Windows SP1: does it contain the windows activation thingy?

penrhyn

Ah Ha me hearties.

Browntoa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Genuine_Advantage#False_positive_rate

False positive rate
The WGA program can produce false positives (incorrectly identifying a genuine copy of Windows as "not genuine"). This can happen for any number of reasons such as failed updates, etc. Microsoft has established a forum to help users encountering problems.[34] In February 2007, a "Not Sure" section was added to the program, in case of an incorrect reading.[35]
According to an editorial on the arstechnica.com technology website, WGA reported around 22% of 500 million Windows computers as failing the test; of these less than 0.5% were due to pirate software, with the balance (over 20%, or 90% of all positives) related to non piracy issues. Microsoft "refused to comment on the rate of pure false positives" beyond saying it was "under 1%" (or as stated, at most around 5 million users affected).[36]

USM

stef73 wrote: »

Just updated my windows 7 which i bought from Amazon its also saying its not genuine

If you got this from an Amazon seller rather than 'Amazon' themselves, it's likely that this is a developer key or similar which has been sold to you by a hooky seller.

redux

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Just about any time you download using Windows Update manually it checks and installs the WGA checker.

Actually I don't think this is the case

There was one update which was said to be associated with WGA, and I chose not to install it.

And apart from the false results other people have mentioned, I was told yesterday that my product ID isn't valid. But it isn't invalid either. It just didn't exist in the records that person had access to.

StumpyPumpy

Just go to this website: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/licensing/homeuser/notifications.mspx or the activation FAQ http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/help/genuine/faq
They explain everything and what you need to do.

By the way, Microsoft has mechanisms in place that can block specific Product Keys or ranges of Product Keys for all its products (that is how all the hacked XBoxes got kicked off Live a little while ago)
WGA is checked periodically, but not usually for security patches: believe it or not, MS will still fix security holes in systems it knows to be pirated, the separate update for WGA had nothing to do with that process, it was just a general update. Service Packs update the kill list and recognise some hacked files and replace them. (You didn't think that MS wouldn't know about all the different ways pirates are trying to bypass security, did you?) Even if you do not install the service pack, any future updates are built from the post SP source tree so you will end up with the kill list and the replaced files pretty soon anyway.
The other issue with pirated copies are that many use volume licenses with KMS hacks. The SP causes the license to expire and updates the KMS client software. In a legitimate environment, the client automatically reconnects to the KMS server and updates the license. In a pirate environment? Well, I'm sure we all have KMS servers running at home... This does cause an authentication problem with people that update a work laptop at home, a problem that mysteriously goes away when they first connect it to their work network to complain to their IT Department. It also explains why that laptop you quietly updated to Win7 from work's distribution point for a friend suddenly starts giving errors too.

stef73

USM wrote: »

If you got this from an Amazon seller rather than 'Amazon' themselves, it's likely that this is a developer key or similar which has been sold to you by a hooky seller.

it was bought direct from Amazon , went in to control panel , systems , change product key put in my key from disc and its now valid .

A.Penny.Saved

Browntoa wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Genuine_Advantage#False_positive_rate

False positive rate
The WGA program can produce false positives (incorrectly identifying a genuine copy of Windows as "not genuine"). This can happen for any number of reasons such as failed updates, etc. Microsoft has established a forum to help users encountering problems.[34] In February 2007, a "Not Sure" section was added to the program, in case of an incorrect reading.[35]
According to an editorial on the arstechnica.com technology website, WGA reported around 22% of 500 million Windows computers as failing the test; of these less than 0.5% were due to pirate software, with the balance (over 20%, or 90% of all positives) related to non piracy issues. Microsoft "refused to comment on the rate of pure false positives" beyond saying it was "under 1%" (or as stated, at most around 5 million users affected).[36]

So ONLY 5 million people have to spend their valuable time sorting out microsofts screwups, many/most of whom have paid microsoft good money for supposedly working software!

It's a pity these people don't charging MS for their time!

birkee

Microsoft!
That word says it all.

Installed MS Office 2007, and immediately had to install about 240Mb of updates. Having done that, it wanted to update that with SP1, and downloaded about another 180Mb of updates.
Download software off their website, and use your disc registration to authorise it folks...... Bloody Microsoft!

[Deleted User]

Do you not consider security updates to be important then?

aliEnRIK

As I understand it, SP1 is an 'accumulative' update
So if all other updates were installed then Sp1 shouldnt make any difference. I read somewhere that the full version is about 550Mb. When I ticked mine it said 44Mb (ish), so clearly I had most updates already (some id chosen not to install by choice)

Im giving it a miss anyways

(I wonder if microsoft will be getting taken to court over this again?)