Mr. Bear, you have a unique ability to put on the blinders and block out the
facts which don't suit your reasoning. Perhaps you should try a wider
perception. Here's one example of what I'm presenting: when I purchased
this copy Windows XP Pro there was no mention of WGA, no requirement for my
computer to "call home" regularly, and no requirement to download programs
from Microsoft in order for Microsoft to check on the validity of my
purchase. Now it's mandatory to download and install those "spyware"
programs designed by Microsoft to repeatedly check the validity of my
purchase. That's just one example, of course there are many more.
Obviously, Microsoft has changed the terms and conditions under which we may
utilize software purchased from them in the past. To put it in simple terms
which everyone should be able to understand, Microsoft has changed the users
agreement after the fact, and to make matters worse, they have altered the
conditions under which the buyer may use the product...again, after the
fact. Some might consider that illegal, others may call it harassment. At
any rate, millions of legitimate users are required to jump through hoops
because a few crooks are illegally using the product. I find such behavior
all too common these days, where big business...and oh yes for sure, big
government, ignores the law whenever they so please; punish the masses like
a shotgun blast when a small percentage of the population violates the users
agreement. In attempting to resolve the issues with Microsoft, I've found
those I've communicated with to be not very well informed and even less
concerned about customer satisfaction and quality of care.
I've found Zone Alarm to be much better than the so-called firewall that
Microsoft developed for installation into Windows XP, and you know that to
be true just as well as I do. Zone Alarm, yes the free version, monitors
inbound and outbound traffic on my computer. The Windows firewall does not
do that. Is there something wrong with me using a better free firewall to
protect myself? In my humble opinion, Windows XP was not the least bit
secure when it was developed, and it's required untold millions of man
hours and countless updates in a continuous effort to make it the secure
program it is advertised to be (when one reads the writing on the pretty
blue screen as XP loads). Don't you pity the poor folks who have to update
their insecure XP operating system on a dialup connection? First they have
to download a WGA program, then reboot, then download another program to
enhance that first one, then go completely out of their mind trying to
download and install all of the urgent security fixes...ad infinitum.
