XP "genuine advantage" Big Brother nightmares

Last night, while working on something else, I stupidly authorized
Windows to install a "genuine advantage" update that it was bugging me
for permission to install. I'd have been more scrutinous of this
request, had I not been distracted on other things.

So when I flipped the computer on this morning, I got a warning that I
may be using counterfeit XP software, or something to that effect. It
bugged me every step of the login process about this, and I blew it off
with the "resolve later" option they finally gave me.

20 minutes later, the computer went into the royal blue screen with the
white type saying that something bad had happened to the computer.

I restarted the computer and used System Restore to restore to a point
before I installed the "genuine advantage" (what a laugh) update.

My question is, how do I now avoid this update going onto my computer,
or better yet, how do I essentially permanently decline the "right" to
have it automatically installed?

By way of background, my computer is one I bought from a friend, that I
have since upgraded with a new motherboard, CPU, second hard drive for
data, and new graphics card.

I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I have
no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.

The computer is up to date in Windows' eyes. It has SP2 on it, and the
Windows Updates download at night and install in the background.

I am sure millions of users are waking up to this same nightmare I just
experienced, so I am sure solutions to this issue will soon be widely
propagating on the web.

And no, I'm not going to respond to the shakedown MS has on the "genuine
advantage" prompts, offering to make the problem go away if I pay them
money.

<snip>

> By way of background, my computer is one I bought from a friend, that I
> have since upgraded with a new motherboard, CPU, second hard drive for
> data, and new graphics card.
>
> I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I have
> no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.

<snip>

Hey! If you buy a car from a friend, drive it for two years before you are
pulled over in a traffic stop and find out the car is stolen, do you expect
to still keep that car "because you have driven it for two years and it has
given you no problems"? Of course not. You live with the consequences.

Not a great analogy I know, but the best I can come up with at the present.


--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

xp ? wrote:

> Last night, while working on something else, I stupidly authorized
> Windows to install a "genuine advantage" update that it was bugging me
> for permission to install. I'd have been more scrutinous of this
> request, had I not been distracted on other things.
>
> So when I flipped the computer on this morning, I got a warning that I
> may be using counterfeit XP software, or something to that effect. It
> bugged me every step of the login process about this, and I blew it
> off with the "resolve later" option they finally gave me.
>
> 20 minutes later, the computer went into the royal blue screen with
> the white type saying that something bad had happened to the computer.
>
> I restarted the computer and used System Restore to restore to a point
> before I installed the "genuine advantage" (what a laugh) update.
>
> My question is, how do I now avoid this update going onto my computer,
> or better yet, how do I essentially permanently decline the "right" to
> have it automatically installed?
>
> By way of background, my computer is one I bought from a friend, that
> I have since upgraded with a new motherboard, CPU, second hard drive
> for data, and new graphics card.
>
> I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I
> have no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.
>
> The computer is up to date in Windows' eyes. It has SP2 on it, and
> the Windows Updates download at night and install in the background.
>
> I am sure millions of users are waking up to this same nightmare I
> just experienced, so I am sure solutions to this issue will soon be
> widely propagating on the web.
>
> And no, I'm not going to respond to the shakedown MS has on the
> "genuine advantage" prompts, offering to make the problem go away if
> I pay them money.

Stop using MS's Updaters, Windows, Microsoft, and Automatic Updates.

Learn to patch your OS through Common Sense Computing:

http://comsense.microscum.com

--
Peace!
Kurt Kirsch
Self-anointed Moderator
http://microscum.com
"It'll soon shake your Windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'."

LMAO
You bought a computer from a friend, then proceeded to replace the
motherboard, CPU, hard drive, and graphics card...Why did you buy that
computer?....for the plug? LOL
"xp ?" <> wrote in message
news:xp-...
> Last night, while working on something else, I stupidly authorized
> Windows to install a "genuine advantage" update that it was bugging me
> for permission to install. I'd have been more scrutinous of this
> request, had I not been distracted on other things.
>
> So when I flipped the computer on this morning, I got a warning that I
> may be using counterfeit XP software, or something to that effect. It
> bugged me every step of the login process about this, and I blew it off
> with the "resolve later" option they finally gave me.
>
> 20 minutes later, the computer went into the royal blue screen with the
> white type saying that something bad had happened to the computer.
>
> I restarted the computer and used System Restore to restore to a point
> before I installed the "genuine advantage" (what a laugh) update.
>
> My question is, how do I now avoid this update going onto my computer,
> or better yet, how do I essentially permanently decline the "right" to
> have it automatically installed?
>
> By way of background, my computer is one I bought from a friend, that I
> have since upgraded with a new motherboard, CPU, second hard drive for
> data, and new graphics card.
>
> I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I have
> no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.
>
> The computer is up to date in Windows' eyes. It has SP2 on it, and the
> Windows Updates download at night and install in the background.
>
> I am sure millions of users are waking up to this same nightmare I just
> experienced, so I am sure solutions to this issue will soon be widely
> propagating on the web.
>
> And no, I'm not going to respond to the shakedown MS has on the "genuine
> advantage" prompts, offering to make the problem go away if I pay them
> money.

xp ? wrote:

>
> I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I
> have no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.
>
> The computer is up to date in Windows' eyes. It has SP2 on it, and
> the Windows Updates download at night and install in the background.
>
> I am sure millions of users are waking up to this same nightmare I
> just experienced, so I am sure solutions to this issue will soon be
> widely propagating on the web.
>
> And no, I'm not going to respond to the shakedown MS has on the
> "genuine advantage" prompts, offering to make the problem go away if
> I pay them money.

WGA is catching some people who are using pirated software, many without
even knowing they are. If you fall into this catagory then Microsoft are not
the people who are shaking you down.

It also appears to be catching out a lot of genuine users who have a problem
with their system or who are encountering bugs in WGA itself - not sure
which.

I totally sympathise, but if you're not willing to invest the time to find
out if you do have a genuine licence or not then it isn't really possible to
say much constructive about the situation.

Seriously thou, if you change out every component of a computer, it is now a
"new computer" and the original WindowsXP licence was for the "original
computer". I believe you can only make a limited number of hardware changes.

"CCrusher" <> wrote in message
news:e4RWLO%...
> LMAO
> You bought a computer from a friend, then proceeded to replace the
> motherboard, CPU, hard drive, and graphics card...Why did you buy that
> computer?....for the plug? LOL
> "xp ?" <> wrote in message
> news:xp-...
>> Last night, while working on something else, I stupidly authorized
>> Windows to install a "genuine advantage" update that it was bugging me
>> for permission to install. I'd have been more scrutinous of this
>> request, had I not been distracted on other things.
>>
>> So when I flipped the computer on this morning, I got a warning that I
>> may be using counterfeit XP software, or something to that effect. It
>> bugged me every step of the login process about this, and I blew it off
>> with the "resolve later" option they finally gave me.
>>
>> 20 minutes later, the computer went into the royal blue screen with the
>> white type saying that something bad had happened to the computer.
>>
>> I restarted the computer and used System Restore to restore to a point
>> before I installed the "genuine advantage" (what a laugh) update.
>>
>> My question is, how do I now avoid this update going onto my computer,
>> or better yet, how do I essentially permanently decline the "right" to
>> have it automatically installed?
>>
>> By way of background, my computer is one I bought from a friend, that I
>> have since upgraded with a new motherboard, CPU, second hard drive for
>> data, and new graphics card.
>>
>> I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I have
>> no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.
>>
>> The computer is up to date in Windows' eyes. It has SP2 on it, and the
>> Windows Updates download at night and install in the background.
>>
>> I am sure millions of users are waking up to this same nightmare I just
>> experienced, so I am sure solutions to this issue will soon be widely
>> propagating on the web.
>>
>> And no, I'm not going to respond to the shakedown MS has on the "genuine
>> advantage" prompts, offering to make the problem go away if I pay them
>> money.
>
>

Genuine Advantage Changed Dial- Up Settings. After instaling my PC now auto
dials Netscape dial-up connection on start up of PC. Past set-up was manual
internet connection start up by clicking desktop icon. Outlook & Outlook
Express are not enabled & have never been used. All prior Win XP updates are
installed & worked OK without changing any settings. Please tell me how to
turn OFF the auto dialer to intertet connection in Win XP? I know this is
simple, but it has been years since fooling with this setting & I can not
find the dialer settings. What hath hell brought?
--
MJSOI


"xp ?" wrote:

> Last night, while working on something else, I stupidly authorized
> Windows to install a "genuine advantage" update that it was bugging me
> for permission to install. I'd have been more scrutinous of this
> request, had I not been distracted on other things.
>
> So when I flipped the computer on this morning, I got a warning that I
> may be using counterfeit XP software, or something to that effect. It
> bugged me every step of the login process about this, and I blew it off
> with the "resolve later" option they finally gave me.
>
> 20 minutes later, the computer went into the royal blue screen with the
> white type saying that something bad had happened to the computer.
>
> I restarted the computer and used System Restore to restore to a point
> before I installed the "genuine advantage" (what a laugh) update.
>
> My question is, how do I now avoid this update going onto my computer,
> or better yet, how do I essentially permanently decline the "right" to
> have it automatically installed?
>
> By way of background, my computer is one I bought from a friend, that I
> have since upgraded with a new motherboard, CPU, second hard drive for
> data, and new graphics card.
>
> I have an XP CD that I got from him, and it *looks* genuine, but I have
> no desire to tinker with an O/S that had otherwise been fine.
>
> The computer is up to date in Windows' eyes. It has SP2 on it, and the
> Windows Updates download at night and install in the background.
>
> I am sure millions of users are waking up to this same nightmare I just
> experienced, so I am sure solutions to this issue will soon be widely
> propagating on the web.
>
> And no, I'm not going to respond to the shakedown MS has on the "genuine
> advantage" prompts, offering to make the problem go away if I pay them
> money.
>

xp ? <> wrote:

> So when I flipped the computer on this morning, I got a warning that I
> may be using counterfeit XP software, or something to that effect. It
> bugged me every step of the login process about this, and I blew it
> off with the "resolve later" option they finally gave me.

This might or might not actually be the case: there are some false positives
at present. Please download the MGA diagnostic from:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=56062
and run it. Click the "Copy to clipboard" button and paste the result into
a post on the special WGA forum at:
http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/...=442&SiteID=25
where you will get better advice than from this Windows Update forum.

> 20 minutes later, the computer went into the royal blue screen with
> the white type saying that something bad had happened to the computer.

This might just be a bad coincidence: there is no reason why the WGA process
should have provoked a blue-screen. If it happens again, note down the
diagnostic details at the bottom of the screen, which should serve to narrow
down the cause of the crash.

--
Robin Walker [MVP Networking]

MJSOI wrote:
> Genuine Advantage Changed Dial- Up Settings. After instaling my PC now auto
> dials Netscape dial-up connection on start up of PC. Past set-up was manual
> internet connection start up by clicking desktop icon. Outlook & Outlook
> Express are not enabled & have never been used. All prior Win XP updates are
> installed & worked OK without changing any settings. Please tell me how to
> turn OFF the auto dialer to intertet connection in Win XP? I know this is
> simple, but it has been years since fooling with this setting & I can not
> find the dialer settings. What hath hell brought?

Use your firewall to block the WGA spyware and it will stop.

Alias

MJSOI <> wrote:

> Genuine Advantage Changed Dial- Up Settings. After instaling my PC
> now auto dials Netscape dial-up connection on start up of PC. Past
> set-up was manual internet connection start up by clicking desktop
> icon.

Open control panel "Internet Options", click tab "Connections". Ensure that
"Never dial a connection" is checked, rather than "Dial whenever a network
connection is not present.

--
Robin Walker [MVP Networking]