Off-topic discussion below, but somewhat relevant…

Add this to the list of problems with the WGA Notifications:

I have installed a copy of Windows XP SP2 (Retail version) on one of my desktops at home. Since this is my test machine, I usually do not activate it since I will be wiping it out within a month or so and I don’t like having to do the telephone-based activations that would result if I activate it once a month.

Well, Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications got installed during the Automatic Updates - which was OK. For the next three weeks, the Notification option popped up saying that I needed to activate to recieve product support, etc. It was a little annoying, but I could live with it. Now, after four weeks, it has decided that my copy is non-genuine since it hasn’t been activated. Basically WGA is acting like my copy is counterfeit. I get the wait dialog box after login and more frequent popups in Windows…

Why set this arbritrary deadline for WGA on non-activated system? The system will stop working after 60 days of non-activation. Or should I start using trial copies of Windows XP for my test environments?

– see comments for exact screen verbiage –

Tags: WGA, Rant