Is Microsoft spying on you?

The Redmond-based company will soon release a major update to their 'Windows Genuine Advantage' (WGA) program. The update will include an alert mechanism that informs users if they are using a pirated copy of Windows software. 1

Once installed, the Windows Genuine Advantage program beams popup notifications directly to the desktop. The notification will continue to pop up until your computer is running genuine Microsoft Windows.

When you receive this message, you are left with the following two options:

1. You can click Resolve now to start the Get genuine Windows process.

2. You can click Remind me later. If you use the Remind me later option, your desktop is locked and will display: "You might be the victim of software piracy. The copy of Windows installed on this computer is not considered to be genuine by Microsoft." 2

How Genuine Advantage affects Windows Updates

Before Windows customers are allowed to update their PCs (via Windows Update), they must pass WGA validation. So far, more than 150 million PCs have participated in WGA, the company said. 3

Th-th-th-that's not all Folks

The Genuine Advantage initiative will later extend to Microsoft Office. The program will get its own version the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) that will act similar to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). 4

This is a giant leap in Microsoft's effort to battle software piracy and the counterfeiting of its products.

Sources: 1,4 theInquirer.net; 2,3 techTree.com.