Re: [Off Topic] Windows Genuine Advantage

[Michael Norman michael.norman@xxxxxxxx]

At 12:18 AM 8/11/2006, J R FOX wrote:
> This is what I had bookmarked:


Some addenda:

> http://home19.inet.tele.dk/jys05000/


This does not work on all machines. I think later versions of the
WGA module are grayed out in this particular dialog.


> http://home19.inet.tele.dk/jys05000/use-automatic-updates-to-get-updates.htm


This is for the PILOT version of WGA-Notify. It's not clear why you
can't remove the later version, but many sites say you cant.



> http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/28/microsoft_genuine_ad.html


This no longer works at all.

This, I gather, from Scot's Newsletter, as useful a site as Windows
Secrets, is one of the most reliable set of instructions
http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/83.htm#wgaoff. You'll note you need
the WGA validation patch to get the security updates; you don't need
the WGA notification patch.


The larger question is: Is all this worth the time and trouble? Our
university IT service, including the SYSOP in my shop, downloads all
patches, the WGA notification patches included. At home, instead, I
try to keep my machine as lean as possible, which is to say free of
necessary or problematic programs. For me all this is a question of
expediency: I try, given the limits of my knowledge, to keep problem
code off the machine. Limited knowledge...what I know is what I have
time to read. Much of the early material on WGA, especially that on
Windows Secrets, indicated that the software caused problems. So I
paused before installing it and tried to read more. (Hence my
question to the list.) Now, according to the latest writing on the
subject, the second version of the WGA software is less problematic.
So I may just go ahead and install it and move on. Vista beta testers
report that it's already built in to that software anyway. Thanks for
the many responses here. The POV's were diverse and interesting, and
very useful.


Michael Norman