(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10)
Loading ...Microsoft offers tool to verify ‘genuine’ editions of Windows XP
From Elizabeth Montalbano of IDG News Service:
Microsoft has updated software that verifies whether a copy of Windows is genuine in its Windows XP Professional edition, making it similar to the notification in Windows Vista and thus more persistently visible to users.
In a blog posting attributed to Alex Kochis, a Microsoft director of product marketing and management, the company said it made the changes to the Windows Genuine Notification (WGA) alerts for XP Pro because it is “the product edition that is most often stolen.”
Now when a version of Windows XP Pro is found to be pirated or counterfeit, the next time a user logs on to the system, the desktop screen background will be black, replacing whatever custom desktop may have been set by the user. This will reappear every 60 minutes, even if a user resets the screen’s background. Previously, this was not a part of the WGA notification for Windows XP Pro.
Another new feature of the alert system is to put the PC into “persistent desktop notification” mode, with a banner at the bottom of the screen informing the user that the copy of Windows is not genuine. The notification is translucent and users can interact with any objects underneath it; however, it will continue to appear on the screen until a user installs a genuine copy of Windows.
Microsoft said the update to WGA also simplifies the installation of the alert system on Windows XP Pro. In addition, the company has improved its ability to detect non-genuine copies of Windows.
Users have had mixed reactions to the WGA program, which Microsoft launched two years ago as part of an aggressive program to eliminate counterfeit and pirated versions of Windows. While some think it’s a good way for Microsoft to prevent use of non-genuine Windows software, others found the program irksome and an intrusion, particularly when it would peg systems they knew to be genuine as pirated or counterfeit.
The program even at one point was thought to be acting like spyware by sending information from people’s computers back to Microsoft. However, Microsoft said it only provides information about whether the copy of Windows is genuine, not any other information about the user or the PC.
Microsoft first distributed WGA only to users of Microsoft’s download services who wanted to install add-on software, excluding security releases, for Windows XP. Eventually, it became an automatic part of Microsoft’s update services and then was built directly into Windows Vista as the company developed that OS.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...MS still activating XP installations
Although Microsoft stopped selling XP through retailers June 30, users will still be able to activate XP, according to PC World.
Lincoln Spector filed this report.
According to a Microsoft representative, you will be able to activate new XP installations for the foreseeable future. The fact that the company longer sells XP “has no bearing on one’s ability to activate XP installations…”
Of course, the current rules about moving a Windows installation from one PC to another will still apply:
You can only do this with a retail version of Windows. The copy of XP that came with your computer stays with your computer. You must remove Windows from the old computer. Automatic activation will fail on the new computer. When that happens, call the toll-free number displayed on the screen and explain your situation to a human being. They will help you manually activate XP.
Email your technology questions to me at answer@pcworld.com, or post them to a community of helpful folks on the PCW Answer Line forum.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The down-low on Vista users who took the XP ‘downgrade’ offer
From InfoWorld:
When Microsoft stopped selling new licenses to Windows XP on June 30, it gave users and PC makers a “downgrade” loophole so that those who wanted XP could still get it, even though they still had to buy a Vista license.
According to data from the exo.performance.network, 35 percent of Vista-equipped PCs have been downgraded to Windows XP. “That’s way out of proportion for even the dramatically unpopular Windows Vista,” says Randall C. Kennedy, an InfoWorld contributing editor, whose company Devil Mountain Software developed the Windows Sentinel tool and analyzes the exo.performance.network data. (More than 3,000 PCs are monitored worldwide using the tool, in both the free InfoWorld Windows Sentinel version and in the more extensive version provided to Devil Mountain clients.)
The idea of a downgrade option is nothing new for enterprise licenses, since it can take several years for large organizations to plan out and deploy significant new software, under schedules that bear no resemblance to a vendor’s product schedules. But in a twist of this policy, individual users can also “downgrade” to XP from Vista Business or Ultimate (and later restore Vista if they desire at no extra cost). Most major PC makers offer users the option of downgrading to XP on at least some models, typically those sold to small businesses and gamers.
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(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...Readers react to petition results
We recently published a story on the results of our Save XP petition, which gathered 2,125 signatures.
Reaction was mixed.
Shawn Wright of London, Ont. wrote: “As a computer system builder I find that the negative PR circulating about vista is overblown compared to the reality. We build over 3000 PC’s a year and 95 per cent are shipping with Vista. Our customers are sometimes cautious about the change to Vista due to bad press and the masterful marketing campaign Apple has waged. The reality is we have had few complaints and only a handful of downgrades because of compatibility with out-dated software or hardware. “
Some users have a different view.
Glen, who declined to post his last name or home town, wrote:
So far, I’ve heard no advantages to Vista save bells and whistles (Who really needs a series of panes that shuffle pictures before your eyes?) As to those saying I should suck it up and go Vista, you suck it up. My XP’s working fine and I see no reason to fork over big bucks to end up having to learn a system that I ultimately do not need at this time.
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