Windows Genuine Advantage Tool

Jon_Bull

Hi,
I've been given a friend's old PC that seems to work fine but every time I log on I get a warning that the "software I'm using may not be genuine" and I can't seem to validate the software.

Is there a way around this? As I say the PC works fine but this message is really annoying!

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jon

Livingthedream

Sound like you might have a dodgy operating system installed, if you think its legit and have proof of this then phone microsoft and see if they will give you a new key, else you will have to purchase a new copy.

bonzer

Is it Windows it's complaining about? Has it got a license sticker on the machine for the version of Windows it's running? Is there any reason to suspect it may not be genuine?

Bowling_4_Gold

We had a similar problem a few years back with our main pc, and we used this method. Be warned, it may be more complicated then you imagined!

First Method

1. Lauch Windows Task Manager.
2. End wgatray.exe process in Task Manager.
3. Restart Windows XP in Safe Mode.
4. Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32.
5. Delete WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32\dllcache.
6. Lauch RegEdit.
7. Browse to the following location:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
   Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify
8. Delete the folder ‘WgaLogon’ and all its contents
9. Reboot Windows XP.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/0...ns-nag-screen/

Jon_Bull

I couldn't find a sticker on the PC.
I wasn't sure if it was genuine or not - the reason I inherited the PC was because my friend has gone to live in Australia so I've not been able to ask him what was going on with it.

With the help of someone more knowledgeable than me I've managed to execute Bowling_4_Gold's advice and that seems to have done the trick.

Thanks very much for that.

Is that it cured or is it likely to happen again?

Thanks again for everyone's help,

Jon

Money_Grabber13579

This is happening an awful lot of late, so I assume it must have been an update that Microsoft released to a certain group of users, during the last round of updates. Surely they couldn't all be dodgy?

Paradigm

Microsoft release new versions of the WGA file periodically on windows update & the above "cure" doesn't work on the newer ones.

Better to not have windows automatically download updates but notify you so that you can select the priority items & ignore the WGA.

devizes18193

http://windowssecrets.com/2009/05/21

bookduck

be vary careful when installing updates- especially if done automatic ones, as MS often try and sneak their in their Advantage and you become disadvantaged! I think it is a great promotion area for Ubuntu

Set updates to let you choose the ones to install.

Jon_Bull

I will monitor the content of the updates very carefully!

With regard to the link devizes 18193 has posted - when I try and download the Google Gadget from the Shavlik website at the end of the article that Devizes has kindly posted it is "of unknown file type". This prevents it from being downladable. Is this a problem with my PC or is there a problem with the download?