WGA changes coming in Vista SP1

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in IT who likes Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage program. So most will be glad to hear that the company is planning to make changes to the anti-piracy tool yet again, with the introduction of Windows Vista SP1 in March. While the company plans to disable two of the most common product activation exploits with SP1, the biggest news is that the "punishment" for systems suspected of running a pirated copy of Windows is being toned down just a bit. Instead of "Reduced Functionality Mode," SP1 systems will be forced into a notifications-based mode that will change the desktop background and remind the user to activate Windows every hour. These are minor annoyances compared to Reduced Functionality Mode and should come as welcome news, given the large number of legitimate Windows systems that seem to have been misdiagnosed by WGA in the past.

For more on the coming changes:
- see this Ars Technica article