Windows Friendly Advantage
- mankrip
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Windows Friendly Advantage
Windows has a great new feature which helps notify you when you may have inadvertently pirated your copy of the operating system. This feature is really handy, because sometimes people will slip and fall and accidentally steal a copy of Microsoft Windows.
Windows Genuine Advantage will detect this situation and provide you with valueable feedback so that you may address the issue by going out and buying a new copy of the operating system and reinstalling.
Here is a screenshot of WGA in action:
Now, I greatly appreciate this information. I for one would immediately take corrective action if my copy of Windows was actually pirated.
Fortunately, sometimes your situation is a little different. Maybe an innocent user has, one way or another, lost possession of their original product key. Tornado, earthquake, fire, air raid, black holes and ninja stars are some possible ways this could occur.
What do you do in this situation? Now, it seems rather silly to go buy another product key - just because you lost yours. It’s a simple misunderstanding.
Luckily, Microsoft was polite and left the binaries for WGA lightly protected. This means you can easily go in and inform WGA that you have, in fact, purchased your copy of Windows.
There are programs out there to make this modification for you. I took a slightly different approach, however, and decided that I would like to keep the warning message bubbles. I just wished to slightly modify the contents of those messages.
Now, whenever I come back to my computer - and sometimes just at random moments - WGA gives me a few words of appreciation. What used to be a depressing accusation of guilt, is now replaced with a friendly greeting! How nice.
The change is simple. Just pop open the WGA app in your favorite hex editor or resource editor, and search for the original messages. Replace with a message of your choice, and voila - your own personal motivational notification program.
c:\WINDOWS\system32\WgaTray.exe
Next, just open up task manager and kill the process “WgaTray.exeâ€Â. Don’t worry, it is such a user-friendly program that it will automatically restart itself!
Source
Windows Genuine Advantage will detect this situation and provide you with valueable feedback so that you may address the issue by going out and buying a new copy of the operating system and reinstalling.
Here is a screenshot of WGA in action:
Now, I greatly appreciate this information. I for one would immediately take corrective action if my copy of Windows was actually pirated.
Fortunately, sometimes your situation is a little different. Maybe an innocent user has, one way or another, lost possession of their original product key. Tornado, earthquake, fire, air raid, black holes and ninja stars are some possible ways this could occur.
What do you do in this situation? Now, it seems rather silly to go buy another product key - just because you lost yours. It’s a simple misunderstanding.
Luckily, Microsoft was polite and left the binaries for WGA lightly protected. This means you can easily go in and inform WGA that you have, in fact, purchased your copy of Windows.
There are programs out there to make this modification for you. I took a slightly different approach, however, and decided that I would like to keep the warning message bubbles. I just wished to slightly modify the contents of those messages.
Now, whenever I come back to my computer - and sometimes just at random moments - WGA gives me a few words of appreciation. What used to be a depressing accusation of guilt, is now replaced with a friendly greeting! How nice.
The change is simple. Just pop open the WGA app in your favorite hex editor or resource editor, and search for the original messages. Replace with a message of your choice, and voila - your own personal motivational notification program.
c:\WINDOWS\system32\WgaTray.exe
Next, just open up task manager and kill the process “WgaTray.exeâ€Â. Don’t worry, it is such a user-friendly program that it will automatically restart itself!
Source
- melancholy
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
I am so doing this to my inlaw's computer, only I'm going to change it to say:
This computer is dying!
Quick fixes are only prolonging the inevitable. Please, for the love of god, let your son-in-law just format everything and start over.
- I.M. Weasel
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
OMG stop looking at porn!
This is a family computer! This means you, dad.
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Mac Dream Tool / Mac Dream Tool Services (released Sept. 2019)
Creator of Various awesome Video Games
"You don't have to be forgiven. Clint Eastwood taught us that."
- gRiMgRaVy014
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- Code-Red
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
LOL @ this whole thread.
Fatal Occurance Detected.
Unknown darc.dll file has broke your computer.
- BlueCrab
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
Juan wrote:Code-Red wrote:Fatal Occurance Detected.
Unknown darc.dll file has broke your computer.
- butters
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
Actually it is possible to suddenly lose your valid Windows license. Happens all the time to college students who graduate.
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
BlueCrab wrote:Juan wrote:Code-Red wrote:Fatal Occurance Detected.
Unknown darc.dll file has broke your computer.
- gRiMgRaVy014
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
I have heard of this before.butters wrote:Actually it is possible to suddenly lose your valid Windows license. Happens all the time to college students who graduate.
- melancholy
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
I hope this doesn't happen to my copy of Vista.butters wrote:Actually it is possible to suddenly lose your valid Windows license. Happens all the time to college students who graduate.
Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
They're allowed to have a free/dirt cheap license for Windows so long as they're students.melancholy wrote:I hope this doesn't happen to my copy of Vista.butters wrote:Actually it is possible to suddenly lose your valid Windows license. Happens all the time to college students who graduate.
A few fries short of a happy meal.
- melancholy
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
Yes I know. I'm running one of those free/dirt cheap licenses. That's why I'm scared. I was just hoping that the message about erasing Windows when I graduate was just a warning and wasn't actually tracked so, you know, I could just keep using it.APE wrote:They're allowed to have a free/dirt cheap license for Windows so long as they're students.melancholy wrote:I hope this doesn't happen to my copy of Vista.butters wrote:Actually it is possible to suddenly lose your valid Windows license. Happens all the time to college students who graduate.
Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
I don't think there are any provisions built into any version of windows to allow for erasure of ones installation. WGA might potentially allow for them to disable any future updates but that would require the college knowing your key and reporting it to MS.melancholy wrote:Yes I know. I'm running one of those free/dirt cheap licenses. That's why I'm scared. I was just hoping that the message about erasing Windows when I graduate was just a warning and wasn't actually tracked so, you know, I could just keep using it.APE wrote:They're allowed to have a free/dirt cheap license for Windows so long as they're students.melancholy wrote:I hope this doesn't happen to my copy of Vista.butters wrote:Actually it is possible to suddenly lose your valid Windows license. Happens all the time to college students who graduate.
A few fries short of a happy meal.
- mankrip
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Re: Windows Friendly Advantage
WGA will most certainly track it through the CD-key/serial number. Since Windows 95 Microsoft always used different keys for different licenses. For example, you could use the same CD for upgrade or full installation depending on the key you used. I suppose it works the same way with Vista.APE wrote:WGA might potentially allow for them to disable any future updates but that would require the college knowing your key and reporting it to MS.