I’m a Pirate, Hear Me Arrrrr!

I have what Microsoft thinks is an illegal copy of Windows. Years ago I bought an eMachines with a nonfunctional recovery CD whose serial number has since been effaced. I was not going to pay a hundred bucks for someone else’s screwup, so I did what any reasonable person would do: I pulled a fake serial number off the net.

“You idiot, why are you admitting this?” you say. “Now Microsoft knows!” In fact, that’s more a defense than a confession. You see, Bill Gates already knows because he’s been cybering with my computer every day!

Microsoft recently released something called Windows Genuine Advantage, a neat little tool that nags you to buy a legal copy of Windows if your serial number is unrecognized. That’s fine. But it also sends Microsoft statistics daily without your consent, even if your serial number is valid, and getting updates is a bitch unless it’s installed. Not so fine.

Microsoft is battling a lawsuit alleging that WGA is spyware, but I’ll just cut to the chase and urge you to get rid of it. Here’s a handy tool called RemoveWGA that cures what ails you.

UPDATE: Unless you desperately need them, you should disable automatic updates as WGA will be installed with every update.