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Windows Genuine Advantage circumvented
Talkback I mean "Windows Genuine Advantage", come on, how is Microsoft ensuring they aren't pirated an advantage to the average user? All it means is they can pump up the price of Windows (and related software) without fear of the pirating backlash that...
[May 24, 2005, 14:42]
Windows Genuine Advantage circumvented
News Researcher Debasis Mohanty outlined what he said was a technique to trick Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage validation check in a posting to the Full Disclosure security mailing list on Monday. We expected counterfeiters to try a number of...
[May 24, 2005, 9:05]
What's Windows Genuine Advantage? Three days off work.
Blog Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage - the DRM system that turns chunks of your operating system off if it thinks you're a criminal - now thinks that we're all criminals. So whatever you do, don't make your Windows installation try to call home.
[August 25, 2007, 18:59]
The genuine advantage in Windows' woes
Leader This weekend, the Windows Genuine Advantage system went offline. Windows Genuine Advantage is a designed-in failure mode, and that's just not very clever. In name and nature, Windows Genuine Advantage is the perfect example of how badly unbalanced...
[August 28, 2007, 16:29]
Microsoft DRM tool locked out genuine users
News Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage servers experienced severe disruption over the weekend, stopping users validating their Microsoft software. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is the mechanism that Microsoft uses to validate genuine copies of the...
[August 28, 2007, 17:32]
Microsoft disables IE7 validation process
News Microsoft is to allow users of Windows XP to download Internet Explorer 7 without having to gain Windows Genuine Advantage authentication. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is part of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative.
[October 8, 2007, 14:11]
Microsoft offers WGA workaround
News Microsoft released a new version of Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications on Tuesday and detailed how to remove the controversial antipiracy software. Windows Genuine Advantage is a stepped-up effort by Microsoft to boost the number of Windows...
[June 28, 2006, 11:20]
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]
Fighting Microsoft's licence check
News The company is forging ahead with a programme, Windows Genuine Advantage, tied to its free software downloads and updates, that checks whether the Windows installation on a PC is legitimately licensed.
[June 21, 2006, 9:10]
Microsoft acknowledges Vista OEM hack
News According to a post by Microsoft senior product manager Alex Kochis on the Windows Genuine Advantage developers' blog, Microsoft has identified two ways in which hackers have broken the product activation security feature on original equipment...
[April 13, 2007, 9:38]
Microsoft offers free software as licence-check reward
News This time around, Microsoft is making the software available free of charge, but it is requiring customers to take part in the Windows Genuine Advantage pilot programme. The Windows Genuine Advantage programme was launched last month.
[October 28, 2004, 8:24]
Vista's graphics to require licence check
News Those who are not running genuine Windows will not be able to take advantage of the Windows Aero user experience," a Microsoft representative told ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com on Wednesday. In the autumn of 2004, Microsoft began testing the...
[April 13, 2006, 17:30]
Vista PCs to lock out rogue software
News Microsoft has escalated its battle with software pirates during the past two years through the "Genuine Advantage" add-ons for Windows and Office, its biggest cash cows. Barring people from using their PC is a significant change from the antipiracy...
[October 6, 2006, 9:40]
Rupert Goodwins' Diary
Blog In the same week Microsoft has announced that Vista will shut itself down if not authorised by HQ, it admitted to problems in its Windows Genuine Advantage program already deployed for XP. That information was published on a Microsoft hosted blog...
[October 6, 2006, 18:55]
Microsoft gets tough on Office fakers
News Earlier this month, Microsoft was forced to own up to problems with Windows Genuine Advantage when some validated Microsoft customers were denied access to their applications because of a software problem.
[October 27, 2006, 16:50]
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. Windows Genuine Advantage is going to drive more people to open source than any initiative Novell or Mark Shuttleworth could...
[August 11, 2006, 19:15]
Patch service shuts after Microsoft request
News Parker reported that Windows Genuine Advantage, a Microsoft antipiracy program that checks legitimacy of a version of Windows, apparently isn't involved. I asked the representative if Windows Genuine Advantage had anything to do with it, and he...
[August 30, 2007, 8:15]
Shades of WGA to come from other vendors
Talkback Note - The Software Protection Platform (SPP) is the set of anti-piracy technologies that Microsoft is using internally and these are already built into Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Don't forget that there is also Office Genuine Advantage...
[September 4, 2007, 4:39]
Microsoft pushes antipiracy tool to desktop
News Following download and installation of the "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool, users of a pirated copy will see alerts at startup, login and during their use of the operating system. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) was launched in...
[April 25, 2006, 11:55]
Private folders cause public pain
News A problem has been encountered during the Windows Genuine Advantage validation process," the message reads. Microsoft had required those who wanted the tool, before its removal, to go through the software maker's controversial Windows Genuine...
[July 18, 2006, 9:20]
