Microsoft Office 2003 Genuine Advantage Validation Crack
Hedy Madrid
Your copy of Windows may need to be validated before you can get downloads and the updates which are reserved for PCs that are running genuine Windows. Windows might also prompt you to run genuine validation if activation isn't properly completed.
Repairs. If your PC has been repaired, you might start to see messages on your desktop that Windows isn't genuine. If the repairs required Windows to be reinstalled, the technician may have activated Windows with a different key than you used when it was originally installed. You might not see the messages until you try to download something from the Microsoft Download Center that requires validation, and validation fails. To fix the issue, you can properly activate Windows by reentering your original product key.
For other issues, you may need to buy a genuine version of Windows.
An anonymous tipster informed me on Friday that Microsoft had shut down its Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) program as of Thursday, December 16. Previously, if you wanted to download an Office add-in or template, you had to pass through a validation step first, confirming that your copy of Office was "genuine."
Validation takes only a few moments, and enables Microsoft to create a match between your PC's hardware profile and your 25-character Product Key (located on the Certificate of Authenticity), which Microsoft stores and checks against future activation and validation attempts. We do this to ensure that your Product Key is not used by another person in a malicious manner, such as activating a counterfeit or non-genuine copy of Office.
Customers in 41 countries now have the option to install OGA notifications, available through Microsoft Update, and learn whether they are running genuine versions of Office. By validating their copies of Office, consumers can take advantage of all the accompanying capabilities, support and upgrades. If the copy is found to be non-genuine, users are directed to a customized Microsoft Web page to view validation results and learn about easy steps to secure their PC.
The program uses either a stand-alone program to generate a key or an ActiveX control to discover whether the license key is valid; either way an Internet connection is required. If WGA determines that a user's copy of Windows is unauthorized but was installed from seemingly-legitimate media (i.e., the CD and holographic emblem present on real copies of Windows seems genuine), then Microsoft will supply the user with a new CD. Microsoft also offers discounts to people who want to purchase a legitimate copy of Windows but do not have a valid CD. Microsoft has indicated that they will continue to deliver critical security updates through their Automatic Updates service as well as via the Microsoft Download Center, so that all systems, including those that fail to pass validation, will still continue to receive critical security updates.
On November 16, 2005, Microsoft released a standard Netscape WGA plug-in to complete the Windows validation process from Mozilla Firefox and other Gecko-based browsers (including Netscape) - although it does not use the Firefox extensions system, and thus is not supported by the latest version of the browser. It does not work in other NPAPI browsers such as Opera. Another workaround was released on December 25, 2005 to bypass WGA authentication by using a valid hash generated by a remote system. Microsoft responded with a cease and desist letter to the website host, and the workaround was taken down on January 6, 2006. Many people continue to validate on the Microsoft website from a public computer using a genuine copy of Windows, then write down the hash and continue to use it at home or work. As of July 2006, Microsoft had not prevented people from disabling WGA in this manner. On May 4, 2006 Microsoft announced lawsuits for allegedly distributing unauthorized copies of Windows against eDirectSoftware of Montana, and Chicago-area resellers Nathan Ballog and Easy Computers.
Each time you see the reminder, you will have the option for it to remind you again later or you can immediately find out what is causing the Microsoft Office genuine advantage countdown message. An example cause is the product key has been blocked because it is supposed to be in use by a company and not for home use or the company who owns the license has requested a new volume license keys and/or the software assurance coverage has ended.
Office Genuine Advantage Notifications is another component of OGA that displays and shows persistent and nagging notification messages on the screens of PC which is checked to be running illegal copies of Office. Anyway, OGA Notifications will always come together with the validation component to determine the genuineness of the Office installed. It marks the first time Microsoft attempts to validate Office installation actively, similar to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) for Windows operating system.
OGA Notifications had firstly been published as KB949810 update to Office users in the 4 countries of Italy, Spain, Turkey and Chile in a small pilot program, which did not bring too much complaints due to small user base, except when WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) accidentally published it as critical updates for roughly 24 hours. Microsoft has slowly expanding OGA availability to more countries. The Office genuine validation and notifications will be further expanded to 13 more countries which include United States of America (US), United Kingdom (UK), Peru, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Australia, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, India, and Taiwan on August 26, 2009, making it a total of 41 countries that subject to OGA validation, according to Microsoft announcement.
WGA Notifications was designed to remind users who fail validation that their Windows software has been deemed by WGA Validation to be illegitimate. It directs people who experience this to resources to learn more about getting what Microsoft calls "genuine" software. WGA Notifications was rolled out this spring. WGA Notifications is delivered via Automatic Updates and it is technically optional. You can choose not to install it, but figuring out how to keep it from slipping in with high-priority security patches is not that easy (see later in this story for precise instructions on how to do that). According to Microsoft, there is no penalty for opting out of WGA Notifications. Opting out does not stop a user from receiving security updates via Automatic Updates. (See Microsoft's KnowledgeBase article, Description of Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications, for more information.)
A. Validation is an online process that verifies that your copy of Windows is genuine and that critical Windows licensing files have not been damaged, deleted, or removed. It takes only a few moments and lets Microsoft create a match between your PC's hardware profile and your 25-character product key, which is usually located on the Certificate of Authenticity (COA). This match is anonymously archived so it can be checked against future activation and validation attempts and helps make sure that the Windows product key installed on your PC matches the original Windows product key that was purchased. In this way, validation helps ensure that your product key is not used by another person in a malicious manner, such as activating a counterfeit or non-genuine copy of Windows. Microsoft might ask you to validate after Windows activation, when you request a genuine Windows download from the Microsoft Download Center, or when requesting a non-security-related download from Windows Update. No personally identifiable information is collected during validation.
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