Fake Message From Microsoft about Pirated copies.

Customer called with this small window that pops up saying that their Windows is pirated and it needs to be addressed by Microsoft. The msg goes something like this:

"If you do not comply with our policy and get a legal copy then parts of your Windows will fail to work for you" Something like that. Then is says to:

Address this problem now or address it later, click to choose one.

This is not the exact msg but basically that is what it says.

So what is up with that? I told my customer not to click on anything or give your credit card out to anyone like that.

That may not be a bogus message. Windows Critical Update KB905474 which was just released recently will cause that message to pop up if you are running a pirated copy of Windows XP. Supposedly using System Restore to a previous date will get rid of that message because it removes the KB905474 patch. If your Critical Updates were set to automatically to download and install then I bet your buddy has an illegal copy of Windows.

Description of the Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications application
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905474/

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MORE INFORMATION

Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications notifies you if a copy of Microsoft Windows XP is not genuine. The notification messages only appear on computers that have failed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation process and that are running a copy of Windows XP that is not genuine. If you are running a validated, genuine copy of Windows XP, you will not receive notification messages.

Notification messages

The following notification messages will appear on computers that are running a copy of Windows that has failed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation process:

• Logon notification
  
  When you log on to a non-genuine copy of Windows XP, you receive the following logon notification error message:
  You may be a victim of software counterfeiting. This copy of Windows is not genuine and is not eligible to receive all updates and product support from Microsoft.
  
  Click Get Genuine now to get more information and resolve this issue.
  When you receive this message, you have the following two options:
  
  
  
  • You can click Get Genuine to start the Get genuine Windows process.
    
    
  • You can click Resolve Later. If you use this option, an icon will be available in the notification area that you can double-click to start the Get genuine Windows process.
  
  
  
• Balloon notification
  
  After you log on to a non-genuine copy of Windows XP, you receive a balloon notification message in the notification area that is specific to the validation failure. You can click the balloon notification or the notification area icon to open the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Failure Web page. This Web page gives you the specifics of the validation failure and the steps that you can take to make the operating system genuine.
  
  
• Desktop banner text
  
  If you use the Resolve Later option, the following banner text appears on the locked desktop:
  This copy of Windows is not genuine.
  You may be the victim of software counterfeiting

Every time that a notification appears, you receive detailed information about the specific validation failure. The information includes steps that you can take to resolve the problem.

Notes

• The frequency of the notification messages is determined at installation time. The notification messages continue to appear until the non-genuine copy of Windows has been validated as genuine.
  
  
• Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications will be deployed by using Automatic Updates.

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.

You can temporarily disable Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications. To do this, right-click the Notifier icon in the notification area and select Change Notifications Settings. Then, follow the prompts. This will disable the Notification Prompts until a new release of the Notification Update is released.

For more information about Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine

APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

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You should take a look at it yourself and see if it is genuine or not. It should be easy to tell the difference

If it is not genuine, I wouldnt help him :)

About the system restore option, I would think that that would only get rid of the problem temporarily, as the same update would be downloaded next time you do an update, unless you actively ignore that specific update. Is that not so?

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Is that not so

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Yes it is... and I assume that eventually, one way or another, there will be no option to ignore it.

I think you'll be able to ignore it in XP forever. Just don't try that with Vista.

FWIW, a version of KB905474 was tested last fall in Norway and a couple other countries. There are some users there that have not yet loaded it and to date, have suffered no ill effects. But in general, I agree that one way or another, MS will get it's way on this.

Also, I myself had issues with KB905474. It would not install. I had trouble last month with the update of the WGA tool itself. (This month's update, KB905474, is just a notification routine.) As it turns out, my troubles were related to 2 registry keys that had incorrect permissions set on them. Once I corrected these 2 keys, the update ran fine. (I considered NOT installing the update as mentioned but in the end, I decided you can't always fight city hall (and it's MS's town!) So I loaded it...

Well in that article it says this:
You can temporarily disable Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications. To do this, right-click the Notifier icon in the notification area and select Change Notifications Settings. Then, follow the prompts. This will disable the Notification Prompts until a new release of the Notification Update is released.

When we right clicked on the notifier, it just opened up a webpage and since he was on dialup we got the Page could not be displayed and it did not try to dial up.
It did not have any prompts to follow. Is it supposed to go to the Internet to get the prompts?

Since you are chosing to try and diable the notifications that would imply to me that this persons copy of XP is in fact not legal, otherwise you'd be ringing MS to fix the issue ?

If that is the case then I don't believe these forums can be of any futher help with this issue ?

Delete the Update--(This month's update, KB905474).
I intergrate my XP with SP1/first part of SP2 n that's It...No other updates..Not needed as far as I'm Concerned.....
I did say a long time ago, when do these updates ever end! NEVER..Gone from 20Mb update to 300Mb n more..Soon be a 1Gb.

I thought from XP to XPsp2 it was a gig.
Now they are putting the little police on our computers.
I was on a discussion board that was talking about this and three people on the list had bought a retail version of XP and was still getting the msg about their Windows not being Genuine.
They of course called M$ and straighten out the deal. The person I am dealing with says his XP is genuine. I did not ask to see receipts or the orginal package though.

I was also reading that you could not uninstall the KB905474.
Oh well, what will they hit us with next?
I wish they could figure out a way to delete emails from people who are scammers that try to buy your items with a fake cashier's check.
I even get them from eBay, telling me to end the auction and they will send me a check for an item.

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Originally Posted by scarecrowdr

Delete the Update--(This month's update, KB905474).
I intergrate my XP with SP1/first part of SP2 n that's It...No other updates..Not needed as far as I'm Concerned.....
I did say a long time ago, when do these updates ever end! NEVER..Gone from 20Mb update to 300Mb n more..Soon be a 1Gb.

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Can U send us a picture of that machine of yours and why you need all the hd space? Great, let's see it. :o

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Originally Posted by scarecrowdr

I intergrate my XP with SP1/first part of SP2 n that's It...No other updates..Not needed as far as I'm Concerned.....
I did say a long time ago, when do these updates ever end! NEVER..

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Microsoft does not waste time patching phantom vulnerabilities that do not exist.

More than 90% of computer security breaches involve a vulnerability caused by a missing patch that is available but had not been applied yet. Such was the case with the Slammer worm, for which a patch was available six months before the worm caused widespread problems.

Dozens of new attack tools are available on the Internet every month. Because these tools now automate cyber attacks, it may take only hours or minutes to attack thousands of computers, as opposed to weeks or months, as was the case in the past.

Keep in mind that the Slammer worm infected at least 75,000 systems in only minutes.

To give your Windows-based PC comprehensive protection against hackers you need at least:

1. A hardware Firewall such as the Linksys WRT54G or WRT54GX
   
   
2. An internet Security Suite (which include AntiVirus protection) such as ZoneAlarm Security Suite 6 or Panda Platinum Internet Security 2005
   
   
3. AntiSpyware protection such as Microsoft's Windows Defender and Webroot Spy Sweeper
   
   With these three you have padlocked the front door. But, if you don't also install:
   
   
4. All *critical* Windows Updates
   
   You have left at least one window wide open.

IMO, when hackers discover a way to gain unauthorized access to a computer, the problem must be resolved ASAP or the computer destroyed.

That's funny. I have never used a firewall and I don't do all the M$ security updates.
Last week I was doing some updates from M$ and this is after I worked on Installing for three hours.

When I was ready to do the update M$ had a update for my video card. Did the video card update with some other updates and on restart I couldn't get my video card to show anything on the screen but a msg saying wrong something for this card or wrong resolution or something like that.

I proceeded to try to get my resolution up or down with no luck. I went into safe mode and tried this. I rolled back the driver and everything was back to normal.

So M$, don't tell me what I need because I don't need a headache. You killed my fine installation in 5 minutes after three hours of work, Chimps.