Windows Genuine Advantage claim fails to reach Class Action status

Emil Protalinski at Ars Technica reports that a complaint about Windows Genuine Advantage has failed to reach Class Action status.

A lawsuit that accused Microsoft of misleading consumers to download and install an update for Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) under the guise that it was critical security update will go forward, but not as a class action. A federal judge has refused to certify the lawsuit as a class action, which would have meant anyone who owned a Windows XP PC in mid-2006 could join the case without having to hire an attorney. As Windows XP was easily the most popular operating system at the time, the move means Redmond has managed to avoid hundreds of millions in potential damages.

The lawsuit hinges around WGA’s disturbing propensity – severely curtailed in recent times – to “phone home” on a regular basis.

Thanks for the heads-up, yangs!

Still at MS-DEFCON 2: MS10-002 is out, but you don’t need it

Microsoft has released MS10-002 / KB 978207 as expected. You don’t need it right away unless you’re running IE 6. And if you’re running IE 6, what you really need is Firefox, not this patch.

None of the current patches are worth worrying about. We remain at MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.