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Administrator
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 7/17/2008 4:42:39 PM
Posts: 2,101, Visits: 2,239 |
| Microsoft's anti-piracy system known (and loathed) as Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is set to lose its bite. When Vista SP1 launches in early 2008, WGA will still identify -- ad-nauseam -- what it thinks to be non-legal copies of Vista. However, it will lose its ability to disable said systems. The change was announced in a presentation by WGA senior product manger, Alex Kochis, who said, "Based on customer feedback, we will not reduce user functionality on systems determined to be non-genuine." That should bring a swift end to WGA customer complaints related to false-positives, spyware concerns, or server glitches. Score one point for law-abiding citizens everywhere.
AMD64 X2 5200+ 2.60GHz | 3GB DDR 667 | RAID 0 SATA3.0 WD Caviars 320GB total | Foxconn MCP61VM2MA-RS2H Geforce 6100 nforce400 chipset | Vista Ultimate x86
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Lead Forum Moderator
Group: Vista Forum Moderator
Last Login: Today @ 3:42:16 PM
Posts: 1,756, Visits: 1,518 |
| Sources I have access to have "tested" the RC version of the SP and indicate, that despite MS's claims, WGA will still disable the PC -- just not to the degree it does currently. It still puts you into a form of Reduced Functionality Mode, it still limits what you can do, it still enforces a time limitation; however, it does now appear to allow you to use Explorer to access your files.
Maybe, MS will cut back on the disabling by final SP 1 release time, don't know. But as for now, they've changed a "kill" switch into a "seriously injure" switch.
I didn't believe for one moment that they were going to change WGA to now say "OK, use Vista full-featured, for as long as you want, and to do anything you want -- without ever having to buy a real license" and just put up some annoying popups.
ASUS A832nSLI-Deluxe, AMD 64X2 4400 OC 2.4GHz, 3GB OCZ,
Running: XP Pro, Vista Ultimate 32-bit, Vista Business, Ubuntu 7.10, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
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vistaforums moderator
Group: Vista Forum Moderator
Last Login: 1/26/2008 11:51:59 AM
Posts: 228, Visits: 972 |
| instead of blocking the whole pc immediately it first warns the user for three days
the kill switch was meant for blocking illegal copy's. but instead it blocks legal versions while the illegal versions don't have a problem dealing with this. so the only peaple who suffer from the kill switch are the people who legally bought vista
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Lead Forum Moderator
Group: Vista Forum Moderator
Last Login: Today @ 3:42:16 PM
Posts: 1,756, Visits: 1,518 |
| Blackhat:
Not to nit-pick, but the "kill switch" (i.e., dropping into Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM)) already gives you 72 hours to reactivate the product. That's not a new feature.
What is supposed to be new is the claim by MS that WGA no longer has this "kill switch". What I'm trying to point out, and evidently not very well, is that this MS claim is not technically correct. Tests of applying SP 1, admittedly, the RC, have shown that RFM still takes place, it's just not as crippling as it was in the past. Thus, while SP 1 changes WGA to not "kill" your machine (after 72 hours), it still "cripples" it.
So, does this mean that the "kill switch" has been eliminated with SP 1? I think that's a matter of opinion (i.e., depends on what the meaning of "is" is!).
I just don't want the community thinking that with SP1, WGA has been "retired" and pirates will then be able to use their machines indefinitely -- because that is not the case.
Since you're a Moderator, PM me and I'll provide you the internet location to go to confirm what I'm saying.
ASUS A832nSLI-Deluxe, AMD 64X2 4400 OC 2.4GHz, 3GB OCZ,
Running: XP Pro, Vista Ultimate 32-bit, Vista Business, Ubuntu 7.10, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
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Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2/5/2008 10:14:07 AM
Posts: 2, Visits: 3 |
| | Will killing the "kill switch" resolve the pesky problems of having to reactivate my legal copy of Vista Ultimate whenever I modify my system hardware? |
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Forum Moderator
Group: Vista Forum Moderator
Last Login: 6/23/2008 8:26:49 PM
Posts: 39, Visits: 79 |
| Nope. The activation scheme is still unchanged. And it can get annoying when you tinker with your PC a lot... 
--
Dustin Harper
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Lead Forum Moderator
Group: Vista Forum Moderator
Last Login: Today @ 3:42:16 PM
Posts: 1,756, Visits: 1,518 |
| Recent update. Read the story at the link:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1253
ASUS A832nSLI-Deluxe, AMD 64X2 4400 OC 2.4GHz, 3GB OCZ,
Running: XP Pro, Vista Ultimate 32-bit, Vista Business, Ubuntu 7.10, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
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