up effort by Microsoft to increase the number of Windows users that are actually paying Microsoft for its software. For the software maker, the news is not the first time people have attempted to outwit WGA.
[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]
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]
Windows Genuine Advantage Circumvented
News The company has been testing the WGA licence check on its Download Center and Windows Update Web sites for several months. WGA is a software tool that verifies whether a particular copy of the operating system is properly licensed.
[May 24, 2005, 9:05]
Vista PCs To Lock Out Rogue Software
Talkback But fears of intrusive interference with my computer were consoled by Microsoft’s claim that WGA was not going to disable my software but just notify me of problems and tell me how to fix them. The new WGA is nothing less than corporate sponsored...
[October 6, 2006, 23:25]
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 Turns Up Heat In Licensing Push
News Microsoft signalled its intention to continue cracking down on unlicensed software this week when it announced the full roll-out of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), and extended the roll-out of Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) to the UK.
[April 27, 2006, 11:35]
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 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 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]
There's Nothing Like The Real Thing: Genuine Software Is A Win-Win For Customers, Microsoft And Partners
White Papers Microsoft's genuine software programs - which are more than a year old - enable customers to quickly and easily verify if they are running an authentic version of Microsoft Windows or Office, using a validation mechanism through the Windows...
[March 7, 2007, 0:00]
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]
Rupert Goodwins' Diary
Blog I've never found anyone outside Microsoft with a good thing to say about WGA, which just goes to show that there are limits to the Orwellian malleability of the English language, even in the hands of experts.
[October 6, 2006, 18:55]
