How to Stop Windows 7 Genuine Advantage Notification Messages

Introduced by Microsoft in 2005, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) tool is a software program incorporated in various Microsoft products in order to stop piracy. The WGA tool emphasizes on or executes the online validation of products that are launched by Microsoft whenever a user goes on to the Microsoft site. A copy of Windows is passed as a genuine one if and only if it passes the WGA test; else it is marked as a counterfeited software. In the latter case, whenever the user goes online, he is notified about using a pirated software by the WGA messages. We here take a look at disabling these notification messages, so as to enjoy an uninterrupted working experience using a pirated version of Windows.

Windows Genuine Advantage notification messages can be disabled either by using a third party software or without using any software. We’ll plow on both these methods hereby :

Without Using any Third-Party Software :

Before proceeding with this process, it is highly recommended that you keep a proper backup of your system by creating a system restore point or by backing up your registry.

Step-A:

1. Reboot your machine in safe mode by pressing the f8 key at start up.

2. Double click on “Computer” and then open the drive where your operating system is installed.

3. In this drive navigate to the location “(Drive letter)>Windows>System32″.

[Note: "(Drive letter)" indicates the drive which has the operating system installed in it.]

4. Locate and delete the files “WgaTray.exe” and “WgaLogon.dll”. These are the files that carry out the Windows Genuine Advantage validation test. Deletion of these files ceases the WGA tool to function.

Step-B :

This step includes editing the registry of your operating system. Hence it is advised that you keep a backup of your registry before proceeding, just in case anything goes out of the order.

1. Click on “Start” and then on “Run”.

2. The run box opens up. Type in “regedit” and press ENTER. Confirm any messages appearing (if any) to open the Registry Editor.

3. Now navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Microsoft>Windows NT>Current Version>Win Logon>Notify

4. Right click on “Notify” and then select “Delete”. Confirm when asked for to complete your task.

5. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your machine to run in normal mode.

Windows Genuine Advantage Notification messages will not appear after you have successfully completed the above process.

Using a Third-Party Software :

RemoveWGA is a software that disables the functioning of the WGA notification tool in your system. As a result the notification messages no longer appear while you are working. RemoveWGA disables or removes the notification section of the total process of WGA. It however does not affect the validation section; i.e. it does not make your windows genuine.

This tool takes a “silent path” process to check if the WGA tool is active in your system. It does not affect or interrupts any other processes running simultaneously. This feature of RemoveWGA is really commendable as it provides blocking or disables the WGA tool at startup. It also provides the user with an option to remove the WGA tool from his system.

Disclaimer: These methods do not encourage piracy of any sort. It’s always recommended that a user uses genuine software to get the best possible performance delivered.