Is this for real? Or is it some kind of virus thing, or whatever? If I fill it out will Microsoft be 'babysitting' everything I do with Windows?? Did Fry's sell me a pirated copy of Windows XP?!? Help!
Posted on 06/14/2009 12:04:35 PM PDT by pillut48
What is WGA Notifications? Genuine Microsoft Software
Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications is a program that helps Microsoft fight software piracy and helps you validate that the copy of Microsoft Windows XP installed on your computer is genuine and properly licensed.
By confirming that your copy of Windows XP is genuine, you can take advantage of all the capabilities, support, and continuous improvements—as well as the peace of mind—that come with using genuine Windows. If your copy is not genuine, WGA Notifications will provide periodic reminders to help you take the appropriate action. It's part of Microsoft's commitment to fight software counterfeiting and help you avoid problems before they happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at microsoft.com ...
Is this for real? Or is it some kind of virus thing, or whatever? If I fill it out will Microsoft be 'babysitting' everything I do with Windows?? Did Fry's sell me a pirated copy of Windows XP?!? Help!
It looks for real. So are you going through the steps and it keeps coming up?
It’s for real, and it probably came in with Automatic Updates. Do you have Automatic Updates turned on?
No, I haven’t done anything yet, I was afraid it might be a phishing site!
Did you call up the support line at your PC's OEM (manufacturer)? You probably could have gotten restore discs, which would have been noticeably cheaper than buying a fresh retail copy of XP.
Ahh. Well MS does have WGA so I would go ahead and do that. It doesn’t harm you it just verifies your windows as being genuine.
The price for shopping at Fry’s. Had the package been opened?
If you bought a legit copy of Windows you would have had to type in a key, something like XXXX XYXY ZZZWY ... when you installed it and it would have prevented you from seeing this message. If you were not provided a key with the disks then you were sold a rip-off copy of software.
This problem was well-publicized when Microsoft first came out with this nosy function. Many people who had perfectly legitimate copies of Windows were getting their computers disabled remotely, after WGA incorrectly identified their software as pirated.
It’s for real. If you did as I did, and purchased the Microsoft stuff you use, there should be no problem. I think this is a one-shot thing if you “pass.”
It`s Windows spyware.
If your serial code for Windows was installed too many times Windows won`t allow you updates or worse.
Apple OS, no serial numbers and no genuine advantage spyware
See the Wikipedia entry on WGA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Genuine_Advantage
Excerpt: “The WGA program can produce false positives (incorrectly identifying a genuine copy of Windows as “not genuine”). This can happen for any number of reasons. Microsoft has established a forum to help users encountering problems.[34] In February 2007, a “Not Sure” section was added to the program, in case of an incorrect reading.[35]
According to an editorial on the arstechnica.com technology website, WGA reported around 22% of 500 million Windows computers as failing the test; of these less than 0.5% were due to pirate software, with the balance (over 20%, or 90% of all positives) related to non piracy issues. Microsoft “refused to comment on the rate of pure false positives” beyond saying it was “under 1%” (or as stated, at most around 5 million users affected).[36]”
WGA came out because as much as 25-35% of XP copies were pirated. Part of that piracy involved using the built in algorithm to identify cd keys which in turned hurt some legitimate owners who shared the same keys. It’s a calculated risk at recovering lost revenues, one I agree with from a business stand point.
LOL. Where did you hear that? My old XP system had about 7 reinstalls, pretty much every time I replaced a component, and not once did I have my system shut down nor did my updating stop. One time I had to call them and that was after I replaced my motherboard. Whoopty do. It’s not like the homogenous closed system that is Apple where profits come from overpriced hardware, MS bread and butter comes from software and when you are missing 25-35% of it because of thieves then you damn well do something about it.
Yes.
Now you tell me...d’oh. Didn’t know you could do that!
Just not true.
Personal friend of mine could not authenticate after multiple re-installs with original disc and had to actually call Microsoft by phone.
Fry’s had two different kinds of software. One was the fancy boxed up kind where you get a year? or so of technical help from Microsoft. Since XP had already stopped giving tech help that one was a waste of $$—the Fry’s guy helping me sent me to the part of the store where you build your own computer and they had the disks in a manilla envelope, no tech support, for about $30 dollars cheaper, IIRC...so that was the one I got.
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