> However, I've noted a much more serious issue on local XP systems, all
>> of which are legit and pass the MS validity tests with flying colors.
>> It appears that even on such systems, the MS tool will now attempt to
>> contact Microsoft over the Internet *every time you boot*. At least,
>> I'm seeing these contacts on every boot after the tool update so far,
>> and I've allowed them to proceed to completion each time. Perhaps it
>> stops after some number of boots, but there's no indication of such a
>> limit so far. The connections occur even if you do not have Windows
>> "automatic update" enabled.
> Please get people to investigate further. That's a fairly serious
> matter because it deprives you of some privacy. I don't want a third
> party tracking me every time I boot, irrespective of whether I want
> anything from their network at the time.
I found that one of my computers had rebooted this morning.
Event viewer indicates that a WGA update was done at 3:00 AM, then the update software FORCED a reboot.
The sygate fw popped up two notes, one that said that WGA had updated, and the other one indicating that WGA wanted to contact a Microsoft URL ( at about 3:05 AM ).
Claude