Sunday, March 05, 2006

Microsoft's latest release of their New Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool: CRACKED! How to do it, now made easiest ... just for you !!!

Hello again !!!

Did you miss me ? Oh I know you did.

I realised that woking with the policy edior or the registry for that matter is not an easy cup of cake for the majority of users out there. In fact, its risky and fatal if you goof up, which you are bound to if you are not a techie genius. So now, I decided to go ahead and serve you the cup of cake that you are looking for.

Use the tool Addonconfig.zip to disable this Add-On in the simpliest way possible ...
as simple as a click on a button.

NOTE : This tool is for stand-alone systems running Windows XP Service Pack 2 only.

Just run the tool and copy the Class ID into the box (and when I say that, I have already told you how to find out the Class ID for the Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool, please refer to my previous post for the details on how to find out the Class ID for any Add-On installed on your system). Now click on the following buttons:

Block this Add-on (Group Policy - Current user)
Block this Add-on (Group Policy - All Users)


A sample screenshot of how the application looks like:





Thats it, and VOILA !!! Microsoft's latest release of their New Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool is now CRACKED !!!

Now you can go ahead and update windows as normal.


Cheers and Enjoy !!!

Supremo Phantom

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

New Windows Genuine Advantage cracked again by an Indian

Hello World !!!

As of the 1st of March, 2006, Microsoft released a new patch/update for the Windows Genuine Advantage Tool claiming that updates will no longer work on a blocked key ... at least they thought so ... becoz, in just a few hours after its release, it's CRACKED AGAIN !!!
Funny, ain't it.

With the new Windows Genuine Advantage Tool installed, if you go to the Add-On Manager to select the add-on in Windows XP SP2, the message says "This add-on is managed by your administrator".

Something like this here:



Well, this happens if the particular add-on is restricted via the Group Policy Editor or via the registry. And since this is simply a group policy applied now, it can be quite easily overcome.

Here's how you do it yourself :

CAUTION NOTE : Following the steps listed below will reset all the add-on policy settings to XP defaults (i.e., Removes restrictions for all the add-ons, if defined already). To remove the restriction for a specific add-on, please follow the manual steps in Microsoft Knowledgebase article 883256 .

To clear all the add-on Policy settings, click Start, Run and type GPEDIT.MSC and navigate to this path : (System setting)

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Security Features > Add-on Management

In the right-pane, do the following:

Double-click Add-on List and set it to Not Configured
Double-click Deny all add-ons unless specifically allowed in the Add-on list and set it to Not Configured

Similarly, perform the above steps in this location: (Per-user setting)

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet Explorer > Security Features > Add-on Management

To accomplish the same via the Registry

(This is equivalent to Deny all add-ons unless specifically allowed in the Add-on list setting)

Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT. Navigate to this key :

HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ policies \ EXT

-and-

HKCU \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ policies \ EXT

In the right-pane, delete the value RestrictToList in both of the above locations

(This is equivalent to Add-on List Group Policy setting)

Navigate to this key:

HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ policies \ EXT \ CLSID

-and-

HKCU \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ policies \ EXT \ CLSID

In the right-pane, delete the CLSID which corresponds to the Add-on which you want to manage. By default, no entries exist there (in a clean installation)

FYI, for those who are interested in details, the ''Class ID'' for this Microsoft's "New Windows Genuine Advantage Tool" is :


{17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700}


Close Registry Editor and restart Windows.

Thats all there is to it ...

More Information

To know the CLSID for a browser add-on, choose "Class ID" header from the Column preferences. Right-click the top border (see image)


For more information on the above Group Policy and Registry keys/values, refer to section Disabling Add-on Management user interface in the Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 page.

Cheers and Enjoy !!!

Supremo Phantom