The WGA validation process validates the present installation of Windows and its license key against the detected computer hardware and determines if the software was licensed from Microsoft. It is accessible by either … See more

In September 2005, Microsoft filed lawsuits against a number of companies that sold unauthorized copies of software based on information from users who were told they have See more

Through Windows Genuine Advantage, Microsoft collects the following data:
• Computer make and model
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Time bomb
Even if WGA does not really make the operating system unusable, no updates except critical ones can be downloaded from Microsoft. … See more

WGA Validation Tool
When a user installs Windows Genuine Advantage, an Internet Explorer add-on is installed labeled "Windows Genuine Advantage".
In early releases the tool could be readily disabled with the IE … See more

Some personal firewalls, though not one embedded in Windows, may alert on the method by which wgatray.exe is started; in the case of Outpost … See more

On October 20, 2008, many users of Windows XP in China received a black desktop, as Microsoft introduced its WGA system for Chinese language systems in an effort to combat … See more