Microsoft Makes WGA Smarter

[zekrahminator]

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage software, which was designed to prevent piracy, is doing anything but. Cracks that get around, or even shut off, WGA are easily found by true pirates, while innocents are bagged for piracy when they've never even heard of the term. Fortunately, Microsoft has figured out how to make WGA friendly. Instead of WGA trying to use fancy code to find out if the Windows copy it is attached to is hacked, WGA will now search for the presence of common hacks, and only common hacks. This will drastically reduce the number of false flaggings, and make WGA a lot friendlier. Another large change is that the Vista version of WGA will no longer feature a "kill switch", or go into reduced functionality mode when WGA calls a hacked copy. Instead, there will be a long, politically-correct stream of dialog boxes that won't go away until you've validated. Microsoft made no mention of when this new, superior version of WGA will fly out factory doors.

Source: Neowin.net

[KainXS]

so a fake vista will go like "UPDATE ME NOW!!!" 2 minutes or threaten to kill you

[sinner33]

Hmmm, finally they are addressing the "real" problem. Making legit users life miserable. Now they'll be less miserable while the rest of us will still keep doing what we've always been doing

[mdm-adph]

It amuses me to no end that Microsoft is going the Shareware-esque "nagbox" route -- though I have to admit it's a much better solution!

[KainXS]

can you imagine your computer telling you stuff like "I like you, just don't verify me . . . don't leave me."

scary, I would get a valid copy after that

[trog100]

seems they are learning.. better an onboard pirate than a deserter.. he he

trog

[TheGuruStud]

They will fail. Of course, everything they do is an actual failure.... haha

I am curious to see if it even works. As far as they know, my XP is authentic. I don't have to apply a new crack every time they update WGA, either.

[panchoman]

this is stupid.. so wga is gonna look for us using wga bypass things? well pirates wont use wpa bypasses if its gonna check for em.. and if this means that they're gonna stop checking every serial number.. then people can just install the same copy of windows again and again..

[scoutingwraith]

I have to say that whatever Microsoft tries to use for protection against piracy will be hacked within the next couple of months. I dont know but i am starting to think that Hackers and Crackers do that for enjoyment just to piss Microsoft off.

[trog100]

pure conspiracy theory this but for years windows was easily copied.. the entire world began to speak "windows".. often pirate windows..

ms still made a fortune.. think long term investment plan.. when u have the world hooked.. all dependent on the windows language.. u tighten the screws.. make em all pay..

all they are doing now is loosening the screws a smidge.. they really would sooner have a pirate user rather than a lost user.. they still hold control whether the controlled pays for the control method or not..

the thing they fear most is tooo many users jumping ship..

trog

[TheGuruStud]

Originally Posted by trog100

pure conspiracy theory this but for years windows was easily copied.. the entire world began to speak "windows".. often pirate windows..

ms still made a fortune.. think long term investment plan.. when u have the world hooked.. all dependent on the windows language.. u tighten the screws.. make em all pay..

all they are doing now is loosening the screws a smidge.. they really would sooner have a pirate user rather than a lost user.. they still hold control whether the controlled pays for the control method or not..

the thing they fear most is tooo many users jumping ship..

trog

Oh yeah, that's why win95/98/2000 were never copy protected.
Spread the OS and lock the market in, even if you don't greatly profit at first b/c you will soon.

[Solaris17]

i agree trog i have a legit version of x64 XP but i got such a run around on the microsift hotline to verify it was real....omg it mad me angry...they had me on the phone for 1 hour and 4min looking at my phone several disconnects and 6 dept later...they told me it would be 65 dollars including if i need to format...i flipped and told them im getting this error because i reformatted i already know how to format and this shit is rediculous i told them i was switching to linux and then i hung up....

[Silverel]

When the whole WGA thing came about, I just called up whatever support number and told them to fix it. There's was 0 hassle for me, and I haven't seen anything WGA related since... I think two years ago or something like that?

[KainXS]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

i agree trog i have a legit version of x64 XP but i got such a run around on the microsift hotline to verify it was real....omg it mad me angry...they had me on the phone for 1 hour and 4min looking at my phone several disconnects and 6 dept later...they told me it would be 65 dollars including if i need to format...i flipped and told them im getting this error because i reformatted i already know how to format and this shit is rediculous i told them i was switching to linux and then i hung up....

Yeah, I got the same thing with the,, their support has always sucked and I kinda bought XP, 2000, and Vista since I used the windows my pc's came with except for vista where I got the product key from my brothers dell laptop

[Mussels]

This was beaten with game cracks ages ago... lol.

Deamon tools uses virtual DVD drives to get around needing the original disk - securom blacklisted systems with the same ID on the DVD drives as deamon tools used. Deamon tools randomises the ID on the drives now.

Wont take long for the good hacks to beat this... but its a good step. I like the lack of killswitch, as its that kind of thing that makes users want to pirate "if its going to make me format and lose my stuff anyway, why should i buy it?"

[ChillyMyst]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

i agree trog i have a legit version of x64 XP but i got such a run around on the microsift hotline to verify it was real....omg it mad me angry...they had me on the phone for 1 hour and 4min looking at my phone several disconnects and 6 dept later...they told me it would be 65 dollars including if i need to format...i flipped and told them im getting this error because i reformatted i already know how to format and this shit is rediculous i told them i was switching to linux and then i hung up....

exectly, my buddy went thru that, he gave up, told them he was changing to linux, they called him back within 5min and gave him a key that was effectivly a corp key so he never had to acctivate his x64 again......

on the other hand ms gave both of us vista ultimate and neither of us can stand it, so our keys sit in little boxes with receptts for old hardware we bought gathering dust.....

on and Mussels, you got no idea how many people i know who have been driven to that approch by ms, most even OWNED xp, but gave up and moved back to 2k or up to 2k3/x64pro corp because the got sick of having to call ms to get permission to reinstall their windows after replacing hardware........

i mean honestly, its just a load of crap.....this at least will push people who eather dont know they are pirating or who are casual pirats to buy a hopefully disscounted licence to validate their windows install.

personaly is till see people being driven as far back as 2000 due to vista and xp hassles.......and 2k has none of those hassles!!!

[btarunr]

Good. At least its good for people with genuine copies. If you can buy a clean/legit copy of Windows, there's nothing to feel bad about this whole WGA thing. You just have to activate, it's not like standing in a queue at the county offices, it's immediate by phone in business hours. No problems for me.

[Scrizz]

my copy is in the mail....