How to Remove Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications

Windows genuine advantage notifications occur when your computer hasn't passed the validation test. The validation test can be failed due to being sold a pirated (non-genuine) copy of XP, or because you have changed your XP product key to a software-generated key, or sometimes it just happens for no reason at all. The failed validation installs three types of notifications on your computer: one on the log in screen, one log in timer, and one balloon. It also stops updates from Microsoft and disables your ability to install IE7 and Windows Media Player 11. This solution can get rid of all three notifications, even though you will still not be able to update through Windows Update. You will not be able to download things from Microsoft that requires a valid license either.

Steps
If you have only just installed Windows Genuine Advantage notifications, simply using the system restore function will remove the program. Then refuse to accept the WGA update next time Windows updates... Otherwise, proceed as detailed below.
Open System32 by either A or B of the following methods:
a)
Click "Start", "Run", then type-in "System32". Click "Okay".
b) Find System32 manually by clicking "Start" > "My Computer" > "(X:)" (Replacing "X" with the drive letter of the host of Windows) > "Windows" > "System32".
In "System32", go to "Tools" > "Folder options" > click on the tab, "View" > Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types". Now you can begin...
Check to make sure the window that comes up has a full screen of various files. The files are in alphabetical order, which makes it easier to locate the specific file.
Find "WgaLogon.dll" and rename it "WgaLogon.dll.bak".
Create an empty copy of WgaLogon.dll:
Right click on a blank space in System32 and select "New" > "Text Document".
Leave the text document empty and label it "WgaLogon.dll". Press Enter (on your keyboard).
You may get a warning from the above step that says, "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?". Click "Yes" on this warning.
Be ready to complete the next two steps very quickly! Find "WgaTray.exe" in "System32" and delete it. You will then have 5 seconds to find "WgaTray.exe" in the Task Manager (the next step).
Immediately open Task Manager. You can do this by pressing the Ctrl, Shift, and Esc keys simultaneously, pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys simultaneously, or right clicking the Taskbar and selecting "Task Manager". Click on the process tab and click end process when "WgaTray.exe" is selected.
Restart your computer once you have finished. All the notification messages should be gone.

Tips
This process will only get rid of the notifications, and will not validate your copy of XP. It will remove the timer at the beginning of your XP log on, the white notice on the log on screen, and the annoying yellow star that appears in the bottom right corner of the screen.
This is easier to do if you have someone reading the steps to you while you do it.
You may need to Find Hidden Files and Folders in Windows to get to System32 manually.
If task manager programs are moving, click the title of the "image name" row to freeze them.
If you are having problems after this, disable the updates before rebooting.
There is a program called RemoveWGA which does all of this for you. Just run the program, click yes, and you're done. (See External Links, below.)
If you have problems changing files in the System32 directory, you will have to turn off "system restore". "Start" -> "Control Panel" -> "System" -> "System Restore" -> Check the "Turn off system restore" check box.
You will not be able to download Automatic Updates anymore. This is not to say you cannot update your system anymore, Microsoft just won't do it for you. In the links, there is a program that will allow you to update any system, regardless of if it is genuine or not.

Warnings
Do not edit anything but this in System32, or it could cause system start up failure.
If you are new to computers, do not attempt this because if you modify the wrong file you may crash your computer.
This is not required for systems older than WindowsXP. This list includes Windows 2000 and Windows 98SE.

Related wikiHows
How to Change a Windows XP Product Key
How to Speed up a Windows XP Computer
How to Install Windows Using a CD
How to Defragment Your Computer
How to Upgrade to IE 7

External Links
RemoveWGA - a program that will do all this for you
wikiPedia's page about WGA
AutoPatcher - A All-In-One Updater/Patcher program that is updated once a month with ALL security patches. Also useful for system-install--download one program, and get your program mostly up-to-date with one reboot.

The Best Computer Upgrade Ever

Forget about a faster processor. Splurge on a bigger screen.

By Paul Boutin
Posted Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006, at 2:56 PM ET

Whether you're a PC or Mac user, the humongous 24-inch iMac that Apple unwrapped on Wednesday drives home a point: Speed is good, but spread is better. For the past year, I've been working at two offices. Office A has a fairly new 17-inch Mac I bought so I could crank out more freelance work without having to turn off iTunes. But lately, I find myself making the longer trek to Office B to use an older, slower machine. Why? Because a generous Office B colleague updated the slowpoke with a 23-inch monitor.

Speed freaks are stoked that Intel has finally replaced its aging Pentium processors with a speedier design called Core 2. Apple went for broke and stuffed the new iMac with a dual-core Intel processor and a 24-inch monitor. But it'll cost me $2,000-plus to buy my dream machine. PC users get a choice: Dell will sell you a Core 2-powered PC for $1,200 or a 24-inch flat-panel monitor for around $700. If you're feeling stymied by your computer, buy the monitor now and wait until Windows Vista comes out to upgrade the rest of your PC. You'll get more Core 2 for your money by then, and you'll already have a panoramic screen to let Vista live up to its name.

Don't be fooled by all those Intel commercials: A faster CPU isn't always the best upgrade. Dell hawks its Core 2 Duo PCs as the "ultimate multimedia and gaming experience." What bigger multimedia buzz is there than a giant screen? I'm not a gamer, but I spend a lot of time with Word, Excel, Firefox, and iTunes. I watch a lot of YouTube by day and often slide a DVD into my desktop machine at night. I'm fascinated by Google Maps and Google Earth. For these applications, a faster processor doesn't really help. But you know what's better than a million pixels of Google Earth? Two million pixels of Google Earth.

Prima donna software developers who get anything they want have traditionally awarded themselves second, third, and even fourth monitors. You could cite the industry studies that find increased productivity among multiple monitor users, or you could just accept the formula of computer graphics veteran Jon Peddie: "Can't have too many pixels." Besides, flat-panel displays have gotten so big and so cheap that you no longer need to cable together four screens. Just buy one big one. Thirty-inch mega-monitors first appeared two years ago for $3,300. Today, you can get one for $1,800 that puts more than 4 million pixels on one panel, equivalent to three or four 17-inch monitors or two HDTV screens. A 20-inch model with close to 2 million pixels is only $350.

Apple's Web site flogs a third-party study by Pfeiffer Consulting that concludes 30-inch monitors aren't a luxury. "When working on a computer, we lose much more time than we realize through user-interface manipulations," Pfeiffer's researchers wrote—even if we're handling only e-mail and Web pages and not Photoshop. I dismissed the report as marketing collateral, but after a few weeks at my own widescreen I've reached the same conclusion—it's surprising how much more work I crank out lately. Co-workers praise my newfound motivation. The truth is, I can finally see what I'm doing.

While a faster processor lets you do what you've been doing more quickly, extra display space lets you do things that were previously unthinkable. I can put two versions of an article side by side, editing one while eyeballing the other. I used to squeeze two shrunken windows onto a smaller screen or flip between edit and review windows. That doesn't compare to editing and reading both at actual size at the same time.

I bought a faster computer for Office A so I could juggle multiple windows and apps more quickly. On Office B's 1600 x 1200 pixel screen, I don't need to juggle at all. I've even got extra turf to keep background tasks onscreen. If I get an instant message while on deadline, I can scan it in my peripheral vision without moving my hands on the keyboard. If I need to reply, I don't have to shove my work aside. I can keep an eye on inbound e-mail while writing and click to zap an annoying song from iTunes without fumbling for the application. I've even squeezed an analog clock and a weather widget into a spare corner so I needn't remember to check them.

With everything in plain sight and within reach, my computer's desktop finally looks like a real desktop. That wouldn't be possible if it weren't almost the same size as one. Rewriting this article at home on my 17-inch screen, I feel cramped and frustrated. What PC makers call a desktop has been closer in size to the back of a book. Isn't it about time you threw away the book and sprawled out a little bit?

Best Upgrade