Microsoft's unconscionable GREED--Did it disrupt your computer use today?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

Happy New Year!

I'm wondering whether Microsoft sent me a New Year's gift I did not appreciate--a possible update that repeatedly crashed one of my favorite programs, which I had used uneventfully for years, until I solved the problem with System Restore.

Is your Windows PC also uncharacteristically uncooperative today? Coincidentally, has a file named WBAErrLog.txt suddenly appeared in a temporary directory? My answers are "Yes" and "Yes".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DETAILS

I bought my XP computer from Dell a couple of years ago. Windows XP came pre-intalled. Believe me, I have a legitimate copy. And I never experienced any serious problems using the operating system before today.

But a program that had worked fine for years crashed at the same point on half a dozen attempts to run it today. Frustrated after more than an hour of wasted time, I searched my system for abnormalities and went on the Internet after finding one abnormality connected to a controversial and obscenely intrusive Microsoft revenue initiative.

To cut to the good news, at long last I restored my registry and system with a System Restore Point from a few weeks ago, and the problem went away--for now. (Start--Programs--Accessories--System tools--System Restore was the magic sequence).

But I believe that Microsoft's greed may have been at the root of my problem today.

In a temporary directory I've monitored closely and cleaned out daily for years (C:\Documents and Settings\"Username"\Local Settings, for the first time I found a strange entry today: WGAErrLog.txt. A Google search for the filename revealed that the "WGA" does not stand for wide-screen VGA video, as I initially assumed. It stands for "Windows Genuine Advantage". Google "windows Genuine Advantage" to find a lot more hits and a lot more information than you will for "WGAErrLog.txt".

For instance, http://find.pcworld.com/54950 is a one-page high-circulation PC magazine's story about the "mixup in pilot versions of the WGA service" that makes PCs "phone home" to Redmond Washington at every boot-up, to provide proof that the operating system software has NOT been pirated. Subsequent versions of WGA are, under current Microsoft policy, supposed to phone home "only" every 90 days and at every WGA update. But that policy has changed drastically in the past, and may do so again in the future.

For a much more thorough but still eminently readable account of WGA, see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/07/wga_disadvantage .

Of course, Microsoft's announcement of this pretext for unprecedentedly massive unjustified invasion of customers' privacy did not mention any connection to its ".NET" strategy for getting future users to pay them every day for using new web-based versions of Microsoft applications to be hosted in Redmond.

My problem was cured today after I effectively de-installed any very recent Microsoft update that may have led to the mysterious new WGAErrLog.txt error message. The time coincidence of the two phenomena lead me to suspect they may have a common cause--a Microsoft update motivated by unconscionable greed to invade and disrupt hundreds of millions of customers' computers.

For many years, it has been my opinion that Bill Gates is the most irresponsible and appalling capitalist scoundrel in history, by a wide margin. He made himself the richest man in history by obfuscating and making secret details of the operation of increasingly relied-upon technology. Even much worse, at the same time he essentially ignored growing vulnerabilities to Internet criminals that now compromise the majority of all internet-connected Windows computers. (SOURCE: Internet researchers report that the majority of Internet-connected Windows PCs are infected with viruses. For example, more than two thirds of McAfee-protected computers (predominantly running Windows) configured to report scan results back to McAfee.com anonymously over the last month were infected. See http://mastdb2.mcafee.com/mast/grand_totals.asp?continent_k=0&lang=en , http://mast.mcafee.com/mast/mass_map.asp?track=2&period=3 , and http://mastdb2.mcafee.com/ov_virusmap_en.asp ).

Are any of you having similarly extraordinary problems today, after years of complacent good fortune? Or is my Microsoft tinfoil showing?

[Greyhound]

1. Not here, but then I've gone to some length to prevent M$ intrusion

into my system.

[mdmc]

2. I can't log on to DU from my laptop due to XP or a bad cookie

can't post here.:shrug: :kick:R

[Recursion]

3. Fear not the penguin

There are better alternatives

[question everything]

25. And, of course, there is always a Mac... (nt)

[ToeBot]

72. I'm fairly certain this is a myth,

The Linux desktop. :rofl:

[Recursion]

80. It's what I use at work and home

So only a myth in the Jungian sense. Then again I use consoles for gaming.

[Deja Q]

4. Not here and I use XP...

regrettably, but is a necessity.

I've known for a long time their web-based initiative. 'Software as a service' - it's being pushed onto a market that thinks it needs it.

Best of luck with the 'eggs in one basket' approach.

I won't be upgrading my MS apps anytime soon. Office 2000 works fine for me and I could get the office 2003 upgrade, but why? Everyone is moving away from those apps (Excel and Access to SQL, et al) and there's OpenOffice that's just as good.

When the time comes, I'll go back to Linux and use WINE to run my 3D apps. But that's going to be a while, I think...

[Clark2008]

86. "Everyone" is not moving away from Excel and Access.

We can't run a class in either Excel or Access that is not full to the gills with people still clamoring to get in. I'll give you the fact that SQL is better than Access for particularly large databases, but, really, now, most people are not moving away from it - not your rank and file business user, anyway.

And you - well, the average business user, not you - will have to upgrade MS soon enough because the support won't be there much longer with the Office/Vista 2007 launch.

I just talked to a network administrator today - background in CAD - who still needs his MCSE and will get it this year.

I'm just not seeing the "moving away" you're speaking of. It could be regional, though.

[Polonius9]

5. Arrest Bill Gates, Paulie Allen and Ballmer....but

arrest that pompous a** Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison too......Microsoft at least produces affordable gear

[Lerkfish]

10. actually microsoft doesn't produce gear at all.

it produces an operating system, which is in fact more expensive than the apple operating system.
Apple DOES produce gear and an OS. Its gear is more expensive but it is made better.

the PC gear you're referring to is a collection of multiple companies (Dell, Gateway, IBM, Sony, Hewlett Packard, not to mention vanilla box house brands, etc.) who compete against each other and drive each other's prices down, usually at the cost of quality. If you compared a top of the line PC with a comparably equipped mac, you'd find the prices more in parity.

Regardless, I don't care if you prefer PCs, it just helps if you understand what you're talking about to arrive at that preference. I'm glad to be of assistance.

I use both platforms, but prefer Macs,

[Polonius9]

13. Thanks

but I know what an OS is, and I also know I prefer Windows to Macs, regardless of how un-PC Microsoft is (un-politically correct, not personal computer)--Apple/Jobs is no model of PCness, anyway--their "PC" OS-II or whatever costs $3000.00 compared to the Windows box I can get for $600.00, and what's more the Windoze box out performs the Mac. Nonetheless I 'd sign the petition for anti-trust against MS.

[Lerkfish]

41. still not sure you understood my point, but whatever,

I'm happy you prefer a platform. It still doesn't hurt to be more informed, regardless of preference.

have a good day.

[banjosareunderrated]

45. I wouldn't say you were "informing" anyone.

Macintosh bets their money on the ideas that:

1. Their customers looking for performance don't know how to build computers. Generally, they're correct on that.
2. Their customers looking for "just a computer" will pay much more for the form factor. Generally, they're correct on that too.

A user-built PC is far less expensive than a comparable Mac out of the box. Course, you won't get that candy-white look.

[Lerkfish]

50. I've custom built my pcs from scratch, and upgraded and adapted macs

I know my way around the innards, for what its worth. I was one of the founding members of www.macosxhints.com and I have the tech dept come to me for their most difficult troubleshooting problems, on mac for the most part, but I'm conversant on pcs as well.

what I said in my first and subsequent posts is still true, and accurate objective information.
as for the responses to my post, I only see people slinging platform trash talk instead of offering anything close to actual information.

I tire of platform jingoists because they're incapable of listening. I'm familiar with both platforms, and they both have their pluses and minuses. Personally, I agree that macs are higher priced than Dell or vanilla box custom jobs...I also contend that the quality is also higher, and their base configurations are more feature rich than base configuration pcs.
Now, if you're on a pc, you don't have to spend that much and that's great. I'm not going to trash your chosen platform.

but please do try to argue with actual facts instead of ramped up rhetoric. In case you're having trouble, just compare our two posts: you're expressing your conjecture of what apple thinks people who buy their products think. You're in the realm of subjective opinion. I'm making nuts and bolts comparisions.

but at any rate, this is drifting far afield from the OP's point. I was only trying to correct an apparent glaring error in another's post that I felt was due to benign ignorance. That other person claims no such benign ignorance. The information in my posts still stand, regardless.

good day to you.

[banjosareunderrated]

52. Some nuts and bolts comparisons would've helped actually...

Alas, you gave none. Unless "quality" and "feature rich" suddenly leapt from a catalog and entered the realm of the benchmark.

You did offer a condescending post up there though. I thought you may enjoy one back.

Good day to you too.

[Lerkfish]

74. The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem...good on ya!

admitting you posted for the sole purpose of being condescending is a step in the right direction.

however, you misperceived my posts as condescending when they were not.


take care.

[Polonius9]

57. Sir

I used Apple boxes occasionally back in the 90s (and PCs since like Win 95) with ye olde drag and drop, and claris works, and the screens about the size of a wallet: like many other former Mac/Apple users, I suspect that left a bad impression--starting with like 386s, Windows/DOS was much faster, the monitors and GUI were more friendly--if not quite as fuzzy 'n phunn. IMACs were not so cool either for many of us in office/business environments.

I think with OS/X Mac made great improvements, but still putting browser and other things on "dock" seems odd, and they are rather overpriced. But that doesn't mean I support the MS corp. agenda--: I am not so into the Win/Mac war, but the sort of old school Apple or UNIX geeks who do the "daddy knows best" thing and trash on Win/DOS users really are missing the point: Windows-equipped PCs are convenient, relatively inexpensive, functional: I'd like to be PC and drive a Lexus hybrid, but I ain't that rich, and my jeep will have to do--(but I still vote dem/green).

Really, I don't exactly understand the Mac fanatic's argument: is it only about superior performance, or is it political (you are supporting evil corporate giant MS). If it's performance, well--we can't all drive a Lexus or a Benz (and even a hopped up Chevy might outperform a Benz). I don't think MS is that more evil than Mac (can we say I-pod, Inc), nor do I care to engage in that battle....

With a few mods XP will suffice for most home or office situations--and I have yet to see any large offices with Macs on a network.

[Lerkfish]

70. check your local newspaper, macs are the industry standard

in that office.

[proud2BlibKansan]

76. Macs are the standard in any printing business

and in graphic arts and photography.

[susanna]

65. Love this quote of yours:

"I tire of platform jingoists because they're incapable of listening."

I'm in complete agreement. DH and I use both...always have. Platformists, IMHO, are missing one simple idea: some folks choose to use both to stay informed and make themselves more marketable by working in both platforms.

It's interesting to me that people choose one or the other side on this.

[Lerkfish]

71. yeah, thanks. platform wars say more about the participants than the

the actual platforms.

[susanna]

90. In total agreement. I'll keep using both. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. I used my first MAC for nearly 10 years

while my husband the PC person went through about 6 user-built PCs.

Last summer we both bought laptops. My MAC cost twice what his Dell did. When it arrived, I took it out of the box, plugged it in, turned it on and was set to go. Haven't done a thing to it or spent a dime on it since the day I bought it. Hubby spent weeks installing software and had to buy a bunch of extras to get it going.

Guess who spends more money on computers in our family? :)

[banjosareunderrated]

64. sheesh, I don't want to get hubby in trouble, but..... lol

Does he use his PC a lot? If he's the one building those PC's, it was just an excuse to upgrade his system, lol. That's what enthusiasts do. Heck, I'm nowhere near wealthy but I've already upgraded my processor 3 times this year. On 01/01/06, I had a Winchester 3500. In March, went to a 3000 Venice. July was an Opteron 165.

Plus, it doesn't take "weeks" to install software nor "extras" to get it going. I really hate to get the guy in trouble, but if he's PC savvy I'd bet dollars to donuts he's making excuses to upgrade, lol. Happy New Year! :toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

66. It's his money; I don't tell him how to spend it

Point is - I have not had to upgrade or spend a dime on my Mac that cost twice as much as his PC. He has now spent as much on his computer as mine cost in the first place.

So just who is the smarter computer purchaser in our family?

[banjosareunderrated]

68. Needing to upgrade vs. wanting to upgrade are different things entirely.

Intelligence has nothing to do with it. Suffice it to say that if you used the same computer for 10 years, your computer needs/uses are very different than mine. And it's not because your Mac was so inherently powerful 10 years ago. As the tech gets upped, some people like to up with it.

If you spent every weekend bird watching and I went once per decade, does that mean I was the smarter binocular purchaser? It sounds like you use your computer for different things than your husband, that's all. Don't make me vote for who's smarter, lol, he could be Béla Fleck for all I know and then I'd feel like I betrayed my hero.

[proud2BlibKansan]

75. You don't get it; it was a need

But my major point was that he has spent a lot more for a computer than I have. And My Mac runs circles around his PC.

[Polonius9]

47. Cool

I understand the point, sir. OS is not gear. I was simply using "gear" in generic sense to refer to PCs (HP, gateway what have you) with Windows. I tweek the XP anyways, turn off some services/apps. (make sure to turn off the 3rd party browsers box in Tools), turn on some features--add Spybot. There are things I don't care for, of course: the validation crap, the endless service packs, the NTFS partitioning. But at least I can find the IE browser when I turn the box on (ok I can find it on a Mac OS/X too, given a half hour or so; and then I might download a file on Macski--they are soo cute too-- as well, take lunch, and usually it's finished--voila!-- when I return in a hour ;) )

[Jackpine Radical]

6. I got a major crash on my primary laptop just before Xmas.

Won't even boot windows--reports some vital Windows file is corrupted & I need to reinstall it. I think I may have to do a restore system with the original disk, thereby losing a lot of stuff. My Rent-a-Geek was able to get my doc files off, so my losses are somewhat contained, but I have a lot of software on it that I will have trouble finding the install disks for, etc. I have no idea if this is in any way related to what you're talking about.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

36. OT: I don't think your problem is the same as mine, but I think you share

the same misconception of "reinstall" I suffered before I bought a $10 copy of a "How-To" at the newsstand (it says, "Display until 2/24/07"). After you boot a PC with an OS disk, you don't necessarily have to over-write everything on your hard drive to fix a corrupted file.

You have "Setup" and "Recovery" options as well as "Complete Re-install".

See http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/r1006/07r06/07r06.asp and other articles listed at http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/sTOC.asp?Itypeid=6&Itype=REFERENCE SERIES&vol=10&iss=6 .

[Jackpine Radical]

42. I was talking about using the Toshiba System Restore disk.

The copy of XP that came with this machine is embedded in all the system restore routines, and, unlike some restore disks I've used in the past, it doesn't give a repair option, just the global restore which returns the computer to the state it was in when you bought it, with all the annoying promo screensavers, AOL offers, etc. (There's some of that AOL stuff I never did manage to totally delete.)

[ProgressiveEconomist]

88. So you're caught in Catch 22. There are MLLIONS of copies of the OS

out there. You might think of borrowing one from a friend, or of using a copy you got with another PC you bought. But Microsoft has seen to it that only a copy of the OS with your broken machines's Key ID will do the trick--and apparently you never got a copy of the full OS with your machine's Key ID embedded in it. At the outset, at the time they sell us the machine when it's new, they set us up to be likely to buy yet another PC should anything major go wrong with the one we just bought. They teach Detroit a thing or two about planned obsolescence.

[Mojambo]

7. The anti-spam Windows Defender suddenly is crashing today

I wonder if this has something to do with it.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

8. Try Start--Search--For Files or Folders--C:\--WBAErrLog.txt

If you don't get any hits, then your problem is not the same as mine.

Hope you are at least running a router hardware firewall. On average, completely unprotected Windows PCs are infected with viruses and spyware within MINUTES of connecting to the Internet--Thanks Bill!!!!

[Mojambo]

11. It's not there.

Yeah, my housemate is a techie and he runs a pretty secure ship. I've never had any problems.

I'm still considering switching to Ubuntu, at least on my desktop.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

24. So your precise problem is not the same as mine. But I'd say we DO

share the general problem of Microsoft's paying customers--a ten-times-orver needlessly complex operating system that generates tens of thousands of unnecessary problems for users. And because the OS code is proprietary, very few system programmers understand it well enough to diagnose and solve the tens of thousands of problems it spawns.

[Mojambo]

26. Bingo.

Microsoft operating systems have taken years off my life.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

32. Oops! I must miss basketball season. I meant "WGA", not "WBA"

Of course, I made the mistake the one time I asked someone to type EXACTLY what I wrote.

Did you enter what I said or what I meant?

[GeorgeGist]

73. I found mine in c:\windows\temp

created in May 2006 and modified Saturday, December 30, 2006, 6:06:52 PM. Which if I recall, was the first time I used my computer since before Christmas. And Firefox has been running slowly since.

[China_cat]

9. The very first thing I do with a new computer

is TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES. That will stop about 99.9999% of your problems because the ms updates do not take into account the way programs interact...moving or even overwriting or deleting program operation files. And they don't ask your permission to do it, or even tell you it's happening if automatic updates is on.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

15. I've thought about doing that. My conclusion was that such a strategy needs

to be combined with a very tight set of firewall rules--one that initially cuts off most everything except http file transfers until special exceptions are made for every external site that wants to do more than that. Many hours of scrutinizing firewall logs and tinkering with rules to allow things through one at a time would be required.

If such ultra-tight firewall policy is not followed, scripts and other files might get through that could take over the kernel with auto updates turned off.

Do you ever worry about stuff like that?

[China_cat]

31. Never have. Never had a problem, either except when

the updates were on.

[cui bono]

37. Turning off automatic updates doesn't mean you cann't update at all

Just have automatic off, then go to the M$ site to update. It will find all updates available then you can pick and choose what you want. So you don't have to clog your system with updates for stuff you don't use and you can just get the critical/security updates to protects your system from intruders.

[high density]

27. I can't say I've ever had a massive problem from an update

I do admit though that there have been some bad updates released by Microsoft. For instance there was an update a few months ago that would cause data loss on machines running Windows 2000 with files under NTFS compression. But for a typical user I'd much rather have them with auto updates turned on. There are too many 0-day hacks coming out these days to advise otherwise. I do think Microsoft jumped the gun on deploying IE 7, though. They were too fast to get it out there before all other vendors could test/fix their software and make sure it was fully compatible with IE 7.

[Kolesar]

12. Why are PCs so difficult to operate and maintain?

I have not seen the problems you report, but PCs often vex me. I cannot even keep track of the terminology they use for their products.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. Actually...

PC's DON'T have to be so hard to operate and maintain.

Any well-installed and mature Linux distribution requires no user maintenance whatsoever. All you have to do is run your software update installer every week or two. For most folks, a good Linux desktop system is more than adequate.

No spyware or viruses, too.

[Kolesar]

19. Can I run Delorme Topo!, National G Maps, which are my fav applications?

Which are PC based?

I would expect that it would run various music applications such as internet radio and playing mp3 and CD disks, which is pretty rudimentary in my opinion. Thanks

[candice]

62. Get a Mac. They don't disappoint.

My sister-in-law can't figure out how to download files onto her PC laptop. I wish she had a Mac, which comes with the iLife software that includes iPhoto. I am so sick of wasting time using PCs and now have the Windows OS running on my Intel iMac. Hate to install such a shoddy piece of work on such a beautiful machine, but need to run several programs that I have in Windows version only. Both of them were much better to use when they were Mac programs. I had to buy a Windows version of one because Windows didn't handle fonts as elegantly as the Mac.

[undeterred]

14. My career is based on Microsoft products and exams

I have had no problems today with my work computer or home computer. As part of my job I run the Microsoft updates on all systems at work, after testing. Sometimes the updates cause problems, usually not. There are ways to roll them back individually.

I think the home user is at more and more of a disadvantage. At work we have the means to completely reimage a computer with the operating system and basic programs in a short time- with an image that has no problems. Most individuals do not take the care to backup, be ready to system restore, etc. It used to be much easier to recover from home computer disasters, but now it takes hours and hours. There is no substitute for people learning more about everything that can go wrong, but there's a lot to know.

It seems like people end up just buying a new computer a lot of the time.

One might as well as why nobody can seem to invent pantyhose that don't run or become otherwise unwearable after a few wears. It could be done, but there is so much money in having women buy the same product over and over that nobody wants to do it.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

20. Have you ever seen WGAErrLog.txt? Do you know how to decode it?

Thanks for your reply. From the first 15 posts to this thread, it would seem that my particular problem is not as widespread as I had feared.

WGAErrLog.txt is a 255-character text string. Have you ever seen one? Do you know how to find the Microsoft URL that must exist to help system programmers like you decode this error message for diagnostic purposes?

Or, since the only purpose of WGA is to make more money for Microsoft, does Bill Gates want to keep the kinds of details I'm seeking a secret? A problem with helping paying customers such as myself could be that professional pirates would benefit even more from the knowledge I want. So Microsoft may have made a business decision about customers with WGA problems: "F**k 'em!"

[undeterred]

28. a few things to approach this

I haven't seen or heard of this particular error before, but here's a couple of ideas.

1- Google everything. If you google the exact text of an error message or name of a file "WGAErrLog.txt", the chances are good someone else has run across the same problem and posted about it. Most of the techie message boards are free or you just have to register. Look at everything before you decide to do anything.

2- There are messageboards for everything, including Microsoft updates- if you don't see your specific issue, post about it. These two are about MS updates: http://www.mcse.ms/forum292.html http://www.wsus.info/forums/

3- Microsoft technet probably won't help much. Its amazing that everyone in the world has heard of the errors their products cause except them! But since so many people are stuck using Microsoft, the chances are good that you'll find other people on the internet who have tackled the same issue.

Good luck.

[MyNameGoesHere]

33. KB905474

KB905474 google that.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

39. Thanks! I added KB905474 to my google for WGAErrLog.txt and

made some progress on tools for understanding my problem. A hit at http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?p=116145 told me how to access my detailed WinUpdate log:

Start--Run--windowsupdate.log--OK.

I'm going to do this again if ever I encounter the WGA error message again.

A new puzzle is why I haven't seen it before. The poster who started the aumha thread noticed WGAErrLog.txt on April 26, when update KB905474 was installed on his machine. My log only goes back to November, so I can't tell whether I got it then too.

Just multiply this particular overly complex mystery of mine by a factor of at least 100,000,000 or so over 15 years to grasp the cost to other people of Bill Gates's $billions. Our millions of hours of puzzlement and exasperation in trying to understand what's going on inside our computers has been his gain.

[MyNameGoesHere]

46. i don't

see at as a mystery or conspiracy. It is a error message that can be resolved. It all is a matter of whether your computer hates you or not as well. :)

[Ezlivin]

16. And remember that we're eager for the era of Artificial Intelligence

What if our self-aware, intelligent machine turns out to be schizophrenic with all the updates?

[originalpckelly]

18. I think it's time to dethrone the king. Let's have an OS revolution.

Computer manufacturers are slaves to Microsoft. They have an invested interest in killing of big M. I say we should go to the hardware manufacturers and work with them to develop a free, open source operating system, which will be able to run software intended for Microsoft Windows. They can fund the project, and it won't cost them as much to support the developers of the new OS as it does to pay the microsoft windows licensing fees.

We can overthrow the king, because all the hardware will have the new os on it.

[high density]

21. No problems here

I have a dozen or so computers under my control at work and they all hit an internal server for updates. In other words, they only get updates installed on them that I have approved. We have mostly Dell computers and I haven't had a problem with WGA yet, though I have read the horror stories over at the WGA forums and on tech news sites. As much as I hate Michael Dell, I have to admit that Dell's servers seem to be a decent value and quality. I can't say I'm too impressed with their desktop offerings, though.

The licensing for Windows is really crazy in my opinion... For one thing they make it overly complicated with all of the different licensing types (OEM/Retail/Retail Upgrade, plus various other corporate licensing options.) Windows Server licensing is even worse with the Client Access License requirements. I wish I could deploy Linux on most of the machines in the office, but we're currently too far invested in software that runs only on Microsoft's OS to make the change. With online applications gaining traction, though, Linux could become a possibility in the next few years. (Assuming these places are smart and engineer these web apps to allow browsers beyond Internet Explorer to use them.) We'll have to see what changes come over the next 3-5 years.

[Little Wing]

22. I don't have that file, and I don't have a problem with them

cutting down on Pirate copies. If everyone paid for the OS, it wouldn't cost as much.

If you think it costs too much because it's too full of bugs, don't buy it.

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

23. My answers are no and yes

You may be getting excited over the wrong culprit.
What program were you trying to run?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

30. Aha! At least one out of 23 responders so far has the same error message

I realize that coincidence in time is insufficient to demonstrate a common cause, but it still is noteworthy. The fact that my System Restore got rid of both problems also is noteworthy, but still not sufficient to PROVE that a greed-inspired Microsoft update was a common cause.

I was using my PC as a digital VCR, trying to run ATI Multimiedia Center to write an Open DVD that would run in my (or in any) DVD player. I never had a problem doing this before, and haven't used my computer recently for anything I haven't done dozens of times before without incident.

Can you think of an explanation for the coincidental problems and common solution other than an automatic Microsoft update? http://find.pcworld.com/54950 reports that WGA was rolled into Automatic Updates this past April.

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

34. There was a new year rung in last night

It could be something as simple as a calander bug in one of your programs.

And btw, System Restore would have changed most things to a previous state, not just the error log in question.

The last Microsoft update on my machine was Dec 28th.

When was yours?

start/control panel/add or remove programs/ (make sure Show Updates is checked)

edited: the Dec 28th was a hotfix I manually installed to resolve Congress playing around with Daylight Savings Time starting this year. The last MS distributed update showing on my machine is Dec 13.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

38. Pretty shrewd deduction. As it happens, I've restored my PC to its

state a few days BEFORE Dec 13th! So a December 13th auto update COULD have been the culprit. Do you know whether a WGA update was rolled into a December 13th auto update?

Thanks for the tip about determining the date of my last Windows Update--that wiill be useful going forward.

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

40. It doesn't look like WGA was associated directly w/ Dec 13 updates

Every XP update has a unique ID # associated with it. e.g. KB923694
If you do a search with that unique number at MS updates, Google, etc. you can usually find out more about any particular update.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

49. Thanks for playing the devil's advocate in this thread.

Your posts in particular have helped me keep an open mind about something outrageous I was shocked to find on my computer at the most inconvenient time possible.

[formercia]

29. to resist is futile

that's why I went to open source UNIX years ago.

Let him hide behind his good deeds like many a robber baron has done in the past.

Feh!

[IDemo]

35. A good backup program comes highly recommended as well

for instance -> http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

[Phrogman]

43. Bootleg XP all the way baby! With all updates turned OFF!

Proud to be a scoundrel!

[MyNameGoesHere]

79. wow

It is because of that thinking we have to deal with WGA anyway. You just posted on this site that you proudly are a thief, not a scoundrel a thief.

[Phrogman]

84. Oh, that hurts so much.

LOL!

Hey Gringo, I live in SE Asia. Original Windows is prohibitively expensive and hard to find over here.

It might be a big surprise to you, but MOST of Asia uses bootleg copies.

[MyNameGoesHere]

89. Well I will have to let the Gringo

pass as it just shows you are really weird. And yes Asia is probably the number one violator of copy right infringements on not only software but movies and music. You must be proud. It is scarce and expensive= steal it. Wow just wow.
Oh yeah

Ekow ulol

I want sinigang.

[Harmonicaman]

44. Interesting problem in regards to the UK

This could in all probability be a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Electronically agreeing in an EULA is not binding in the UK in regards to breaches of the Act, and every company is bound by it.

Is there anyway to find out where the information would be sent in the case of UK users ?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

48. I really don't know anything about the legal status of End User License

Agreements outside the US, and don't know much about their status here in the States. But in my googling earlier, I happened across an obscure reference to a Labour MP from Brostowe--Nick Palmer--who's apparently studying the legal status of WGA and more obvious commerical spyware. See http://radsoft.net/news/20051023,00.html , and the link to The Register (UK) in the OP.

[MadHound]

51. No, my years of complacent good fortune

Are due to Macintosh computers:evilgrin:

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. LOL

Same here.

I have to use a PC at work. It sucks.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. I have a MAC

Windoze sucks.

[wtmusic]

60. There is absolutely no reason to use Windows anymore

for any serious (work-related) application. None. Play games if you must, then put it to bed.

I really don't get it. Who has time to mess with this stuff? :crazy:

[stevietheman]

56. I stayed with Windows 2000, and I'm glad I did...

it was the last *stable* MS operating system.

[Occulus]

58. What applixation(s) MUST you have?

Linux may be your answer.

[candice]

59. My Dell was taken down by Spyware, even though I rarely allowed it to go online

after I got my PowerBook G4 to avoid all of the viruses.

Fortunately, the Intel iMac was available just as my Dell was grinding to a halt last summer so I could justify buying the Intel iMac since I didn't want to get another PC. I installed Bootcamp and use Windows for a few programs. My iMac even runs Windows XP better than my Dell, which was top-of-the-line when I bought it. Of course, I don't need all of those cludgey add-ons to do things that I can do easily in the Mac-provided iLife. I was unable to play a DVD on the Dell after awhile.

I've had four PCs and five Macs. All of my Macs are still working. Each Mac is more delightful than the last. The PCs were just bought out of necessity. I did like my first Dell Latitude laptop. Unfortunately, this very expensive machine was maxed out at 40 Mb and when Windows 98 came out a few months after I bought it, it wasn't functional. Slow as molasses since Windows 98 required 64 Mb. I was used to Macs that lasted and lasted and were upgradable. Dell support informed me that 40 Mb of RAM was the limit and I had invalidated my warranty by installing Windows 98. I gave it to my niece to write papers on in college.

I waited a long time to get another laptop, and got the Powerbook G4, which brought me back to the Mac world and reminded me what I liked about computers. Long live Apple!

[DainBramaged]

78. Send me your old computers, I'll rebuild them and give them away

to worthy and desperate families I know.


Oh, one more thing. Spyware is a 50/50 proposition. If you aren't proactive it wins.

[wtmusic]

61. No, and it never will

I will never own a PC.

What is preventing you from buying a Mac? The only thing a Mac can't do as well as a PC is frustrate the living daylights out of you.

[candice]

63. Amen. Although as someone who first was enamored of computers

after I bought my first Macintosh, I do find the lines at my local Apple Store amazingly long now. Glad to see that more people appreciate beautifully designed computers, but wouldn't want the Mac to be the mass-produced Piece of Crap that PCs are.

[B3Nut]

81. OS X vexes me more than XP most of the time

Especially trying to get it to play nice with our active directory domain (and I have Thursby's ADmit Mac on the advertising department's Macs.) The permissions are a huge headache as well. Moving files from a local user profile to a domain-created user profile on the same Mac was an excercise in frustration. Fonts are a headache as well, especially since they're always being sent fonts. And managing them, even with Suitcase, is an excercise in herding cats. Woe betide when one gets corrupt...I've never had a font issue with a PC, but get calls regularly from the advertising department for font issues.

I always liked the elegance of OS 9, it was easy to get around. And OS X doesn't support text clippings like System 7 through OS 9 did...I lived by those! Drag a block of text you want to stick in something else later and toss it on the desktop...dammit Steve why did you ditch that? I was Mac-only until I got my first XP machine, then got into IT. We still have an iMac and a broken blueberry iBook, and I have a beige G3/266. But I only run PC's at home nowadays...although if I could swing it I'd buy my wife a Mac Mini since she still loves the Mac. I'm so used to the PC now, and never could warm up to OS X, even though I use it at work fairly regularly.

That said, I'd rather see most home users with Macs since consumers are rarely PC-savvy enough to run a tight box, and they get infected and their machines turn into spambots. Employees here bring me their home machines for repair, and it's hilarious the amount of crap I find! :D

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Imagevision]

67. Well, Bill had a reason for System Restore working so very well

[pinstikfartherin]

69. hmm..

I use a mac, but I think I will have to see about this on my dad's computer.

His Dell is a POS. You can try to keep the thing safe, run spyware, anti-virus, firewalls... just anything to keep it running ok. HA! I have a mac and have never had a problem with it. I will never buy a PC again because I've found my mac to be so user friendly and smooth running. Everything just seems to easy once you get use to it, but it can take so much work on a PC to do things that are simple on a mac. PCs are just too damn stressful.

I'll ask him if anything has changed on his computer, but I don't think he will be able to tell much unless it makes that much of a difference.

[DainBramaged]

77. OK, just what program didn't operate, lots of info, no detail.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

87. See post #30

I might have thought that some update involving "Digital Rights Management" could have been involved, but the program crashed before I even had the chance to specify exactly which cable programs (C-SPAN2 Book TV) I wanted to write to DVD.

[Beelzebud]

82. To answer: No, Yes. 3 XP machines, all have been running for weeks.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

85. By my count, that makes at least TEN PERCENT of us in this thread who've

received the WGAErrLog.txt error message. (I count 40 unique posters, and the OP, #23, #73, and you in #82 report finding the file. Had I not misspelled it as "WBA..." two crucial times (in the OP and in post #8), the percentage who reported finding the filename well might be higher).

Half of the 10 percent (the OP and #73) reported PC malfunctions associated with the appearance of the error message.

Project these percentages onto the hundreds of millions of worldwide Windows users, and Microsoft has a huge problem with its underdocumented "Windows Genuine Advantage" program, which treats all paying customers as if they were criminals. Microsoft has updated our PCs so they repeatedly must "prove a negative"--prove we have NOT stolen the operating system copy we are running--by surreptitiously "phoning home" to Redmond. This is massively intrusive invasion of privacy and overkilll, most likely visiting much more negative consequences on many more innocent customers than on the crafty OS pirates who are the OSTENSIBLE targets of WGA.

Legitimate users have reported nagging popups, increased vulnerability to security threats, and undocumented malfunctions of the OS and Windows applications. Even much worse consequences are feared in the future--for example, a "kill/wipe" function in WGA that could be like misdirected capital punishement for thousands of paying Microsoft customers.

Nice going, Microsoft.

.

[Egnever]

83. While it seems to be cool to bag on microsoft.

I must say the idea that there is a beter OS out there is just complete hogwash. Microsoft is a huge target because they control the vast majority of the market, every single hacker,virus programmers out there aims at them on a daily basis. Were you to see Macs take over as the industry leader any time soon you would see the flaws in the mac OS become apparent very quickly.

I run XP and have for years, This particular machine I am posting from has no spy-ware protection or anti-virus installed and has been ruining that way for months now and yet I have absolutely no problems with it and when I run on line scans on it it invariably tests clean.

Before you jump out so quickly to blame Bill I suggest you take a long hard look at yourself first. I repair peoples computers for a living and invariably their problems are due to them installing some crap they found on the internet that supposedly would speed up their computer or let them put the cool smileys in their emails or browse the latest shopping deals or other such nonsense.

The worlds software is written for windows sure you can run it on a mac or a linux box with a windows emulator but why bother. Windows works just fine, Just don't load it with every piece of crap you come across on the net and it should work fine for you for years. And if you do decide you want to put all that crap on your machine don't be surprised when it breaks something. Its not bills fault you loaded that virus onto windows its your own.

Forgoing windows updates is sure way to get your machine infected turning them off is just foolish.The moment those patches come out they announce to the world what the vulnerability was and invite all the hack kiddies to try and find machines where people in their paranoia about bill gates made them stupid enough to ignore the patches.

8 out of every 10 computers I have to fix from infections are machines that haven't been patched.

Do what you will with your machine but avoiding patches is pure stupidity.

[Zomby Woof]

92. Not only that...

But as today's LA Times showed, Jobs is as much of a greedhead as anyone from Microsoft. Mac users shouldn't throw stones...

[Zomby Woof]

91. Steve Jobs backdated his stock options

After Microsoft bailed his sorry ass out 10 years ago. Made an enormous and unethical (if not illegal) profit out of thin air. The front page story in today's LA Times made my day. Jobs is the biggest con man to come down the pike outside of the evangelical industry.