How to dump Windows' piracy 'spyware'

Man, I couldn't believe it was Microsoft who finally got my system infested with spyware! An unkillable process? Popup windows? A prompt you have to click at logon? My GOD!!! But it's ok. You CAN get rid of it:

There are 2 parts to this spyware popup: WGAtray.exe and wgalogon.dll. Killing the WGAtray.exe process causes it to reappear in 1 second. With it present, WGAlogon cannot be deleted. And you can't delete it while it's running. Seem impossible? Nah.

First, you need to have an Explorer window open and pointing to the C:windowssystem32 folder, where the spyware resides (interestingly, doing a hard drive search for "wgatray" turns up nothing- clever spyware, this is!). And you have to have Task Manager open, right beside the Explorer window. This is tricky, and must be done fast- you kill the process in Task Manager, and before the spyware can reopen itself, you must delete WGAtray.exe in the Explorer window. You only have a split second, but it is possible. Once the spyware .exe is gone, you must reboot your computer.

Yes, now you will see the spyware's nag screen. No problem, it's the last time. When you DO finally get to the desktop, do a search "for WGAlogon.dll" You will find 2 copies, one in system32 and one in the dllcache folder. Without the WGAtray spyware to protect them (did you notice it was gone? YAY!), you can rename and then delete both these spyware .dll's. Your system may hang when you reboot it the first time, but when it is brought back up, THE SPYWARE IS ALL GONE.

Whew. Man, I may have to stop using Windows Update. It installs spyware!

I'm afraid of these malware writers coming after me for defeating their product, so I can't provide my real email. But feel free to share this malware removal process with the world.

-Kevin

Microsoft piracy pop-up is persistent

From the Knowledge Base website:

"How to uninstall Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications You can use Add or Remove Programs to view Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications, but you cannot use Add or Remove Programs to remove the notifications."

So... an unwanted programme that can not be uninstalled normally? Isn't this considered Spyware? From Microsoft?

My head as just exploded.

Jouki

Microsoft targets Windows pirates with pop-ups

The annoying pop-up (WgaTray.exe) can easily be removed in following steps:

1. run > regedit, search and delete all references to WgaTray.exe

2. start in safemode and remove the infection by deleting the file WgaTray.exe in c:WindowsSystem32, placed there by the second greediest Corporatin in the World (Intel honlds the enviable no1 spot). (B. Gates III is best known for spying on his customers.)

3. restart your computer and enjoy your fredom, dear rebel

> 4. start using linux or mac

By the way, does anyone really know what spyware MS included with its' inferior "products" ?

Regards, Peter
Finland

Destroy Internet Explorer campaign gets tooled up

Is it just me or does this make no sense at all?

1. It has nothing to do with the elimination of adware and spyware. Most people use IE, so most ad/spyware targets IE. If everybody suddenly switches to firefox, they'll target firefox.

2. Microsoft is not a bad corporation. Google is not a benign corporation. There are no good corporations and bad corporations, there are just corporations and other corporations, all engaged in the admirable quest for money and more money. How did anybody get the idea that Google (or, god forbid, Apple) looks out for the consumer? The mind boggles.

Thanks.

z

Microsoft targets Windows pirates with pop-ups

"The initiative extends to Office, which gets its own Genuine Advantage programme (OGA) that, said the Vole, will operate almost identically to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)."

Excellent !

That should mean its by-passed within 24 hours too :)

Fred

Subject: Oblivion

As a devout follower I also highly anticipated Oblivion. From the start it was a great game, nice graphics, nice sound, easy questing, etc etc. Why do I write you guys this email then? Well, it was all nice for a total of 7 days! In 7 days I mastered every guild, had the best items and had nothing left to fight for or to discover.

Compare this with Morrowind, where high level creatures scared the crap out of me sometimes, where you almost got lost on the road, where I failed to even finish the game in 2 months of playing.

Is fun for just 7 days an improvement? I do not think so.

Destroy Internet Explorer campaign gets tooled up

This is a disturbing piece of news.

I mean at the end of the day if firefox is truely the better browser, it will just come on top regardless, as it is currently happening.

But, if people, organisations are ganging up to discriminate other software or company, this is just another form of monopoly scheme, and it shouldn't be encouraged.

I think campaigns should be used and targeted more sensibility and more for a justified course !

Google is paying to destroy now? regardless of the ethic aspect of their action, this is still quiet surprisingly, evil. From a company that has gained its populatrity through quality of service, they've just proven themself to be yet another coorperate schemes.

So ye, to summarize, Fck google, fck firefox make up your own mind kiddies.

reif

Microsoft targets Windows pirates with pop-ups

Hello Paul:

Things like this make me wonder if I haven't woken up in an alternate reality Universe of the Terribly Silly. If Microsoft had been releasing new versions of Windows all this while instead of endless security updates......

But I'll just numberize my gripes:

1. If they want to do this, fine, but what about if they oplaster people running copies of Windows that are actually legitimate with pop-ups? (Show your purchase receipt, serial number, a photograph of your computer, and five signed statements attesting to your good character.) And are they going to extend it to people running older version of Windows? (You should upgrade now, you're costing us money by not upgrading. Click here to....)

2. Office "Genuine Advantage" won't affect me since I've been running Open Office for almost three years. I don't like the look-n-feel as much, but you can't complain on the price.

3. The only reason I keep using Windows is the driver support and it's pretty easy to sort it's problems out. Otherwise I'd leave in a heartbeat. Hear that Linux zealots? I don't need to be berated about how smart people use Linux, just make it so mere mortals can update drivers and software. That's all I ask.

Sincerely,

Scott Peterson

Microsoft targets Windows pirates with pop-ups

Fair enough, i guess that everyone who complains about this does not have a (legal) leg to stand on. No matter how harshly Micro$oft seem to be behaving. But this is also the reason why i don't have automatic updates turned on :-D Give it a week or 2, someone will crack it.

You don't think M$ could go the way of the RIAA? I suppose it would be quite easy for them to find out who is running valid installs and who isn't, once they've got that list, get an IP address or something. Then they complain and threaten the user's ISP who will hand over details and bang! Instant lawsuits...

Dan

'Honest gov, i was just evaluating'

Subject: Oblivion

I agree that Oblivion is stunning.The graphics are fantastic, sound is excelent and the gameplay is almost as good as Morrowind.But i strongly believe that it's predecessor was better.Lets see about the modders.

One problem.They charge ou for minor goodies to download at their site.Look at it and write something about it.

Pseudonym and address supplied

Microsoft piracy pop-up is persistent

I think the easiest way to get around this is not to download the automatic update.

When I heard it was being delivered this way, I told automatic updates to notify me only and updates and not to automatically install them. Lo and behold, a "Windows Genuine Advantage" update tipped up this morning. Uncheck the checkbox, tell it I don't want to be notified about it again, and Bob's your uncle.

Of course, by now it's probably far too late for all the poor saps who didn't do this.

Matthew Haughton

µ