Cevinzol
05-05-2006, 06:12 AM
I have Win XP
I have automatic updates set to "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them."
recently the little icon poped up in my systray telling me the evil empire had found another new piece of fatware it had to install.
Windows Genuine Advantage Notification (KB905474)
Size: 0.8 MB
The Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool notifies you if your copy of Windows is not genuine. If your system is found to be a non-genuine, the tool will help you obtain a licensed copy of Windows.
More information for this update can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39157
Hmm... this smells like BIG BROTHER. so I went to the article. I loved the picture of the happy woman cradling her laptop. It looked like she was nusing it! truely disturbing! I guess it was supposed to make me feel all warm and cozy - MS is my mother (shudder).
The content was all fluff.
Does it matter if your copy of Windows is genuine? Yes, if you want the confidence of knowing that your software is legitimate and fully supported. And only genuine Windows customers can receive product downloads, Windows updates and special offers.
Ok.
So let me get this straight.
- I just recieved an update thats going to check to see if I can get updates.
- Doesn't that fact that I could get this update in the first place indicate I DON"T NEED THIS UPDATE!
I paid for this copy of the O/S, registered it so I could get updates to plug all the code-holes they have and now years later I have to install some piece of spyware thats going to re-confirm what's already in their records!
Is this a friendly little rootkit from Bill or is it their way of saying "oops our database crashed and we didn't make a backup, can you please re-send us your info?".
I don't want to install this update. I tried to uncheck it and cancel the instalation but the next time I rebooted it was back. I went looking on some of the sites expecting to find major articles about this update. I expected to find articles condeming this as an "invasion of privacy" or an "Orwellian nightmare" or some other headline grabbing title. Instead I found a bunch of MS ass kissers so far up Bill's butt they were licking his uvula! The major justification for them was "If you're not guilty of piracy, you have nothing to worry about"
OMG! If this was the real world Bill would be kicking people's doors down. Where's due proccess? Where's the assumption of inocent until proven guilty? I live in the US and Microsoft is a US company so these things should apply!
My main beef is this:
I have a legal copy of this O/S. I don't mind having the update app run a background check on me. I just do not want 800k of drive space taken up! and I certainly don't want an app (WGAtray.exe) constantly running on my system!
That's MY RAM, MY CPU CYCLES and you can't have em! It'll slow down my games damn it!
Edit: I've found an article on how to get rid of this crapplet. However I'm still not going to run the update until I've worked up a real good mad and called my old co-workers over at MS Tech Support and read them a few chapters from Keep-you're-nose-out-of-my-computer!
I have automatic updates set to "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them."
recently the little icon poped up in my systray telling me the evil empire had found another new piece of fatware it had to install.
Windows Genuine Advantage Notification (KB905474)
Size: 0.8 MB
The Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool notifies you if your copy of Windows is not genuine. If your system is found to be a non-genuine, the tool will help you obtain a licensed copy of Windows.
More information for this update can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39157
Hmm... this smells like BIG BROTHER. so I went to the article. I loved the picture of the happy woman cradling her laptop. It looked like she was nusing it! truely disturbing! I guess it was supposed to make me feel all warm and cozy - MS is my mother (shudder).
The content was all fluff.
Does it matter if your copy of Windows is genuine? Yes, if you want the confidence of knowing that your software is legitimate and fully supported. And only genuine Windows customers can receive product downloads, Windows updates and special offers.
Ok.
So let me get this straight.
- I just recieved an update thats going to check to see if I can get updates.
- Doesn't that fact that I could get this update in the first place indicate I DON"T NEED THIS UPDATE!
I paid for this copy of the O/S, registered it so I could get updates to plug all the code-holes they have and now years later I have to install some piece of spyware thats going to re-confirm what's already in their records!
Is this a friendly little rootkit from Bill or is it their way of saying "oops our database crashed and we didn't make a backup, can you please re-send us your info?".
I don't want to install this update. I tried to uncheck it and cancel the instalation but the next time I rebooted it was back. I went looking on some of the sites expecting to find major articles about this update. I expected to find articles condeming this as an "invasion of privacy" or an "Orwellian nightmare" or some other headline grabbing title. Instead I found a bunch of MS ass kissers so far up Bill's butt they were licking his uvula! The major justification for them was "If you're not guilty of piracy, you have nothing to worry about"
OMG! If this was the real world Bill would be kicking people's doors down. Where's due proccess? Where's the assumption of inocent until proven guilty? I live in the US and Microsoft is a US company so these things should apply!
My main beef is this:
I have a legal copy of this O/S. I don't mind having the update app run a background check on me. I just do not want 800k of drive space taken up! and I certainly don't want an app (WGAtray.exe) constantly running on my system!
That's MY RAM, MY CPU CYCLES and you can't have em! It'll slow down my games damn it!
Edit: I've found an article on how to get rid of this crapplet. However I'm still not going to run the update until I've worked up a real good mad and called my old co-workers over at MS Tech Support and read them a few chapters from Keep-you're-nose-out-of-my-computer!