Re: WGAtray.exe (Windows Genuine Authentication) spyware. Can this be disabled?

<paulmd@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1146705868.033409.99760@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vanguard wrote:
I didn't track at which point Microsoft dumped this on my host. I have
a genuine version (OEM) of Windows XP Pro when I bought the hardware and
software components for my system. As part of Microsoft discontinuance
of supporting pirated versions of Windows so they cannot get updates or
service packs (an understandable stance on their part), they have
decided to install spyware on all their customers' hosts. It is the
wgatray.exe process. See http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31281.

<much snippage>

You will have to google for WGA hacks. I doubt there will be much help
from the forum.



Since the microsoft.public.* groups are carried on servers OTHER than just Microsoft's, any replies to my post cannot be cancelled by Microsoft (because many, if not most, NNTP server won't honor cancels to eliminate the abuse they engender from malcontents). I will, however, have to reconsider whether I visit the microsoft.public.* groups using Microsoft's NNTP server (since they could cancel posts with info that they want to keep secret) or switch to using my ISP-contracted Giganews server for those groups (over which Microsoft doesn't control and Giganews doesn't honor cancels). Of course, the post and replies would still show up in Google Groups.

I'm not really looking for a "hack". I'm looking for a reasonable method of maintaining control over *my* hardware and its use and using the standard methods known by knowledgeable users. For startup programs, often they are found in the Run keys in the registry, the Start group, and a few times may even be in Task Scheduler (as a load-on-Windows-startup event). Even the WinLogon registry key isn't that much of a mystery to experienced users (or those at the admin level). I would prefer to disable it rather than delete it. When I'm using my system, it would be disabled. When I want to visit the Windows Update site (and presuming Microsoft can't figure out how to perform validation at that time only which is unlikely) then I would enable it to show, yes, I have a valid license. Just like a driver's license, I don't mind showing it to the security folk at the airport when requested but I'm not going to superglue it to my forehead to present it all the time. I am not objecting to presenting my credentials when requested, but there is no such request except when I am using Windows Update. I don't run the Windows Update service, either, but that doesn't stop me from starting it when I want to use it and then stopping when when I don't.

Like Windows Update service, I'd like a user-friendly and easily usable mechanism for enabling or disabling the WGA function. If it was disabled when I went the WU site then Microsoft could easily just refuse to provide the updates or service packs. I'd still have to use their WGA when visiting the WU site but obviously I nor any other legally licensed user needs it when they are *not* using the WU site.

Guess I'll treat it as malware since Microsoft wants to behave in similar manner to that type of software. I'll see if blocking it loading using ProcessGuard is effective. I can then reboot without ProcessGuard blocking it when I want to get updates. I'm not the stupid user appreciated by Microsoft that configures Windows Update to automatically download and install updates. I only let Microsoft tell me when there are new updates, and only then do I decide on *my* schedule when to download them and when to install them but only after reviewing their details.

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