Microsoft WGA Becomes Nagware

Posted by Tim Davis on 25 April 2006 - 16:59

Microsoft announced that on Tuesday it will make Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) more bothersome than ever. A new update for WGA is now on the Windows Update website as a mandatory update. Once installed, your copy of Windows will be checked for validity. If your Windows installation is found not to be genuine, Windows will display a message telling you that “This copy of Windows is not genuine.” Windows will check and display messages on every boot as well as once an hour (or so). The new WGA tool also puts an icon in your system tray if your copy of Windows is not genuine.

Once notified and prompted to validate your copy of Windows, you will have 14 days to do so. If after 14 days you do not comply, you will not be able to download updates from the Windows Update website. Critical security updates will still be available via the Automatic Update built into Windows.

More information: Aviran's Place
Source and full story: neowin.net
Related: Disable Non Genuine Windows Warning Messages: WGA Workarounds remove WGATray.exe