WGA blocks some updates on legit Windows PCs
By
Dennis O'Reilly
Readers refute Microsoft's assertion that Windows Genuine Advantage isn't required to receive all patches for the operating system.
Even worse, WGA blocks some security patches from being installed on PCs running legal copies of Windows that the Microsoft validator falsely identifies as pirated.
In last week's
Known Issues
column, Microsoft spokeswoman Jill Lovato claimed there were errors in editorial director Brian Livingston's March 30
news update
about the Conficker worm.
We've heard from several readers who provide first-hand evidence that Brian's assertions about Microsoft's dangerously flawed policies for updating Windows are indeed correct. John McCulloch's tale of WGA woe is, sadly, all too typical:
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"I would completely disagree with Ms. Lovato's response statement to Brian's Conficker article, where he says:
Microsoft doesn't provide all its patches to unlicensed copies of Windows, leaving the vulnerable machines free to attack us — a self-defeating policy recently described by security expert Bruce Schneier.
"She says:
This is actually not accurate — Microsoft issues security fixes via Windows Update to all Windows systems, regardless of whether or not that system is genuine.
"Microsoft does require, on many occasions, a 'verification' of your license before allowing the download of a patch. This happened to me just a short while ago when I went to acquire the AutoRun patch.
"As I refuse to use Missie [WGA], the online 'verification' failed. I had to download and run GenuineCheck.exe and then copy and paste the code into the window to obtain this patch. This on an HP 2300 series machine with XP Pro and SP3 that's less than a year old!
"In addition, they have twice, to my personal knowledge, blocked the automatic Windows Update operation to other machines where a bulk license was legitimately used — because the retailer went out of business and MS subsequently 'canceled' the bulk license.
"Neither of these cases could happen unless they were 'verifying' that the license was legitimate! I can't remember the message that was sent in a pop-up, but the implication was that the Windows Update system had a 'pirated copy' of the OS! ...
"The effect was that the Windows Update machine would not function until the 'update' was completed. This user had been automatically updating for some two years without a problem, which points to the final verbal admission by MS that they had in fact 'canceled' the user's license!
"In one case, this so locked the machine that the family's banking records and online transactions were effectively frozen. It took nearly a week to get MS to reply and finally acknowledge that the user did have a legitimate copy, and to supply a very painful workaround.
"I would also comment that MS's bloat so affects rural users who are still on dial-up that Windows Update cannot be allowed. One does not have hours to download 50MB to 70MB of bloat at 5 or 6 megabytes per hour, even presuming that one can stay connected for that length of time!"
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"Is there a better newsletter for prepping us for the upcoming Conficker events? I don't think so! Thanks for this authoritative look at the subject. I've taken your advice, downloaded as much as I can, and feel ready. Wow. You guys are good!
"Anyone who isn't a paid subscriber should feel bad and pay up now. It's worth every penny. Free subscribers should become paid subscribers just to say thank you, based on this issue alone."
More reasons to postpone that upgrade to IE 8
We also received bushels of e-mails from readers who agree with Mark Joseph Edwards' recommendation in his April 2 Top Story that you wait before switching from Internet Explorer 7 to the new version 8. Several people who had already taken the IE 8 plunge explained why they reverted to the earlier release. For Gene Goldenfeld, the problem was a conflict with one of his security apps:
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"Soon after installing the public release of IE 8, I noticed that it was very slow to start. I've since discovered that it's not just my XP SP3 machine alone. It seems there's a conflict between IE 8 and some resident (real-time) antispyware applications that centers around these applications' restricted-zones lists and IE 8's SmartScreen security function.
"Spybot Search and Destroy and SpywareBlaster are the ones commonly mentioned, but I use SuperAntiSpyware Pro and my zones list is short. That leaves [as the cause] an add-on conflict, which I didn't check. There are some workarounds proposed until MS fixes the problem, but the easiest one — and the one I chose for now — is to go back to IE 7. That brought IE back up to speed."
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"Saw Mark Joseph Edwards' article in the latest newsletter and thought you'd like to hear another reason for not rushing into IE 8 (though, after uninstalling it, I discovered a workaround). I installed IE 8 the other week, and at first things seemed OK — until attempting to add a C++ function within Visual Studio 2008 Pro using a wizard. This resulted in a script error.
"I quickly uninstalled back to IE 7 and rebooted. The add function, etc., worked fine in VS 2008 again. A week later, I was checking the Visual C++ Team Blog and found this blog post [with the workaround].
That solves the problem, but you would've thought they'd have caught this one before release!"
|
Readers John, Bob, Gene, and Dave will each receive a gift certificate for
a book, CD, or DVD of their choice for sending tips we printed. Send us your
tips via the Windows Secrets
contact page. |
The Known Issues column brings you readers' comments on our recent articles. Dennis O'Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com.
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