p2pnet - rss feed: Microsoft spyware project
p2p news / p2pnet: Are you a victim or a perpetrator? Bill and the Boyz want to know. And they’re determined to find out via spyware implanted in your computer.
When they booted up, today, some XP users in North America will have been invited to download a couple of “updates,” including one for the Microsoft Genuine Advantage scheme that’s part-and-parcel of the now-delayed Vista.
A Windows Genuine Advantage pop-up nags perpetrators (or victims) if Microsoft thinks they’re running a fake copy of Microsoft Windows XP.
Instead of the Blue Screen of Death, perpetrators (or victims) “running a copy of Windows that has failed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation process” will see:
It appears that you could be a victim of software piracy. The copy of Windows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine by Microsoft.”
And they’ll keep on seeing it until their computers are running “genuine Microsoft Windows”.
They’ll have two choices.
Click Resolve now or, click Remind me later.
There’s also the dreaded Balloon Notification
“After you log on to a non-genuine copy of Windows XP, you receive a balloon notification message in the notification area that is specific to the validation failure. You can click the balloon notification or the notification area icon to open the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Failure Web page. This Web page gives you the specifics of the validation failure and the steps that you can take to make the operating system genuine.”
Then the pervasive Desktop Banner Text which’ll appear if perpetrators (or victims) choose Remind me later.
In that case, the following banner text appears on the “locked desktop”:
“The copy of Windows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine by Microsoft.
Of course, there are alternatives.
Linux, anyone?
April 26th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Linux is not for everyone, hardcore gamers are out of luck with Linux. It has come a long way, but is still not ready for prime time desktop use, I know people who can barely use Windows, Linux would not work for them. Linux sucks to configure, there is no way people who are used to clicking on icons are going to be happy about editing text files instead. Hardware support is another issue, Joe six pack is not going to be into “recompiling the kernal” every time he needs to add new drivers.
)
The first thing people should do to get control of their Windows computers is to make sure automatic updating is OFF!! You are probably better off with third party software(zonealarm, spywareblaster, spybot search and destroy) than relying on Microsoft to plug up it’s numerous security holes anyway.
I would guess if you had system restore running you could probably roll back the changes. If not, or if that does not work, the other less pleasant option is to reformat and reinstall XP. (back up your important files first
April 26th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Or roll back to 2000 sp2! Most of the differences between it and XP involve IE, Outlook, the movie player and the junk “protection” that can replaced to good advantage with third party stuff. I dont need a one-way firewall or a crippled video player so 2000 works fine for me.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
Linux may not quite be up to high speed, high density gaming yet, but it’s great for everything else. Suse Linux is certainly really easy to set up and it virtually runs itself. It beats all the security and maintainence problems that have to be attended to while using Windows that’s for sure. I use Linux - Windows used to use me!
April 26th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
You may be right that Linux does virtually run itself, but the problem is that the average user isn’t capable of installing Linux on their computer. Heck, there are a lot of folks who are not capable of installing windows. I don’t know how to help them out with a new OS other than Linux, but surely they can avoid the Office alarm by using something like gOFFICE or Zimbra.
April 26th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
Why is it that people expect to be able to use computers as if they were simple white goods? They’re not, they’re complex pieces of machinery. You have to *learn* to drive a car. Which is a darned sight less complex to operate than a computer. If people bothered to put a little bit of effort into actually learning to use the damned things, they’d get a lot more out of them - and be liberated of the Microsoft behemoth at the same time.
April 26th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Give it two days.
Then go check on the big torrent sites. No doubt here will be a crack for this rendition of WGA. It’s less that a 1MB download and easier to install than Linux.
Alternative, one could find out what service running on XP is spewing out this annoyance and roll it back or get rid of it if it’s stand-alone.
April 27th, 2006 at 12:58 am
or you can just find a patch that corrects the microsoft spyware problem. The internet is a netherworld with many dark corners….
April 27th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
It would be nice if MS spent as much time staying current as it does harassing people.
How come SATA drivers are still (as far as I know) not included on XP? For those who don’t know, installing those drivers involves a floppy drive which most new computers don’t even have.
May 21st, 2006 at 8:07 am
I just reinstalled my fully licensed copy of WinXP and got the Validation Failure error when trying to update.. So, apparently this issue affects not only ‘unlicensed’ copies, but anything they suspect of being unlicensed, regardless of whether it is or not.
I recall a company installing spyware on people’s compys recently that compromised their systems.. Strange how M$ can get away with this, but Sony got a blackeye from the rootkit bs.