fdv Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 (edited) I wouldn't ordinarily just post a Slashdot link, but this is one worth a read:http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/0...41&from=rssAnd yes, I know that this is a "maybe" scenario. But here's why WGA Shutoff bugs me.I am not a pirate. So, I shouldn't have anything to fear, right?Wrong. I have licenses for Windows. 2000 and 2003. I HFSLIP and nLite and reinstall all the time. Not a major issue for Windows 2000, because it doesn't require registration, but when WGA is installed, it says the copy is pirated. So it would be a victim of the shutdown scheme. Same for 2003. You only get so many installs of 2003 or XP. I have friends who have XP licenses. If I HFSLIP, nLite, and reinstall, their key becomes invalid due to having been used too many times. We all knew this would eventually happen, but I guess we didn't complain loudly enough.Now, my buddy just entrusted his laptop to me for reinstalling XP since it was riddled with malware. This was just a reinstall, no HFSLIP, no nLite, etc. They key was bad. Microsoft says "call [the laptop] manufacturer." Fair enough. A call to the manufacturer got us a "it was valid when we sold it to you. It's not our problem now."Nice. WTF am I supposed to do? Where does that leave me, and all of my clients who have valid licenses and clean XP installs? Or 2000 installs? My 2003 is heavily nLited, I did it way back before TP issued his reduction files. This means no more updates. No SP2 for 2003 unless I slipstream and hope that the reg key will work. No guarantee of that, though, because it's on it's second install. And I am aware that there is a file to keep the reg data when you upgrade hardware. That's one machine. I have more than one machine 'out there' that I re-did for someone.Now I have to firewall off the Microsoft domain, shut off autoupdates, and explain to several clients that yes, you are legally entitled to use Windows, but have a seat, because it's going to take me 30 minutes to explain why Microsoft doesn't recognize you as an authorized user since Windows has been re-installed.Yes, I know there will be ways 'around' this, which I do not talk about here at MSFN, but think about what this means if you work in IT. All those machines you set up and the explanations you're going to owe just mean more work, more support costs. You cannot simply reinstall. You've have to pull malware off of PC's manually -- yeah, right, we're talking a five-fold increase in time.Install Linux instead? 98% of users only want a web browser and Word. Sure, there are Windows-only things like VMWare and Adobe CS, but if you're using those, then you don't need guys like us in this forum to reinstall Windows for you, you're probably very knowledgeable. Making the change to Linux on a n00b's PC -- it's too much for them, they want the stupid little utilities their friends have. They want "in" on all of that garbage Windows has. AOL Instant Messenger. WMV video clips (I just HAVE to download that funny new video and now I CAN'T!! Linux SUCKS!).Anyway, had to blow off some steam... thanks for reading guys and gals Interestingly, here are some of the WGA problems people are having... From Microsoft's OWN SITE.http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowFo...2&SiteID=25 Edited June 29, 2006 by fdv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubar Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 I have posted this in the Technology News section already.http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=77371 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiki Burgh Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 he! he! & perhaps thereason for officially going public with this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921914well not that it is not everywhere in the web anyway ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aluminum Posted June 29, 2006 Share Posted June 29, 2006 If/When this WGA-death thing goes live, they will be open to all sorts of fun litigation. EULAs only go so far even in our techno-dumbass legal system, and you KNOW its going to screw over tons of legitimate owners, not to mention gov't agencies and the like.Anyways, all these victims are barely getting by nowadays with the massivelly distributed infestation and hijack system known as the internet...that pent up angst will flood out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomcat76 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 (edited) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921914Haha!• Rename %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.dll to %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.old• Rename %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.exe to %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.old<snip>• Del %Windir%\system32\wgalogon.dll• Del %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.exeThis page is gonna be revised a lot, I bet... Edited June 30, 2006 by Tomcat76 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tain Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Let's be fair here...this isn't an announcement from MS. It is a blog posting from some guy who knows some guy who claims to have gotten the info from a phone tech rep. And we all know how knowledgeable tech support is...especially via the grapevine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubar Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 If you read my original WGA post about this you'd see the Inquirer is also another sourcehttp://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32706 lol tomcat, Thats exactely what i did as soon as it was installed. Aint no WGA going on any machine i own ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tain Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 @All: Be careful with this topic. It is dangerous territory.http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=18408 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjm003 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 I don't think they will get banned for posting information that MS provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scubar Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 (edited) Yea Tomcat has done nothing wrong by posting that info and i dont think there are any nazi admins on these boards anyway. Edited June 30, 2006 by ScubaSteve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tain Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 (edited) I was just saying that we need to tread carefully on this topic, not that anyone had violated a rule.And yes, the admins on this board will rightfully ban you for breaking the rules. Edited June 30, 2006 by TAiN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomcat76 Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 lol tomcat, Thats exactely what i did as soon as it was installed. Aint no WGA going on any machine i own ever again.My point was that the article instructs to delete two files that no longer exist (they were renamed before). Anyway... MS fixed this error by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aluminum Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 They wouldn't have bothered making WGA unless their original intention was to fully use it at some point in the future.The only real debate is when exactly that is, and what OSes. If it wasn't for public sentiment, their own crappy coding and legal risk, it would've been day 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chinkaara Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 They wouldn't have bothered making WGA unless their original intention was to fully use it at some point in the future.The only real debate is when exactly that is, and what OSes. If it wasn't for public sentiment, their own crappy coding and legal risk, it would've been day 1.WGA is totally USELESS !!! you can find WGA bypassing tool on net very easily... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PROBLEMCHYLD Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Whats the point of WGA when you have to get activation over the phone to use your copy of windows only after that why do legit users need it.Its just a Invasion of Privacy tool to keep tabs on our personal life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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