Not Genuine Message

I have been using Vista Ultimate since day 1 with no problems. Yesterday,
when I booted up the computer, The version number and a little message below
it saying "this copy is Vista is not genuine", was on my desktop. It
disabled the Aero features and other Ultimate features. It told me to go
online to resolve this so I clicked on the link and it took me to the
"Windows Genuine Advantage" website. I tried installing the tool but it
tells me that in order to install it, windows must be activated. Windows is
already activated. It even says that in the "System" properties. I kept
trying to resolve this but without any luck. I finally ended up restoring
Vista from an earlier backup. I also had to reactivate it, but this went
without a hitch. Does anybody have any ideas as to why this happened? I
have'nt installed any new drivers or programs in a while so I don't think it
is caused by that.

My system:
BFG 680i chipset motherboard
BFG 8800GTX Video Card
Intel X6800 Extreme Processor
Sound Blaster X-Fi
4 GB PC6400 DDR2 Corsair Dominator Memory

There are some good tips that can be walked through here and should be done
first:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/faq.aspx

I'd recommend trying out the following forum at Microsoft:
http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/...=442&SiteID=25

Additional reading can be found here:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=148

While this is not a common problem, almost one-half of the "Not Genuine"
findings are false. Microsoft is a little soft on helping with this issue
since it is the crux of their Anit-Piracy scheme and they tout it as "perfect
code."

If your copy of Vista is genuine, do not pay them again.
Basically, if you installed something that manages to write over core
processes (including things the "clean the registry"), your installation is
no longer seen as genuine. If this is the case, a System Restore to a point
before the installation, or a Vista reinstallation will resolve the issue.
(You can thank the 3rd party software vendors for corrupting your OS.)

If your copy of Vista is not genuine, you're screwed.






"Mark" wrote:

> I have been using Vista Ultimate since day 1 with no problems. Yesterday,
> when I booted up the computer, The version number and a little message below
> it saying "this copy is Vista is not genuine", was on my desktop. It
> disabled the Aero features and other Ultimate features. It told me to go
> online to resolve this so I clicked on the link and it took me to the
> "Windows Genuine Advantage" website. I tried installing the tool but it
> tells me that in order to install it, windows must be activated. Windows is
> already activated. It even says that in the "System" properties. I kept
> trying to resolve this but without any luck. I finally ended up restoring
> Vista from an earlier backup. I also had to reactivate it, but this went
> without a hitch. Does anybody have any ideas as to why this happened? I
> have'nt installed any new drivers or programs in a while so I don't think it
> is caused by that.
>
> My system:
> BFG 680i chipset motherboard
> BFG 8800GTX Video Card
> Intel X6800 Extreme Processor
> Sound Blaster X-Fi
> 4 GB PC6400 DDR2 Corsair Dominator Memory
>

All it takes is one very small file to get corrupted or changed. My OEM
vista laptop became like that too. But I did it on purpose, and it was so
"fragile".

"Mark" wrote:

> I have been using Vista Ultimate since day 1 with no problems. Yesterday,
> when I booted up the computer, The version number and a little message below
> it saying "this copy is Vista is not genuine", was on my desktop. It
> disabled the Aero features and other Ultimate features. It told me to go
> online to resolve this so I clicked on the link and it took me to the
> "Windows Genuine Advantage" website. I tried installing the tool but it
> tells me that in order to install it, windows must be activated. Windows is
> already activated. It even says that in the "System" properties. I kept
> trying to resolve this but without any luck. I finally ended up restoring
> Vista from an earlier backup. I also had to reactivate it, but this went
> without a hitch. Does anybody have any ideas as to why this happened? I
> have'nt installed any new drivers or programs in a while so I don't think it
> is caused by that.
>
> My system:
> BFG 680i chipset motherboard
> BFG 8800GTX Video Card
> Intel X6800 Extreme Processor
> Sound Blaster X-Fi
> 4 GB PC6400 DDR2 Corsair Dominator Memory
>