You have a rare (for Win 7) Trusted Store Tamper.
In Windows, there are files that have what is known as a Digital Signature. A Digital Signature is an industry standard that ensures that a file is, in fact, from the specified source. If a file is modified in any way, the Digital Signature is broken.
Example: lets say you get a Printer Driver that is Digitally Signed from HP. Since the Digital Signature was created by a Trusted Source (HP) a Certificate is created within Window's Trusted Store. The Digital Signature is dependent on the file's Hash (think
fingerprint) so if the file is changed in any way, it's Digital Signature is broken and becomes invalid. So lets say that the HP Driver got modified by some sort of Malware or became corrupt for some reason. The File's Hash would no longer match the
hash listed in the Digitally Signature (or the Signature may not even be readable at that point). The Digital Signature becomes invalid because windows now don't know what has been done to that file, so the file can no longer be trusted. This, in turn, invalidates
the corresponding Certificate within the Trusted Store which causes a Trusted Store Tamper which results in Windows turning to a Non-Genuine state.
What I have described in the above example is basically what is happening with your Windows. Some Digitally Signed file has been modified in some way and the Certificate within Windows's Trusted Store has become invalid (i.e. no longer trusted)
which invalidates the Certificate in the Trusted Store and that is what has triggered the Non-Genuine messaging.
Unfortunately, none of my tools are able to pinpoint which file/signature/certificate is causing the problem. However there are a few thing you can try that may correct the issue.
1) First off not all Digitally Signed files are Drivers, but from experience we have found that this issue seems to occur the most with Drivers. So my first suggestion is to confirm that all your hardware drivers are up to date. Note: Figuring
out if a Driver is up to date and/or replacing a driver with a more current one can sometimes take semi-advanced computer knowledge and me explaining the process is outside the scope of this forum. If you do not know how to work with Drivers seek assistance
or skip down to #2 or #3 below
2) Restore Windows back to a past System Restore Point.
1) Boot into Windows
2) Click the Start button
3) In the Start Search field, type: System Restore and hit the Enter key
4) Select "Choose Different Restore Point", Put a check in the box that says "Show restore points older than 5 days", select the restore point that corresponds to a date Before you first noticed the issue (which hopefully was today).
5) Click the "Next" button.
6) Reboot
3) Repair Windows using the 'sfc /scannow' command
The Scan Now will look for any bad Windows files and attempt to repair them, if possible (it isn't always able to)
1) Login to Windows
2) Click the Start button
3) Type: cmd.exe in the search field
4) Right-click the cmd.exe file and select Run as Administrator
5) In the CMD window, type: sfc /scannow
6) Reboot and see if that resolves the issue.
4) If none of my suggestions resolves the issue, then the only other suggestions I have are to either contacting Microsoft Assisted support, at one of the below URLs, or reinstalling Windows.
North America:
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/cu_sc_genadv_master?ws=support&ws=support#tab4
Outside North America:
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support#tab0
Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi |
CrashFixPC |
The Three-toed Sloth
