In mid-March (2007), Microsoft presented us with yet another version of their Windows Genuine Advantage Notification tool as a High-Priority Update. This is the program that is designed to nag you to buy a copy of Windows, if it the WGA program (a different program) decides your copy isn’t legitimate.
Even if you’ve said "no, don’t offer it again," to an earlier version, you’ll get this one offered. That’s because you can only decline a particular version of an update. When a new version is released as a Windows Update or Microsoft Update, you’ll see it show up to be installed.
That is, if you have your Windows system set so that it does not update automatically, you’ll see it as a High-Priority Update.
But, remember, if you don’t want to update Windows automatically, you must make plans to update once a month (second Tuesday of each month is Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday). Otherwise, you won’t get the security updates you need.
By the way, my choice on Windows Genuine Advantage Notification is to:
- uncheck the "selected" box beside the update
- check the "don’t ask me again" box below that update
The next step is a little misleading, if that’s the only available update. Once you uncheck one box and then check the other, you have to do something to make your computer remember those settings. That is the link "Review and install updates."
When I clicked on it, Microsoft Update gave me a new screen that told me that there were no updates selected and that I had hidden one or more updates.
Just what I wanted!
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