WGA Changes

Posted on June 28, 2006 One Comment

Genuine Banner
Microsoft put out this press release this week to announce some changes with Windows Genuine Advantage.

If you cut to the chase:

The updated package includes some notable changes to the software based on customer feedback from the previous version.

No daily configuration check
In the pilot phase, a PC that had installed WGA Notifications checked a server-side configuration setting upon each login, to determine if WGA Notifications should run or not. This configuration file check has been removed in the updated WGA Notifications package released today. It is important to note that WGA Validation still periodically checks to determine whether the version of Windows is genuine.

Clearer EULA and instructions to opt-in.
The End User License Agreement (EULA) has been replaced with a standard, General Availability EULA that more clearly explains the purpose of the software and details about WGA Notifications. For customers who choose not to install the updated package, and wish to remove an installed previous version, Microsoft has made available a set of instructions for removing previous versions of WGA Notifications from their PCs.

No more phoning home every time you log in (unless you had already “firewalled” it …).

Ed Bott, over at ZDNet, is getting lots of attention with his recent “Kill Switch” post. Scary stuff and worth a read.

Tags: microsoft, spyware