Microsoft Spyware

Filed in archive Privacy & Security on June 30, 2006

No, this is not a typo that should have been Microsoft Antispyware (now called Defender). This is about Microsoft installing invasive software on your PC.

This isn't directly related to our category. But the experience of yet another large company abusing its customers is a story we've told before. Last time it was SonyBMG. Now it's Microsoft.

Brian Livingston sounds the alarm in "Dump Windows Update, use alternatives." Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) genuinely screws you, the average Joe, not the high volume CD pirates they should be worrying about. This spyware forces you to be subject to ongoing surveillance to receive future Windows updates. It actually connects to their servers once a day.

I'm outraged. I hope you are too. The article shows you what you can do to remove WGA and be more careful in the future.