Vista builds can be determined to be non-genuine "normally" only when you go online to a Genuine enabled web-site. There are, of course, certain exceptions. To resolve your non-genuine state locally, the most likely things to check for are:
#1) You say above, "... I have not run in a few weeks." This might mean that the 30-day out of box grace period has expired -- this will put your Vista copy into a reduced functionality mode, most easily recognized by being locked out at Winlogon screen. If this is your scenario, you will have to activate Vista to remove non-genuine status. Online activation, of course, will not work, but you will be able to activate over the telephone.
#2) There are three known compatibility issues (previously discussed in other threads in this forum) that cause a non-genuine status, even for machines that have never gone online. Vendors report that all three have been addressed now, though we (Microsoft) have only verified two so far:
* Spyware Doctor -- the latest version from PC Tools web-site no longer reports non-genuine. If you are running an older version of the Spyware Doctor binary, please either uninstall or download and install the latest
* Trend Micro Internet Security (PC-Cillin, etc.) before version 14.56. For machines upgraded from Windows XP, this was a common issue. If you are running this software, please download the latest Vista compatible version from Trend Micro.
* nProtect Gameguard -- this is installed automatically by several games; not usually by end-users directly. nProtect has communicated to our protection team that the issue has been addressed. Game companies who host nProtect's software must update their servers to the latest version in order for customers to get the updated version. I'd imagine this will shake out through most game company's servers within a matter of weeks (if it hasn't already). The only other workaround if the game company's server hasn't been updated yet is to uninstall the game (and Gameguard).
Note that none of the programs above had what I would call "bugs." There code was simply doing things that used to be allowed in XP, and they were unaware that the techniques are no longer permitted in Vista. We have send general guidance and communication to several vendors about this issue, so we hope the incidence is less and less going forward.
Anyhow, there should be no need to download a standalone WGA tool if the machine has never been online. If the machine has been online, like when it was setup for instance, a non-genuine status would have been reflected immediately if one was found while online. That doesn't sound like your case. If the above doesn't help, please post more details about the edition and build number of Vista you installed, your Product ID (not you 5x5 product key -- that's valuable, personal, and something you should never share publically -- just the PID from Control Panel->System tab), and any specific error codes/messages you see.
