RE: WGA Rocks (erm, not) - Installing a game can deactivate Vista.

the-void

the-void

the-void

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Some funny goings on experienced by Ed Bott. I wonder if this experience will taint his joy of Vista? :) Looks like he installed a game, and Vista didn't like that at all. Told him that his previously perfectly legal copy of Vista was suddenly counterfiet.

Link
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=220&tag=nl.e539

Screen by Screen gallery of the deactivation process
http://content.zdnet.com/2346-12354_22-56084.html

How good is that! Makes you just wish you downloaded that pirated version with the hack - I bet they don't suffer from problems like this.

:rolleyes:
 
142 views and no other replies? I would have thought people would be gobsmacked by this story. It seems that it isn't an isolated incident either.
 
As 99.9999% have an internet connection..

And all we need do if this error occures is click "Activate Now".. then NO, I dont see it has a problem.

Im sure the issue will be quickly resolved with an update which for most of us will be installed automatically. Not a big deal really.

Im sure the majority will receive the update before they encounter the error to be honest.
 
Gimpymoo said:
As 99.9999% have an internet connection..

And all we need do if this error occures is click "Activate Now".. then NO, I dont see it has a problem.

Im sure the issue will be quickly resolved with an update which for most of us will be installed automatically. Not a big deal really.

Im sure the majority will receive the update before they encounter the error to be honest.
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Installing an application deactivating your OS and you say its no big deal? Sorry, dear sir, its an almighty big deal. In fact, I would go so far and say its the biggest ******* deal regarding any OS ever!

Are you so blindly infatuated with MS that you believe they are completely benevolent and operate out of the goodness of their hearts to make your experience of purchasing a genuine copy of windows such a pleasent and enlightening experience. ( not like those pesky types who pirate - who never experience the joy and wonderment of WGA). It was by clicking "activate now" that disabled his OS. You didn't even read the article before you commented on it.
 
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The game obviously used rootkit-style copy protection. This is why people should be running Vista x64 because rootkits from any tom, dick and harry cannot be loaded onto the OS.

Also note that all he had to do was reactivate, a couple mouse clicks, and all was fine again.
 
Tried&Tested said:
I'd be more concerned with what changes that game is making to the system to cause a deactivation rather than the fact his Windows was deactivated.
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I agree. Apparently Vista isn't to happy with Starforce protection either :mad:
 
Meatball said:
I agree. Apparently Vista isn't to happy with Starforce protection either :mad:
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Starforce sucks big time. I would never install a game that uses that protection system. I have boycotted starforce since it killed my DVD writer.
 
Meatball said:
I agree. Apparently Vista isn't to happy with Starforce protection either :mad:
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We knew this would happen though due to the way Vista security has been "improved". That's why Ubisoft dumped the protection from new games (iirc).
 
afraser2k said:
We knew this would happen though due to the way Vista security has been "improved". That's why Ubisoft dumped the protection from new games (iirc).
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true :) I wasn't blaming Vista btw, I was just makign a point on how all these copy protection techniques really do inconvenience genuine buyers :mad:
 
Meatball said:
true :) I wasn't blaming Vista btw, I was just makign a point on how all these copy protection techniques really do inconvenience genuine buyers :mad:
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Yep they really suck and unfortunately the companies don't take notice of our complaints. :(
 
NathanE said:
The game obviously used rootkit-style copy protection. This is why people should be running Vista x64 because rootkits from any tom, dick and harry cannot be loaded onto the OS.

Also note that all he had to do was reactivate, a couple mouse clicks, and all was fine again.
Click to expand...

It does have some dodgy protection system on it, considering the game is free I think it must be anti cheating stuff. But as I said I didn't have a problem with it.
 
Ouch - more than just a few dodgy game copy protection issues as well by the sound of it - at least the telephone support is sympathetic... or is that just pathetic ;) (Did I mention that I really like the Vista Conversion for XP - mmmmm... shiny.....mmmmm.... WORKS!) :D
 
After typing in all the numbers, I got a message that I'd passed. However, I also got a dialog box saying "Your copy of Windows is NOT genuine." Here's where it gets tricky: Microsoft apparently knows that box isn't supposed to be there, because their phone-support script is designed to get you past it real quick. I know that because the phone-support man told me to type in the numbers, hit "next," and then hit "close." The "close" was supposed to be on the "NOT genuine" box.

When I asked him why that box said "Your copy of Windows is NOT genuine," he at first repeated his command to hit "close." When I replied that, yes, I heard you, but I'm asking you WHY the box says what it says, he responded with silence. When I queried him twice more (and I swear there was no profanity involved), he hung up on me. Nice.

Two main points leap out at me from the whole experience:

First, as Microsoft's own forums show, my problem is quite common.

Try this: "I recently purchased Vista Ultimate and am now trying to activate it. After entering my key, the online activation sent an error saying the key was in use. The software was new in the box so the key has to be unused, right? So I tried phone activation and the Product ID wasn't valid. What is going on?" Or this:
"After running Vista for a few weeks, I rebooted this morning to find that my purchased copy of Vista is no longer genuine. The Aero display has been disabled and I do not know what to do."

Or this:
"I've purchased a original Vista home premium 2 weeks ago and validated it when i purchased it. But about half an hour ago, they suddenly prompted me that 'There is a problem with your license so notifications will no longer appear.' "


​
Second, Microsoft is aware of the so-called "false positive" issue. (A false positive is defined as WGA flagging a valid copy of Windows as "bad"; it should be called "false negative," if you ask me.) Microsoft took exception to a January story which attempted to characterize the number of false positives. I'm simplifying, but basically Microsoft's point was there weren't that many.

Clearly, there was some sort of problem, since a fix was issued. (See update, at bottom.) I hope this permanently corrects the problem. If not, this could become Microsoft's consumer Waterloo if home copies of Vista are randomly flagged for revalidation after they've already been validated successfully.

Without getting into the whole issue of off-shore phone support, I think it's fair to say that average consumers who purchase their computers at Best Buy won't be too happy about talking to a script-reader who's not sympathetic to their problems and who isn't empowered to do anything beyond read the script (or hang up if they get too flummoxed).

One more thing: if you run into this issue and can't figure out what to do, go to Command prompt in Windows. Type in "slui 4" and then do phone activation for your copy.

I'll keep an eye on this and tell you if it recurs for me; please write me or comment below and tell me about your experiences.

[Update, Feb. 25, 9:53 pm. Commenter "Mike," below, points out a Microsoft Knowledgebase entry, KB931573, entitled "You may be prompted to activate Windows Vista on a computer on which Windows Vista activation wasn't previously required." It offers a downloadable Vista Update, which fixes what it identifies as a Vista system problem.

This raises several points for further investigation: I will have to make sure my set-up has this update, and will have to check the Microsoft forums to see if there's any indication of an issue on systems which do have the update installed. As well, some of the WGA validation problems in the forums -- including all three quoted above -- occurred after the data of issuance of the KB931573 update, but that doesn't mean that all the machines in question have the update installed. Finally, I wonder why Microsoft's WGA blog hasn't made any mention of the KB931573 update.]
 
NathanE said:
The game obviously used rootkit-style copy protection. This is why people should be running Vista x64 because rootkits from any tom, dick and harry cannot be loaded onto the OS.

Also note that all he had to do was reactivate, a couple mouse clicks, and all was fine again.
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If Vista detects software it doesn't like, why doesn't it give a security warning or just refuse to let you install it, or to run it after installation. Isn't deactivating the whole operating system utterly ridiculous?

And as the above post shows, it isn't just as simple as a couple of mouse clicks either.
 
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