Gee Derrick,
You did not answer his question (same as my question).
To quote him: "how can I prove that my copy of Windows is genuine so Microsoft would leave me alone and stop sending me updates of their trojan tool?"
What - you see the word 'trojan' and get upset so you ignore his question?
I have a nearly 90 year old mother who still uses Windows 98 - she uses the computer less and less now - Mainly, in fact I bet - Only - because every time she dials up via her slow 36k modem she gets these notices - she does not know what to do with them, how to get rid of them - and often calls me and complains, but more often just shuts off the computer (without the Start-Shutdown) causing more problems for me.
It is obvious this is an anti-piracy tools - with MS using the excuse 'We want to help those who were sold or installed illegal copies of Windows - so we will install this 'tool' and monitor your system, checking 'Periodically' (to quote from the press release) that the currently running verson of windows is authentic' - to download and re-authenticating it every now and then - just in case some poor sole installs an illegal copy - so you can tell them it is illegal and ask them to buy a license - money, money, money... obvious. And all us law-abiding citizens suffer the interuptions of 'new updates' and annoyances of repeated 'Reboot Now or Later' notices in the middle of their session. That makes 8 or is it 9 I have seen tonight so far - WHY - duh, we click 'Later' we mean 'Later' - you do not have to keep interupting us.
Now - I just installed the latest, and after installing I came here and learned 'the prior versions can be un-installed, but this version cannot'?
What I would give (figuratively speaking) to remove this product from mine and my mothers computers - we have both authenticated - many times.
Her system has not been changed - no new software other than updates since 1999 - so why continue to pester and cause her distress with critical updates that do nothing more than check for 'recently installed' illegal software???
(Do you know what it is like to have to explain and justify, over and over, why you need to log in and download HOURS worth of updates (remember, average connection for her is around 28K) for a system that runs fine? This and this time counts against the hours/month she pays to be online!!!) Hey, there's an idea - make Windows update available FREE via 1-800 dial-up - hey, it's YOUR software, and YOU want to make sure it's legal - YOU should pay for this - we already did.
Todd
