Windows Genuine Advantage freezes my PC

I have an Athlon 3000 64, with 512M RAM, plenty of HDD space free etc. I have Windows XP Pro with SP2 ( all came on the orig CD )

A few days ago, Windows attempted to download an update, however the update didn’t appear to finish and I has to restart my PC

Ever since then, a program called Windows Genuine Advantage Saver starts up and attempts to access the internet ( it come sup as an alert in Zone Alarm, and I can see something called WGA???.exe start in the Task Manager ).

Regardless of whether I allow it to access the net or use Zone Alarm to block it, several seconds later my PC freezes. The only way around the problem is to let Zone Alarm activate as normal, and then ignore the alert when WGA tries to access the net "“ then I can use the computer as normal.

I’ve tried rebooting, shutting down the firewall, ending the WGA???.exe process in task manager ( doesn’t work, it just starts itself again ), booting from my Windows CD ( same problem once the desktop comes up ), using the Windows CD to repair my Win installation etc. Nothing works.

Not being terribly high on the Ubergeek scale, I’d prefer not to have to reinstall Windows. Is there any way to either fix this problem or delete the program ?

 

Trogdor... Welcome to Windows BBS.

Go to the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs and uninstall it from there (you may have to 'check' Show Updates). You will probably have to reboot your computer after the uninstall. Hopefully that will solve your problem, if not post back.

B

 

I read with interest re: your dilemma regarding Microsoft's new "phone home" feature associated with WGA notification. Although I'm told this can be uninstalled via add/remove its also my understanding that this does not disable the "phone home" feature. To my knowledge, there are 5 files that "need some work" in order to disable this specific problem but this information will not be posted because of its nature, possible misuse and the rules of this board.

Although I personally believe Microsoft has every right and an obligation to their shareholders to protect the integrity and legitimacy of their software, I am reading too many informed opinions from the professional community advising the "disabling" of automatic updates. This is an unfortunate circumstance which could have a significant impact and after spending all the time and effort to promote "safer" security practices, I think Microsoft should have given the validity of this approach a little more consideration.

 

Thanks for the welcome Mr. B

Doesn't work I'm afraid. The program shows up as "This update cannot be removed"

 

Hello Trogdor,

If you have System Retore running then restore to the day before the update.

Start > all programs > accessories > system tools.

Regards - Charles