Author: Ed Bott

Tech journalist. Author of 25+ books. ZDNET Contributing Editor since 2006. Contact info: https://edbott.com/contact-me/

True tales from the WGA front

From Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage blog, May 18, 2006:

I’m starting this blog because I would like to share some of the cool things our team is doing and because we want to hear from you. We want to know what you like and don’t like about WGA and our efforts to reduce piracy of Microsoft products while at the same time offering great benefits to users of genuine and licensed Microsoft software. I also want to know what you think we can do to make WGA better.

[…]

BTW, I will enable comments to start with and look forward to a frank and honest exchange of ideas. Also, I won’t be offering any technical support through this blog but I am happy to point people to the numerous support resources we have.

Comment posted to that same entry, July 16, 2006:

[A]fter recieving a flag telling me my Windows XP Professional might not be genuine, I did the right thing and checked up with Microsft through the telephone support network.

After speaking with five different people 2 told me my Windows package was invalid and 3 told me it was genuine, even so they issued me with a new product key “HEY GUESS WHAT” this new product key has really screwed up my computer.

Since being a caring honest type of guy and registering my concerns I have had nothing but no end of trouble with me recently bought computer.

What has Microsft done about it?

Uttered their sympathies and concerns, had me sat at my computer for over 3.5 days listening to foreign engineer having to repeat everything as clarity of instruction was not perfect to say the least. Well four weeks on I still have to register my Windows with the registration team, mind you! somthing different happened today “I cannot register the new programme Microsoft sent me BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN REGISTERED TOO MANY TIMES or is this not a genuine copy sent direct to me from Microsoft.

Well I have had some success after 7 attempts I finally got through to the telephone registration team and after a bout of intense listening and a number of repeating the number sequence I finally got registered, but hey in this energy efficient world we live in I am not going to switch my computer off paying the electricity bill is less stressful than switching on my computer.

[…]

I only want to switch on my computer and start work without having to re-register every time, JUST LIKE IT DID BEFORE MICROSOFT SENT FRIGHTENING POP UPS TELLING ME IT MAY NOT BE GENUINE.

I can’t wait to see the response.

Meanwhile, if you have a WGA horror story, please post it in the comments here.

Tip of the day: Make your own Windows Lock shortcut

This one’s by request. A commenter who goes by the handle justforfun wants to know is there’s a way to create “a windows lock icon (something that replicates what the ‘show desktop’ icon does for win+D, except for win+L.”

Yes, indeed. I’ve written about the Lock keyboard shortcut before, but this option is useful if you’re mouse-centric or if your keyboard doesn’t have a Windows log key.

Create a new shortcut using the following command:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Note that there’s a space after the initial executable and no space after the comma.

Give the shortcut a descriptive name and place it on the desktop or the Start menu. You’re now able to lock your computer with a single click.

A big week for Winternals

Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell have had a very, very big month. First, their company, Winternals Software, settled a lawsuit they brought against Best Buy and its Geek Squad subsidiary, resolving claims that Geek Squad technicians were routinely using bootleg copies of Winternals diagnostic and repair tools.

And today comes word that Microsoft has bought Winternals Software. The good news is that the legendary free utilities Winternals produces will continue to be free – for now. No telling how long that will last, though, so if you’re smart you’ll download what you need now, before it vanishes.

Congratulations, Mark and Bryce. And congratulations to Microsoft for a great acquisition.

AVG now works with Windows Vista

I know that AVG Free Edition from Grisoft is very popular. But if you tried to install it or one of the commercial AVG anti-virus products on Windows Vista Beta 2 it didn’t install properly. Apparently that’s now been fixed. A download available via Windows Update fixes the installation issue, according to Grisoft. I can confirm that Critical Update 920296 was automatically installed here a couple of days ago. If you’re able to run AVG on Windows Vista, post a comment below.

Microsoft’s KB article 921583 describes the update and includes links for manual downloads of the update. And no, I have no idea why the article and the update have different numbers.

And a reminder that Trend Micro and CA both have free Windows Vista-compatible evaluation versions of their security software available.

Update: In the comments, Mike Dimmick notes that the AVG update is actually numbered 921590. He’s right, as a more careful reading of the article confirms. Update 920296 fixes a separate installation issue that affects unspecified applications.. Thanks, Mike.

Hijacking my good name

Newsweek’s Steven Levy has an interesting story this week about how his domain name, stevenlevy.com, has been hijacked by spammers touting penny stocks:

My domain name is being used as a phony return address by spammers wishing to hide the real origin of their come-ons. I discovered this when I suddenly began receiving dozens of bounced e-mail messages and out-of-office replies referencing mail I hadn’t sent. (My ISP forwards all stevenlevy.com mail directly to me.) Sometimes the original message was sent along, and to my horror, each one was a carnival-barker plea to buy the penny stock of some obscure enterprise, like the tiny company with some mineral rights in British Columbia that was shifting its focus to entertainment and media opportunities in China.

The same thing happened to me in the past 10 days, with porn e-mails going out under my name, a fact I discover when the bounce messages come back to me.

Ironic coincidence? Or a malevolent attempt by spammers to target technology-based domains? I don’t know. But I do know that it’s annoying, and if I owned a business that depended on e-mail for my customers to make purchases and receive support the effects of having my domain name used this way could be catastrophic.

 

Chat as the #1 support option

Dwight’s right:

Many companies now utilize live chat to help with tech support. Sometimes it’s better than phone support, because you can continue to do other things while you wait for the technician to respond to your latest message. And, issues like accented English become non-issues.

I can testify from personal experience that chat is the best way to correspond with Dell, for precisely the same reasons as Dwight notes. In addition, you’re less likely to lose your temper and say, er, type something stupid in a chat window.

Someone really needs a long weekend

Specifically, Kate Bevan of  The Guardian:

Firefox is wonderful. It’s up there with chocolate and sex on the grand scale of great things about being alive.

Firefox is a really nice browser, but there is no piece of software that deserves to be in the same category as chocolate or sex. There’s no hardware that belongs in that category, either. At least, nothing silicon-based.

Windows Vista Tip #5: Assign a keyboard shortcut to a program

Gerard has a Windows Vista question:

I can’t create Shortcut Keys for Start menu Shortcuts, UAC denies me permission to do so. I specifically tried to assign ctrl-alt-R to Remote Desktop Connection, is it just me? I disable UAC and it works.

This will happen if you try to assign a shortcut to any item on the Start menu that you didn’t personally create, because it exists in the All Users folder, where you’re not the owner of the shortcut. Two solutions:

Option 1: Open Windows Explorer using an administrator account (click Start, All Programs, Accessories; right-click on Windows Explorer and choose Run as Administrator). Now browse to %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories and locate the shortcut for Remote Desktop Connection. Right-click and choose Properties. Click in the Shortcut Key box and press the keyboard sequence you want to use. Now you can save the shortcut.

Option 2: Create a new shortcut on the desktop and assign the shortcut key to it. Because you own this shortcut, you can edit it without any UAC prompts.