Submission + - Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Antipiracy Catches Non Pirates (microsoft.com) 2
ciscoguy01 writes: The Microsoft WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) antipiracy program aims to reduce software piracy.
I needed a driver for my Microsoft hardware. I went to Microsoft's download site, found the needed driver and started the download. As a Firefox user I was prompted to download the genuinecheck.exe program to verify I hadn't pirated Microsoft Windows. No problem. It's a PITA but what the heck. I needed the driver. The genuinecheck.exe program I downloaded is here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/exe-validation.aspx?id=7716
I ran it, and it said "This version of the Windows Genuine Advantage Tool is expired. Please download a new version". The problem is there is no new version.
This program failure prevents all Microsoft customers from downloading needed software without using the IE ActiveX solution which I am not willing to use. This has been going on for several weeks and there are a number of posts on the Microsoft support forums about this, but Microsoft either has not woken up to the fact their standalone tool has expired.
I tried but was unable to reach anyone at Microsoft that can update the standalone tool, but I did get an offshore support tech who offered to charge me $99 to solve the problem. Heh.
I told him I would help Microsoft solve the problem of an expired file on their web server for $99.
I needed a driver for my Microsoft hardware. I went to Microsoft's download site, found the needed driver and started the download. As a Firefox user I was prompted to download the genuinecheck.exe program to verify I hadn't pirated Microsoft Windows. No problem. It's a PITA but what the heck. I needed the driver. The genuinecheck.exe program I downloaded is here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/exe-validation.aspx?id=7716
I ran it, and it said "This version of the Windows Genuine Advantage Tool is expired. Please download a new version". The problem is there is no new version.
This program failure prevents all Microsoft customers from downloading needed software without using the IE ActiveX solution which I am not willing to use. This has been going on for several weeks and there are a number of posts on the Microsoft support forums about this, but Microsoft either has not woken up to the fact their standalone tool has expired.
I tried but was unable to reach anyone at Microsoft that can update the standalone tool, but I did get an offshore support tech who offered to charge me $99 to solve the problem. Heh.
I told him I would help Microsoft solve the problem of an expired file on their web server for $99.
