codyg1985’s Think Tank

In early May, Microsoft bundled a program into a critical security update that validated your copy of Windows. If the program found that your copy was not genuine, it would trigger a dialog box to appear on a regular basis to remind the user that they could have been a victim of software piracy.

Unknowingly, this Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program also silently phoned home to Microsoft daily. Due to increasing heat from its customers, Microsoft on Friday admitted that it could have explained and implemented the WGA checker in a more forthcoming manner. As a result, Microsoft plans to release an update to this program that will only check in with Microsoft every two weeks. Eventually the ability to phone home will be completely removed from the program.