Disabling the WGA Startup Nag

Microsoft. You've gotta love 'em (sarcastic eye roll).

Not satisfied with being the overwhelmingly dominant desktop operating system, with profits that are through the roof, they have decided to declare war on those who would dare to pirate a system that is, IMHO, highly overpriced.

If your computer didn't come preinstalled with Windows, it'll cost you 90 bucks or more for a copy of XP Home.

You can buy a new computer with XP Home already installed on it for $270.00 at Tigerdirect.

Does that mean the computer itself costs $180.00? No.

It means that unless you accept Windows as your OS of choice at purchase time, you're going to have to cough up a much higher amount of money for it later.

That, friends, is how a monopoly is legally(?) maintained.

I'm not advocating piracy. However, many users are now plagued by a nag because Microsoft does not believe their systems to have legal installations of Windows. This nag manifests itself in the form of a timeout at startup time that shakes its virtual finger at you and says, effectively, “Tut tut! You're running pirated Windows! Now you're going to have to become legal!”

Eventually, you can proceed without “resolving” the issue by coughing up cash to go in Microsoft's massive bank account.

What's galling about this is that there are many, many reports of individuals who HAVE perfectly legal copies of Windows running yet have been singled out as pirates by this nasty little process.

You can't stop WGA, but you CAN stop the nag. Today's FamilyFirst site is a wikihow entry stepping you through it.

WGA may do even more sinister things in the future. Linux works well, friends. It's not too hard to master. It's immune to 99.99% of viruses and spyware. Think about it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Windows-Genuine-Advantage-Notifications

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