VistaJuice

ZDNet's Ed Bott reports on Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) problems in Vista. There are some actions a user may perform that may trigger Vista into thinking that someone is messing around with it's license and prompt a user to Activate Vista.

It's now a known issue, as reported by Microsoft, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 931573, and it can be avoided by installing the update.

Corrine from SecurityGarden reports:

... I am disappointed that Microsoft has not released KB 931573 at least as an "Important" update. First and foremost, if you operate Windows Vista, visit Windows Update: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com or the Microsoft Download Center for Windows Vista:

• Update for Windows Vista 32-Bit Systems
• Update for Windows Vista 64-Bit Systems

Cause (straight from Msoft):
- This problem may occur because a specific system setting is removed when a program runs with administrative credentials. The removal of this system setting may cause a BIOS validation check to fail. The BIOS validation check is part of the system activation process. Therefore, you may be prompted to activate Windows Vista, even though the system did not previously require activation. For example, this problem is known to occur when you use Intuit QuickBooks 2007. However, this problem may also infrequently occur when you install other programs or device drivers.
Note This problem does not occur because of an issue in the installed program or device driver. This problem is caused by a system problem in Windows Vista.

Therefore - you've been warned :) Get the update and don't worry about it any more. Corrine also points out at three articles of Ed Bott - where you can get more info about a History of Anti-Piracy at Microsoft, Problems with Vista's Validation, and the post about Vista's WGA Issues.

Thanks!

Via: Security Garden