How to Remove Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) ?

[Claudius]

Hello, I Recently Got Some Softwares from Freind, After installing all of them I found it one of the tools was Microsoft WGA Genuine Adantage Tool, So after installation it detected my Windows Xp as Not authentic , keep nagging me , it always Give me error Message even at the starup there is small message posted . i am really humiliated please tell me how to remove this stupid program thanks

[Effren]

Remember this utility is not a tool to bypass verification in case of non-official version, but a utility used to remove WGA.
RemoveWGA enables you to remove the Microsoft "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool, which is calling home and connect to Microsoft servers every time you boot (pilot version), or every two weeks (current release).

Once the WGA Notification tool has checked your OS and has confirmed you had a legit copy, there is no decent point or reason to check it again and again every boot. Moreover, connecting to Microsoft brings security issue for corporate networks, and privacy issues for everyone. It is also unclear which information are transmitted (Microsoft published an official answer, but an individual study brought some questions). All of that, along the fact that Microsoft used deceptive ways to make you install this tool (it was told you it was an urgent security update, whereas it is a new installation giving you no extra security) makes me calling this tool a spyware.

Also, Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications is different than Windows Genuine Advantage Validation. RemoveWGA only remove the notification part, phoning home, and does not touch the Validation part. As the time I'm writting this, the Validation part is mandatory for some not critical downloads from Microsoft, but the Notification part is not mandatory at all, and you are able to install all of the security updates without installing this one. This may change in the future thought, I don't know what are the Microsoft plans.

• To do this you just go to the link below and pick RemoveWGA.
• Once launched it will ask if you want to remove WGA. Confirm OK
• Then at the end of the transaction you will get a summary of what he has done.
• All you need to do then to restart.

For added security I would advise you to do a system restore point first (Start => Programs => Accessories => System Tools => System Restore => Create a restore point)

Note : once the WGA notification is removed, the Automatic Update will bug you about installing the update again. This is normal, and out of the scope of RemoveWGA (since at this point, the WGA notification is uninstalled from your system). If you are concerned about tweaking Automatic Update to prevent Microsoft trying to push the update on your computer,

[chroma]

You can also Disable WGA Notifications

1. Log on to the computer by using an account that has administrative permissions.
2. Make sure that the WGA Notifications version that exists on the computer is a pilot version. The version format for the pilot version is 1.5.0532.x. In this case, you can uninstall versions 527-532 only. For example, you can uninstall versions that range from 1.5.0527.0 to 1.5.0532.2. To find the WGA Notifications version, follow these steps.
   
   1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs, click Windows XP - Software, click Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications, and then click Click here for support information.
   3. In the Support Info dialog box, verify the version number, and then click Close.
3. Rename the following files by changing the extension to .old:
   
   • Rename %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.dll to %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.old
   • Rename %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.exe to %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.old
4. Restart the computer.

[ThoMas321]

You can also Disable WGA Notifications

1. Log on to the computer by using an account that has administrative permissions.
2. Make sure that the WGA Notifications version that exists on the computer is a pilot version. The version format for the pilot version is 1.5.0532.x. In this case, you can uninstall versions 527-532 only. For example, you can uninstall versions that range from 1.5.0527.0 to 1.5.0532.2. To find the WGA Notifications version, follow these steps.
   
   1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs, click Windows XP - Software, click Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications, and then click Click here for support information.
   3. In the Support Info dialog box, verify the version number, and then click Close.
3. Rename the following files by changing the extension to .old:
   
   • Rename %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.dll to %Windir%\system32\WgaLogon.old
   • Rename %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.exe to %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.old
4. Restart the computer.

You can also manually disable it for this follow till step 5 from above post then contoinue from here

• Unregister LegitCheckControl.dll by using Regsvr32. To do this, follow these steps:
  
  • Click Start, click Run, type cmd,and then click OK
  • At the command prompt, type the following, and then press ENTER: Regsvr32 %Windir%\system32\LegitCheckControl.dll /u
• Restart the computer.
• Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
• At the command prompt, delete the following files by typing the Del command. Press ENTER after you type each command.
  
  • Del %Windir%\system32\wgalogon.old
  • Del %Windir%\system32\WgaTray.old
  • Del %Windir%\system32\LegitCheckControl.dll
• At the command prompt, type regedit.
• Locate and then right-click the following registry subkeys. Click Delete after you locate each subkey.
  
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\ CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WgaLogon
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion\Uninstall\WgaNotify

[asife90]

ahhh guys, a little help

at windows startup, WGA Installation file shows up each time i reboot, is there anyway to stop that, rather than installing wga then using removewga...

ty

[timon]

i was roaming for solution of this file and i found very nice option in windows you will find WgaLogon.dll in C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder now to do that you need to stop application so you need program Unlocker which avoid error that " this file cannot be open using by another application " so just disable WgaTray.exe and renaming the files WgaLogon.dll will work for you .