DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Vista SP1 kills the WGA kill switch

42 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/vista-sp1-kills-the-wga-kill-switch.74902/

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Harvik780 Original post #1
Dec 5, 2007 at 11:24 AM
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.

*img399.imageshack.us/img399/4817/imageviewphpvv1.jpg

Source
naveen_reloaded
Dec 5, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Wow good...now it will be more easy for hacker to get a crack....
It should have been stiff,but eventually will lead to less vista usage,inturn will favor for linux...

Let see how this move works.
patelpk
patelpk #4
Dec 7, 2007 at 5:17 PM
I think within days they (hAcKeRs) will found how to bypass this :)
infra_red_dude
Dec 7, 2007 at 9:03 PM
patelpk said:
I think within days they (hAcKeRs) will found how to bypass this :)
And why does anyone need to "hack" into this? All it does is sit in the tray and notify the user about non-legit copy of windows. With simple changes the notification can be turned off!

Hmmm... I dunno why but I think MS is feeling the heat of slowly losing its loyalists to Mac and OSS! First WGA-less IE7, now this... next what, MS?
The_Devil_Himself
Dec 7, 2007 at 9:57 PM
yea M$ feeling the heat.The world is changing and M$ aint loving it a bit.

Now unethical\clever steps are coming like crippled WGA(read windows piracy is supported officially by M$ now),providing crippled versions of XP to low cost PCs to be sold in poor countries to make sure they do know what is Windows\M$ and not just ubuntu\linux.
infra_red_dude
Dec 7, 2007 at 10:02 PM
The_Devil_Himself said:
Now unethical\clever steps are coming like crippled WGA(read windows piracy is supported officially by M$ now),providing crippled versions of XP to low cost PCs to be sold in poor countries to make sure they do know what is Windows\M$ and not just ubuntu\linux.
Offtopic: You seem to be obsessed with the way MS uses the folder addressing in its OS :D

That slash is usually not used there! (I mebbe wrong, tho :) )
The_Devil_Himself
Dec 7, 2007 at 10:07 PM
Lol dunno but it is prolly more duo to the fact that the other slash(/) is far from the main keys.lol.Or maybe that slash means division to me.Not sure.But sure enough its not due to windows cos I am on a complete ubuntu install for quite sometime.My Zune which syncs to PC only through a windows exclusive software(thanks M$) is nothing more than a super expensive FM receiver as of now.LOL.WIll have to install XP soon enough to sync more music+movies.
naveen_reloaded
Dec 7, 2007 at 10:29 PM
If ms losses one loyalty they will get two new ones.so no chi deal.it will take some more years to linux to get a good hold..but still ms rocks.
The_Devil_Himself
Dec 7, 2007 at 10:33 PM
I paid for Vista so Vista is the best OS in the world.
A
apoorva84 #12
Dec 8, 2007 at 1:55 PM
microsoft must be sick and tired of hackers always finding ways to bypass wga...
narangz
narangz #13
Dec 8, 2007 at 1:57 PM
The_Devil_Himself said:
I paid for Vista so Vista is the best OS in the world.

:D Haha... Bhai tu bhi Gaurav jaise joke karne lag gya :p
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navino87 #14
Dec 8, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Thanks for the info... I will surely stay away frm sp1 :D
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Harvik780 #16
Dec 8, 2007 at 5:42 PM
LOL i thought this thread would die just like microsoft windows by 2020.
The_Devil_Himself
Dec 8, 2007 at 5:45 PM
^^^no any thread with windows in title is sure to gain some attention.
ssdivisiongermany1933
Dec 8, 2007 at 6:31 PM
I don't want vista at all , even WGA is removed or not ...Pathetic OS vista is
infra_red_dude
Dec 8, 2007 at 11:22 PM
Kenshin said:
In case of Vista ....the system goes into restricted use...only IE7 is available to use if the OS is not genuine..
Thats what I said in the prev. post; this new version only notifies of non-legit copy, so problems :)
narangz
narangz #20
Dec 8, 2007 at 11:24 PM
The_Devil_Himself said:
yeas but sadly you din't get the joke.

I understood what you meant :p
patelpk
patelpk #21
Dec 8, 2007 at 11:59 PM
infra_red_dude said:
And why does anyone need to "hack" into this? All it does is sit in the tray and notify the user about non-legit copy of windows. With simple changes the notification can be turned off!

Hmmm... I dunno why but I think MS is feeling the heat of slowly losing its loyalists to Mac and OSS! First WGA-less IE7, now this... next what, MS?
Oops i thought its about stopping the currently working cracks :D
I
Dec 9, 2007 at 1:36 AM
The OS Vista is good for those people who buy the Genuine DVD and have the good system requrement for the Vista in Desktop Computer or Lapto. I use genuine Vista and its run good in my computer. I dont face any problem with Vista. People like @.......( edited ) or others who use Pirate CD or DVD can't run Vists in smooth way. They allwase face some problem to run this operating system and this is the deference between Genuine CD or DVD and Pirate CD or DVD.
RCuber
RCuber #23
Dec 9, 2007 at 1:52 AM
Indranil92001 said:
The OS Vista is good for those people who buy the Genuine DVD and have the good system requrement for the Vista in Desktop Computer or Lapto. I use genuine Vista and its run good in my computer. I dont face any problem with Vista. People like @.......( edited ) or others who use Pirate CD or DVD can't run Vists in smooth way. They allwase face some problem to run this operating system and this is the deference between Genuine CD or DVD and Pirate CD or DVD.

Welcome .. meet me .. A Pi$$ed off "Gunuine" Vista user :mad:
The_Devil_Himself
Dec 9, 2007 at 9:33 AM
Indranil92001 said:
The OS Vista is good for those people who buy the Genuine DVD and have the good system requrement for the Vista in Desktop Computer or Lapto. I use genuine Vista and its run good in my computer. I dont face any problem with Vista. People like @.......( edited ) or others who use Pirate CD or DVD can't run Vists in smooth way. They allwase face some problem to run this operating system and this is the deference between Genuine CD or DVD and Pirate CD or DVD.

you mean purated Vista is different from so called original vista?LOL.

I have paid for Vista so everybody should pay for Vista to enjoy it fully.
narangz
narangz #25
Dec 9, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Charan said:
Welcome .. meet me .. A Pi$$ed off "Gunuine" Vista user :mad:

Even I thought similarly before buying a 1 GB RAM module :) .

For those who are going to say see you have to upgrade-
Well its a well known fact that Vista has higher hardware requirements. And till date I had no problems with Vista, never had a BSOD, no critical errors. No problems at all.
And I am not a MS fanboy :p
C
Dec 9, 2007 at 2:44 PM
Does Microsoft Actually Want Windows Vista SP1 to Be Pirated?

Read on : *news.softpedia.com/news/Does-Microsoft-Actually-Want-Windows-Vista-SP1-to-Be-Pirated-72961.shtml
RCuber
RCuber #27
Dec 9, 2007 at 3:10 PM
narangz said:
Even I thought similarly before buying a 1 GB RAM module :) .

you have 2 GB ram ?
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navino87 #28
Dec 9, 2007 at 3:21 PM
I am using pirated version of vista n ir runs cool... I haven't faced any problem... Its not tat only the original version works good :D : i am a Thief :D
narangz
narangz #30
Dec 9, 2007 at 10:02 PM
Charan said:
you have 2 GB ram ?

No. 512 MB+1GB. Have to run in single channel mode :(
Cyrus_the_virus
Dec 10, 2007 at 9:14 PM
Latest news confirms that Microsoft has decided to NOT kill the WGA switch as it started disabling Genuine Vista as well... lol *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/24.gif *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/24.gif *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/24.gif

Source: Watch the show 'click' on BBC or visit their site
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Harvik780 #32
Dec 10, 2007 at 9:39 PM
^^This is a very good example of being an irresponsible forum member.Only creating confusion.Why haven't you posted the source.
Cyrus_the_virus
Dec 10, 2007 at 10:07 PM
Harvik780 said:
^^This is a very good example of being an irresponsible forum member.Only creating confusion.Why haven't you posted the source.

I know you have a big personal grudge against me for absurd reasons of yours but it doesn't make me irresponsible as much as you've been by me forgetting to mention the source.

You could have rather just asked where is the source rather than flaming.

post has been updated with source
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Harvik780 #34
Dec 11, 2007 at 9:43 AM
I don't want any personal Grudges of whatever.Let's just keep it cool.
U walk your way i'll mine.
infra_red_dude
Dec 11, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Cool it guys :)

Vista won't kill WGA?? Hmmm.. back to square one?!
iMav
iMav #36
Dec 11, 2007 at 10:34 AM
^^ :? its being said to be 1 of the biggest reasons why 1 should upgrade to sp1 :)
infra_red_dude
Dec 11, 2007 at 10:48 AM
^^^ huh? Didn't get you. If WGA is not killed then how is it different from original retail?
iMav
iMav #38
Dec 11, 2007 at 11:00 AM
there is no news of wga not being killed as far as words from MS are concerned it is being done away with

cyrus could u please link us coz i did not find anything on click's site (i dont know how keywords or adwords work u seem to know them better :p)

and infra do u think that if they decided a flip-flop the internet would have no trace of it .... MS execs have themselves said that no more crippling or restriction mode of vista only a pop-up
infra_red_dude
Dec 11, 2007 at 11:05 AM
Yeah thats what I wanted to know. Even I couldn't find anything that they went back as far as killing WGA is concerned. Cyrus, could you post the link?
Cyrus_the_virus
Dec 11, 2007 at 3:40 PM
Hmmmm... I guess all the posts here has led to a bit of confusion *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/2.gif

Ok, I hope we all got this right, I'll just repeat it to make sure I got it right:

> "Killing the WGA Kill switch" and "Killing the WGA switch" are 2 completely different things.

Maybe I got it wrong but what I meant to say was that MS is going to stop disabling pirated Vista which I guess is what the thread is all about.

*gigasmilies.googlepages.com/actions1.gif My bad if I had created any confusion

However, to clarify what I said, just go to bbc.co.uk/click and watch the streaming show for this week. The news is between 07:27 - 07:57 mins.

iMav said:
there is no news of wga not being killed as far as words from MS are concerned it is being done away with
infra_red_dude said:
Even I couldn't find anything that they went back as far as killing WGA is concerned
See, I guess this is where the confusion is, MS is not disabling WGA, MS is disabling the WGA kill switch.
iMav
iMav #41
Dec 11, 2007 at 3:51 PM
Cyrus_the_virus said:
MS is not disabling WGA, MS is disabling the WGA kill switch.
yes :)
infra_red_dude
Dec 11, 2007 at 11:52 PM
Yep, thanks for clearing the confusion Cyrus :)