Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy. The Microsoft Genuine Advantage (“MGA”) program is part of an on-going effort to help protect its customers and partners from counterfeit software. Using a validly-licensed, genuine copy of Microsoft software helps to ensure you will have access to all the latest features and updates from Microsoft. If you discover your system is not properly licensed, Microsoft would like to help you acquire a valid license. You may qualify for a discount. See the Microsoft Genuine Advantage website (http://www.microsoft.com/genuine) for details. The MGA tools consist of two main components:
- Validation, which determines whether you are running a valid licensed copy of Microsoft Software.
- Notifications, which display periodic reminders such as whether there is a problem with your Windows XP license or whether a more recent service pack is available for your Windows XP software.
To effectively encourage the use of properly licensed software, these tools are designed to be permanent additions to your operating system. | |  | What data is collected? | To help you validate your software, the MGA tools must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer. The tools do not collect your name, address, e-mail address, or any other information that Microsoft will use to identify you or contact you.
The tools collect such information as:
- Computer make and model
- Version information for the operating system and software using Genuine Advantage
- Region and language setting
- A unique number assigned to your computer by the tools (Globally Unique Identifier or GUID)
- Product ID and Product Key
- BIOS name, revision number, and revision date
- Volume serial number
In addition to the configuration information above, status information such as the following is also transferred:
- Whether the installation was successful
- The result of the validation check
As standard procedure, your Internet Protocol (IP) address is temporarily logged when your computer connects to an MGA website or server. These logs are routinely deleted.
Software piracy is a worldwide problem. To help spot possible systematic abuse of volume licenses, geographical location of the computer being validated is derived from its IP address. This is done at a precision that does not identify an individual user or computer. To help protect your privacy, only a non-unique portion of your IP address is used and retained with the information collected above.
| | How is this data used? | We use the information to
- Help prevent improperly licensed use of the software
- Improve our software and services
- Develop aggregate statistics.
We may also share aggregate data with others, such as hardware and software vendors and volume licensees to help protect their license keys.
| | What controls are available? | Users may customize some aspects of the notifications feature. Right-click the notification icon in the system tray for more information on available controls.
| | Changes to the Privacy Statement | We may occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of the privacy statement. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to be informed of how Microsoft is protecting your information.
| | For More Information |
If you have questions about this privacy statement, please contact us by using our web form at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=64215.
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