Windows Genuine Advantage

Hi.

This program just started proving a pain in the arse recently, but apparently it had been present since 06. Today it stopped me opening media files and exes by double clicking them or by dragging them into the an open application.

i have followed the steps to remove it, and it seems to have gone. Certainly things are functioning almost as normal again. However; Winamp was still refusing to let me drag and drop files and would only open them through it's Open feature in the program.

I uninstalled/reinstalled it. Now It simply crashes every time I run it. Can anyone say why this might be happening and advise a resolution?

Also, how do I ensure that WGA does not reinstall in future~?


Thanks

 

Did you do a complete uninstall of Winamp? I have read elsewhere that you may need to make sure of that.

If you got rid of WGA completely (I am assuming you have a genuine version of Windows and you are just having some of those infamous problems that arise with WGA on genuine versions), you now have to make sure it doesn't re-download and reinstall. To do this, you have to make sure you don't have Windows Update set to automatically download and install updates. Better to choose the 'notify me when there are updates available' (not sure of the exact wording) option.

Hope this helps your painful posterior problems.

 

I uninstalled it through the normal 'add/remove applications' process. Is this insufficient?

Yeah I've had this PC for years. The funny thing is when I followed the WGA link to the website, it acknowledged that my copy was activated.... But the status on the computer never altered....

Where do you alter the automatic update settings?

Posterior problems?

 

Have you deleted it out of the registry aswell !

1. Reboot Windows in safe mode (hold the f8 key while booting and you will get the option to boot in safe mode) and then:
2. Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and search for wgalogon folder and delete it. You should backup up the registry beforehand, in case somethiong goes wrong.
3. In your windows directory search for files wga* and delete them.

Always backup you registry before deleting anything from it as you may need to revert back to it !

 

To change automatic update options:

1. Open control panel
2. Open Windows Updates
3. Change the setting from "always download and install at [time]" to "notify me, but do not automatically download and install them"

This will prevent the computer from downloading updates without your authorization. However, you will have to periodically allow these updates to take place otherwise your computer is at serious risk of an attack/infection/etc
You may also have to screen some updates as Microsoft may have locked the WGA tool into an update.

 

Yeah that was in the procedure I followed, thanks.

 

If you follow Collinsl's directions for the Update notification option, you will find that when an Update is available, a bubble will come up in the bottom right corner of your screen, pointing at an Update gold shield in the system tray. Click on the shield and a list of available updates will come up. Deselect those you don't want - specifically, any WGA update or download. When you OK out of that, it will ask if you want to be reminded of the unselected updates in future. There is a box to check or uncheck according to your preference. Naturally, you say no to being reminded of the WGA downloads.

It may still come up again from time to time in the future, but not often - just follow the same procedure each time.

Interesting. I haven't come across this sort of thing yet. How do you know if the tool is in there?

 

Oops! Forgot to respond to this question:

After uninstalling, go to your programs folder and delete the WINAMP directory. Then reinstall. It might be advisable not to use the install file you installed from last time - it could be corrupt, so you should think about downloading Winamp again.

If this doesn't work, you might have to have a look in the registry for leftover stuff, but I would try the above first. You can use CCleaner to clean up stuff in the registry (available from Major Geeks site), but that needs to be done with care, as it can do unwanted things as well. If you don't know what you're doing there, better to ask.

And this one:

Relates to this:

Family site.

 

Volumes have been written on disabling or removing that pain in the drain called "WGA".
(we'll get you again)

Removing files and hacking the registry are all above the pay-grade of many users.
I sympathize, as I hate those exercises too, even though I'm an experienced tech.

As with anything that I want to, or intend to, do more than once, I like to commit those jobs to a script or batch file.
Some more energetic programmers write those repetitive routines into actual programs with .exe as an extension.

One such professional program to REMOVE WGA can be downloaded here:
http://www.box.net/shared/9zq51dej4c

Download it from the above link, run it, reboot and WGA is GONE!:major
Feel free to share it with friends.

Happy Holidays Everyone :wave

The Shadow :cool

 

Or, if you prefer, the same program to remove WGA is available right here on this web site:
http://majorgeeks.com/RemoveWGA_d5170.html

A simple Google search can and usually will answer almost any question you may have, if you just condense your problem to a few simple words, like: "remove WGA".

That's how I found the above link. Try it next time you have a problem.

Happy Holidays!
The Shadow