malware programs

[Osiris]

Be extremely careful when editing your registry. Even the most skilled techies avoid regedit whenever possible. One wrong key stroke could destroy your operating system.

I'm in there all the time

 

[wachtn]

I'm in there all the time

Should i go play around in there? I find playing is the best way to learn.

 

[Osiris]

Should i go play around in there? I find playing is the best way to learn.

Why sure, but be prepared to mess something up if ya dont know what your doing. You would have to do something drastic to really screw things up, back backups before you do anything, etc.

 

[wachtn]

Awesome! I hear you could do a lot of kool stuff in there but that it was really easy to f-up everything. I have also come across many instances on the internet warning of the dangers of messing with the registry.

I will have to crack open an old pc and see how much I can do before needing to reinstall windows.

 

[KSoD]

Could you post the information sent out by MSE to the servers about your system? I would be interested to see whats there.

I would but sadly it is covered by NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) that i have with Microsoft. I can say that the most it says is what version of Windows you are operating (XP/Vista?Win7), some generic specs like CPU type (Intel/AMD/i7/Phenom) and OS Type (32 Bit or 64 Bit).

There is nothing in the information about any programs you have installed, any software you are currently running, a indepth hardware profile of all items in the PC or attached to it.

The truth is this. WGA had a bad reputation when it first was released. Granted it did take some more information back then. Now mind you Microsoft went back, redid WGA and have re-released it in a much better format.

There is no complaints out there that i have seen about WGA on Vista or Win7 when they BOTH incorporate WGA. In fact it is the same WGA that is now used with XP. So all those people that think WGA is spying on them and so on back when they first released it had a legitimate gripe. But these same people run Vista/Win7 and dont say a word about it. Maybe they dont realize that WGA is still there cause you dont see updates for it from Windows Update? Who knows. But WGA is still alive and well in Vista/Win7 and not a single person who had a gripe about it back when it was first released have come forward gripping about it since Vista. So think what you will. I dont want to tell you how you should view this.

But for me, it tells me that Microsoft knew they made a mistake, it happens live with it. But they went back and fixed it. They made changes and now it is better than ever and some downloads that require WGA still are out there and you still need to pass WGA with Vista and Win7 to get them. So it is still very much present even though nothing is being said about it.

 

[kimsland]

I made a decision and removed WGA from running on every startup of my Windows, and sitting in Task Manager processes continually for no apparent reason at all.
Thankfully the MS guide helped me remove it

Yes it re-installs if I ever go to MS Servers and decide to download certain things, including manual MS updates (Note automatic MS Updates do not require WGA)
I then uninstall WGA again, as I don't like any process consistently running in the background, on every Windows startup, for no other reason

Registry editing does come with warnings and should not be "played" with, unless you don't mind things not working again
Simple registry editing from a non-experienced user, even if they create backups of original keys, can cause Windows not to start again even in Safe Mode.
Therefore "backing up" registry keys won't help all the time (even most of the time)
I advise you not to play with the registry (as I have advised users on every forum I have been on)

 

[septic]

Kimsland?

How does turning off MSU speed up the pc?
Why would you disable updates and manually do them?

I don't like unsafe, but automatic works nice for me.

Mak213 said:

I dropped all of them and am going with Microsoft Security Essentials. I think it is great and has offered me subperb protection. Plus it will be free.

Osiris do you deem it necessary to run both avg and mse to stay safe? I really don't want to slow down my computer that much.

but with both AVG and MSE running, my system run smooth

 

[septic]

MS says:

Regardless of genuine status, users are not denied access to critical updates. However, users who have not successfully validated their copies of Windows XP cannot install other updates such as those for Windows Internet Explorer and Windows Defender, and they will not have access to downloads that are reserved exclusively for users of genuine Windows.

WGA will continue running on my pc