Windows XP (NL): Windows Activation Problem + Windows Automatic Update Problem = Very Slow Computer.

Today I visitted my mother for a nice dinner, after the dinner I wanted to
show her something on the computer/internet.

I noticed how the computer was extremely slow, and how the harddisk was
rattling non-stop.

First I was wondering if it was infected with a trojan or a scanner, this
did not appear to be the case.

Then I immediatly started wondering about windows automatic update since I
never trusted it to function properly... I have seen my share of failures
with it...
however the computer is pretty much unmanaged so at least automatic updates
protected it a little bit.

I decided to go to the windows update website for manual updating to see
what was going on... before I did that I stopped windows automatic updates
to verify that it was indeed the culprit and yes it was the pc became fast
again... I re-enabled it and went to the website.

There it took a very long time before there was any feedback... it did the
whole rattle thing over again... I took like 10 minutes or so...

Then it displayed some warning/error message: "Windows Genuine Activation
hulpprogramma failed".

Apperently Microsoft now believes the computer is not genuine ?!? This
computer was bought at a big retailer and should be genuine.

Then it continued rattling...

After having wasted 20 minutes of my life on this b.s. I decided it was
enough and shutdown the iexplore.exe.

For the time being I have disabled windows automatic updates so that the
computer can function normally again.
(This is on windows xp (NL) netherlands edition).

I ask my mother how long this has been going on since my elderly sister was
also complaining about it.

It turns out this has been going on for one month !!!

One full month of slow computer and Microsoft didn't even notice it ?! and
did nothing about it !

I am very unhappy about this.

I have consulted with my mother... she wants to buy a new laptop so she can
sit below... this would require additional wireless routers or so... but
ok...

She wants windows 7 because she hard about it... However I told her Windows
7 is a risk because of it's on-going-security problems.

The old computer can then still be around for the kids to use when to come
visit.

However windows xp nl 32 bit version is about to end it's life cycle.

I said to her and decided that the old computer can continue to keep
functioning until it gets trojaned/hacked and so forth...

After that happens I might pirate the computer and install windows xp x64
pro edition which at least is still supported and does seem to function
normally.

However I always have windows automatic updates off and for good reason
too... if I had it on my computer would have been toasted by Microsoft at
least 2 times, maybe even more.

Windows Automatic Updates/The cure seems to be worse than sickness...
However without the patches computers would be trojaned.

My mother was very smart... when she started about wireless routers she
immediatly recgonized the dangerous:

Wireless routers are unsafe... she wants to do banking across it...

I told her... well safety has improved a little bit... but it's indeed weak
protection... I concurred... you are a smart mother I said... :)

All in all I am not happy with the situation.

I believe Microsoft should be punished for:

1. Wasting peoples time with defects.

2. Security risks.

Here is my advice for Microsoft/you for now in the future:

In case of though legislation being introduced to go after Microsoft and
it's malfunctions... it would be much smarter for Microsoft to focus on it's
core components of it's operating system and make sure that those are
working flawlessly instead of trying to create "bloatware" which simply
increase attack vectors and requires more security patching.

If computer do get infected by flash then at least it's not Microsoft to
blame.

Do I believe my mother should pay 400 dollars/euro's for Microsoft
Windows... HELL NO !!!

The risks and costs of it to keep it working well are much higher...
especially if I had to bill her for my time.

Until Microsoft delivers an operating system which is 100.0000000% safe I do
not believe people should have to pay for it.

Instead Microsoft should be fined for putting people's time, life and money
at risk.

And yet Microsoft is the same company which wants it's software to run on
cars ?!? ;)

Don't make me laugh !

If you don't like Windows try Ubuntu. Otherwise try this

Send me an email and I will tell you the easiest way to make your XP
pass the genuine
advantage crap without installing any crack or patch.
There is actually some info you can add to the registry that will fix
all the WGA bullshit and allow you to install all updates (including
the WGA update).
Also, it might be a good idea to install Security Essentials to get
rid of any malware on the computer (but you can only install it after
you ensure your XP version passes the WGA validation).

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Dat kan ik je zo vertellen. Download via The Pirat Bay "Windows XP
Black Edition". Installeren en huppakee. Zelfs geen key invullen.

Maar dan moet je XP opnieuw installeren. Bij mijn oplossing hoef je
alleen
een .reg file te importeren in het register van een bestaande XP
versie.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926333

Ok, thx for the link I appreciate it... pretty ridicilous that this isn't
even a microsoft page !
Next time I visit my mother I will give it a try and see if it helps.

I will have to visit her soon because next Tuesday Microsoft will fix
another 32 security holes !

And suddenly I wonder what other holes have not been fixed yet because of
this problem.

A couple of days ago I was at my mother place again... and I tried to fix it
and wasted another 1 hour and 30 mins of my life.

I was unable to fix it.

Windows update displays error: 0x800A01CE

Apperently there is a windows update log... I collected both files and put
them in a WinRar file so that maybe somebody
could take a look at it and see what the problem is:

0x800A01CE
The remote server machine does not exist or is unavailable

Is WinXP SP3 installed?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)?

Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the
computer (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
it)?

Thank you for your response I will look into it when the occassion arises.

For now I will try to answer some of your questions

It's the home edition it does not have a server service ?
I don't think so but I am not sure... I didn't install it myself manually.

So it either came with automatic updates or not at all or it failed to do
that.

Somebody else installed Avast I think without my permission and it pretty
much wrecked the machine...
it became very slow... so I removed it and made the machine usuable again.

The computer is shared/used/mainted by me (administrator/maintainer),
mother, sister, brother, kids, and sometime maybe
even other people.

These people have lower rights to try and prevent system ****ups by them
installing crazy shit... Windows does
a pretty good job at that... I never really used such rights on myself,
though I did experience NT's rights management at high school/college.
It's kinda frustrating for the end user... a virtual machine where they have
full rights might be nice... but then they cannot share their
files/data/pictures... that
might be a barrier... but then again I don't think they share that much.

The benefit of windows is easy user-switching... very nice... an operating
system which could actually run multiple virtual machines and then switch
fast between them and maybe even share some data between would be very
nice... Then I just install the operating system once for each person...
give them full control... and if they **** up it's their problem. They also
get to maintain their on operating systems... There is a little drawback
though... if they have problems I might need to fix 5 machines :) instead of
just one ;) :) More work for me... doesn't sound like a good plan to me...
more rights for them they might like... but I am pretty sure they will do
stupid things and get infected... so unfortunately for them I have to play
mr. dictator and protect them from themselfes and their own stupidity :) I
think they have come to accept it... maybe they even respect me a little bit
more for it... or maybe they hate me for it... who knows :) I think the
don't hate me though... they now just ask me and tell me to fix something.

My brother for example said to fix "hyves.nl" something with flash not
working... I am not sure what he ment... I have youtubbed on that machine
before and it required flash... and it seemed to work... but adobe's flash
has been having security issue's lately so maybe something got ****ed up.
Maybe during an update or so... or maybe windows ****ed up and now flash
ain't working ? Maybe ActiveX not working ? Maybe activeX was disabled
during a security patch ?! Maybe home edition not supported anymore ? Maybe
software update from microsoft assumes "server version" ?

Hmm... I think so... it expired... and I think it was removed or so...

By the way... I did try to re-install flash last sunday when I was there...
(flash 10.1 I think it was)

It totally failed with a very long error message/number... something like:

00000000_00000000000000000000000000etc.

(I also had problems installing the latest flash on my own machine... I
managed to solve it somehow... I think I used
a special program to fix it or so... I'll have to look into that... This
could be unrelated to the windows update problem though.
So this could just be a seperate issue with flash.).

Wipe & reload.