In addition to our recent upgraded new look and feel today the team published new diagnostics pages for WGA and OGA . And in anticipation of tomorrow's launch of WGA Notifications in countries around the world additional information about WGA Notifications has also been published.

New look and feel

I really like the new look and feel of the site. It's a much cleaner look and I think improves the usability of the pages too. In addition to an overall lighter and cleaner look (which I think improves the usability of the site) we've also gotten some new branding. I really like the new masthead and also the new placement of ‘validate' buttons for both Windows and Office.

New Masthead

New Validate Buttons

 

New Diagnostic Pages

As I mentioned we have also published new diagnostics pages and a support options page which can help users learn more about the configuration of their systems help them use both WGA and OGA. The diagnostics page will enable users to find out the following information:

• If scripting is turned on
• If images display correctly
• If the System Date and Time are relatively correct
• If the Microsoft Genuine Advantage ActiveX controls load correctly
• If the Microsoft Genuine Advantage ActiveX controls are able to successfully connect to the validation servers

Below is a shot of the diag out put the first time I ran this page on my home system.

I think this is a pretty typical output, the Windows validation ActiveX control is outdated as is the OGA one so they don't clear the first pass of the diag. And for someone using the site for the first time it's not surprising that the Validation Self-help control isn't loaded either. Clicking the ‘Resolve Now' button in at the bottom prompts the installation of updated controls and allows a couple of additional checks including that of the data.dat file, a cryptography check and a product activation check as seen here.

Expanded information about WGA Notifications

Also just published is new expanded content that describes WGA Notifications, what it is, why it should be used and how it works. The new content is presented in an easy to read way and includes a screen by screen walk through of the installation and validation process. This new content is available here on the About Notifications pages.