The software giant has cooked and will release an update to Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications designed to sniff out and flag as non-genuine unlicensed or otherwise hacked copies of XP Pro. Alex Kochis, senior product manager, Windows Genuine Advantage, revealed that the latest update to the anti-piracy mechanism was capable to identify the latest fake and stolen/leaked product keys, as well as any cracks or additional methods used to bypass the activation process. At the same time there are other enhancements introduced to WGA Notifications by the refresh.

“With this release we've improved the design making it easier to install the update and to stay up to date with the latest release of WGA. This release focuses on the product edition that we find is most often counterfeited, Windows XP Professional,” Kochis added. “This update includes the latest validation information including recently stolen or misused product keys and other information.”
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Microsoft has also tweaked the installation process of WGA Notifications. The WGA refresh will be served automatically to Windows XP operating systems that have Automatic Updates enabled, and the installer will allow the user to deploy the update on the next reboot after the bits were downloaded. Users that have already integrated past WGA releases with the operating system will have the bits updated in the background, and will not need to go through the installation process again.