One very quick tip for people. I have recently found a message popping up whenever I load Windows stating that it would be in my best interests to run Windows Genuine Advantage Notification and find out if I my copy of Windows is official. Now the laptop I have been using is second-hand so I have never questioned whether Windows is genuine or not, but have just got on with using it.

I believe it is still possible that my copy of Windows is genuine but I don’t want to run the program to find out in case I then get stuck with an even more permanent program in my taskbar informing me every 5 minutes that I should really consider buying an authorised copy of Windows.

There is one thing that can be done to prevent this message ever appearing and one thing to remove it once it does start appearing.

To prevent it simply change your Windows Automatic Updates (they can be found in Control Panel) so that you are informed before any updates are downloaded or installed. When you get the prompt that there are new updates have a look at them and if there are any involving Genuine Advantage Notification don’t install them. There are also some other strange things that Windows tries to install so this is never a bad idea.

To remove the message from your start-up simply go to Control Panel and find Scheduled Tasks. In there will be a scheduled task for Genuine Advantage. Delete it and hey presto, no more warning!