Tech Help

[Saxif]

Hey folks,

Ok, here is my problem.  I logged my pc on this morning and got a message saying something along the lines of

"The hardware configuration of this pc has significantly changed and Windows needs to be re-activated to confirm it is genuine"

Obviously I didn't do didly squat.  Once my pc had booted up (this message popped up whilst I was entering my password), I double clicked the icon near my time display in the bottom right of my screen and it opened this web page

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/nonGenuine.aspx?displaylang=en&cCode=GBR&Error=1&PartnerID=101&sGuid=011b8741-587c-4e22-9361-835bd35c6221&submit=1

Please note, I am not sure if it is genuine, so go there only if you know what your doing ...

The web tab is called

"Genuine Microsft Software"

This in itself is very dubious, it also opened it in my Mozilla Firefox, which is my default browser, but I am sure before it opens IE, as thats Microsofts own browser.  Also now when my pc needs to update it doesn't open anything, it just does it automatically, so no browsers need to be opened, though this is requiring input from me.

The whole thing looks bogus to me, the only dubious thing I have done recently, yesterday infact iirc is dl and update a couple of add-ons from Curse Gaming, I have not looked at porn or anything even remotely dodgy for weeks.

To add even more suspicion its telling me I have to do it in the next 3 days !!  It all smells very very fishy ...

I would like your input, see if any of it rings a bell, or what ever, if none of you really know anything, but just get the feeling it dodgy like me then I'll copy and paste to the awakening forums and maybe the Prydwen forums and see what they all say ...

I am running an up to date copy of AVG, and its scanning atm, and I'll also run Ad-Aware SE and then Spybot Search and Destroy afterwards to see if they pick anything up.

Advice?

Sax.

[Cernos]

Microsoft's Windows validation programme is called "Genuine Advantage".

Periodically during Windows Updates you will be prompted to download the latest Windows Genuine Advantage notification tools. In fact, you can't continue obtaining updates without installing these. Part of the process is re-validating Windows.

However, I have never had the thing report that the hardware configuration of the PC has significantly changed. The 3-day thing could be because it thinks you've installed this version of Windows on another PC (and there's a time limit to activate in this situation).

So, whilst I think the link is genuine (it goes to microsoft.com) I've no idea why it thinks your hardware has changed. Is everything the same in your BIOS etc? Is all your hardware working correctly in Device Manager?

If you want to manually verify and validate Windows, perhaps try doing it via Windows Update or go directly to www.microsoft.com/genuine/

The question isn't so much one of whether the Windows validation thing is genuine (I think it is), the question is what has caused it to trigger - is it hardware problems, malicious software, or just 'one of those things' (and with computers it could quite easily be the latter).

[Saxif]

Well, I ran AVG and its clean and I ran Ad-Aware and its clean apart from a few basic cookies it always cleans out, I ran Spybot and got 3 hits, which have been removed.  I have changed my FGX Card and added some RAM and added a new HD to my pc, but the last time I opened it up to do any of that was months and months ago, nothing recently.  I also don't think I have a key for my version of windows as I got it from Scan pre-installed ... hmmm ...

Hate it when my pc throws something like this up ...

Sax.

[Cernos]

Well it's been a few months since MS last updated their validation tool, so it's possible that the hardware changes didn't get picked up until recently. I'm not sure how they decide what constitutes a new system, but hard disks, ram and gfx cards get a high weighting as of course they are key components. You shouldn't need the original key, just allow Windows to go along to the MS site and revalidate. I'm pretty sure you don't have any nasties on your PC. If at all worried, do the validation manually via Windows Update or via that link I posted above.

[Saxif]

I followed the prompts it was very straight forwards and no key was needed, took only a few minutes.  Took me longer to write on this forum about it than to do it

Cheers for the advice though, I was sure it was bogus

Sax.