Windows 7 all of a sudden not genuine

Yes, I’m logged in. Tanned, rested, ready, cheese, moose, sister….

I’m trying to help a senior citizen on a fixed income, in my neighborhood, with a computer issue.

He bought an HP desktop back when Win 7 first was issued (I think Nov. 2009) and all was well until about a month ago.

Now, whenever he boots up the PC, a message pops up saying his copy of Win7 isn’t genuine.

He’s called both HP and Microsoft and each company blames the other.

Most of the time, his phone calls go to India and he has a hard time understanding the tech. support person on the other line.

I’ve heard of a file at Softpedia called RemoveWGA.exe which I’ve used on XP but never on Win7. Is it safe to use RemoveWGA.exe on Win7?

BitDefender flags the file as a trojan, but I’m pretty sure that conclusion is a false positive.

I see from googling this problem, that many users have a similar problem (Windows all of a sudden saying their software isn’t genuine), but I haven’t found a cost efficient solution.

This gentleman already paid for Win7 once, when he first purchased the computer, so I would think he wouldn’t have to pay for it a second time.

Firefox 12 released

Firefox 12 released

Neowin ^ | 22 April 2012 | Stefano Elia

Posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 2:08:18 PM by ShadowAce

Mozilla has now finalised the next version of their popular internet browser, Firefox 12 and is ready to download, although as of yet it hasn’t been officially publicised. Overall, there isn’t a huge amount of noticeable differences from the previous release but it is still recommended you update to the latest version.

For those eager to get their hands on the next version, you can download it from Mozilla’s website. For the moment, you can also download other languages versions of the browser here. You can also view the release notes of Firefox 12 here, with the browser version being officially released on the 24th of April.

For those curious to see what’s changed from version 11, which was released less than six weeks ago, here’s what’s new:

Windows: Firefox is now easier to update with one less prompt (User Account Control)

Page Source now has line numbers

Microsoft sets end of Windows XP support (for 2014)

Microsoft says Windows XP users have two years to remain with the older operating system before it ends all support and updates for the software.

While users can continue to use Windows XP after the end of Microsoft support, the lack of such support and updates, especially security patches, will make the operating system less and less secure as time passes, Microsoft’s Stella Chernyak wrote in a blog post.

“Windows XP and Office 2003 were great software releases for their time, but the technology environment has shifted,” she wrote.

Support for Office 2003 will end at the same time as support for Windows XP, PC Magazine reported Wednesday.

QUESTION: Alternate Data Streams and Windows XP

QUESTION: If I delete all Alternate Data Streams I find in Windows XP, will Windows Operating System continue to work?

The more I read about Alternate Data Streams (ADS), the more I don’t trust them.

I found that there are 10 Things to know about ADS.

1. There is no limit on the size of streams and there can be more than one stream linked to a normal file.

ADS are not visible in explorer or via command prompt. In fact, their size is also not reported by Windows!

2. Streams can be attached not only to files but also to folders and drives!

3. The content of an ADS should not be considered limited to simply text data.

Any stream of binary information can constitute a file which includes executables, Mpeg files, Jpeg files etc.

4. ADS have no attributes of their own.

The access rights assigned to the default unnamed stream are the rights that control any operation on ADSs such as creation, deletion or modification.

This means if a user cannot write to a file, that user cannot add an ADS to that file.

A user with guest privileges can also create such streams in every file where he has write access.

5. Some Browser helper Objects (BHOs) have started storing their malicious files inside ADS and very few anti-spyware/malware actually detect it.

6. Windows File Protection prevents the replacement of protected system files; it does not prevent a user with the appropriate permissions from adding ADS to those system files.

The System File Checker (sfc.exe) will verify that protected system files have not been overwritten, but will not detect ADS.

7. Microsoft Windows provides no tools or utilities either within the operating system software distribution or the Resource Kits for detecting the presence of ADS.

8. The stream can only be executed if called directly by a program with the full path to the file given.

Microsoft Explorer Problem. The Upgrade That Seems to Be a Downgrade

I have a windows 64 bit machine. Recently MS offered an upgrade to the next version of IE. Except it seems to be a downgrade.

There is no taskbar and I cannot change my search engine default. There is no more file print properties dropdown. No more search for words dropdown. All in all it is much less useful. Is there a way I can go back to my old IE which was much better.

This isnt even any faster than my old one and get the white screen more often.

Please no lectures about needing to change to Firefoxes or some bit-based browser that would require me to grow hair on my chest and wear nerd glasses to begin to comprehend…unless you really need to.

No I dont know what number IE I had, it was after XP and Vista, am I mixing things up here?

Yours truly, Chickensoup

via Microsoft Explorer Problem. The Upgrade That Seems to Be a Downgrade.