I installed Windows 7 RC 7100 about 2 weeks ago now,an all has been good. Untill todayi get a randow message saying"An unauthorized change was made to Windows. Windows has discovered a change that will result in limited Windows functionality. Use the link below to find out how to fix Windows."I have not installed anything new recently or changed any thing that may have caused this so i have no idea whats happened.. I activated it again with another key i got from Microsoft an same thing happens about 2 hrs later. Everytime i've activated it, its said geniune key.. This limited windows function is just annoying, i cannot play any games at all cause DirectX has blownout because of this.any ideas? i'm thinking of just formatting but what a pain

Series - Ok.. It seems like something happened somewhere along the line that tripped Windows 7 into thinking something was modified. Can you get into Event Viewer and the Reliabilty monitor to see if there are any errors related to this? If so, please post details. As it stands, there can be any number of things that could have done this. Any attempt at sorting this out without more information would be kind of pointless. What happens when you click on the link in the message? Does it tell you what's wrong and does it offer any solutions on how to fix it?

Hi wolfie,in the event viewer i'm not a whole lot sure where i should look, but under "Windows Logs>Application" i see an Warning from Security-SPP "The system has been tampered. 0xC004D301"When i click the "Find solution" in sends me to (http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/AutomaticUpdates.aspx?Error=6)a page about "Validation Incomplete"At the bottom of the page is "If you are running Windows 7 Beta, you are seeing this message because the product is not yet available for purchase. Learn more about Windows 7."which is just confusing.

Series - Actually... It's not so confusing - Windows 7 hasn't been released as yet, and WGA hasn't been activated for it yet. Now then... That error - 0xC004D301... There seems to be a few posts elsewhere on the web that indicate that error can pop up if Windows (Vista in the case of the article) was hit with some sort of malware. Check your system for any nastyware that might be lurking.

yea i read up on the error code aswell an found alot of post about Vundo.anyway i grabbed a scanner an found nothing.. which just annoyied me more.i tryied reinstalling DirectX cause i remember i had a Direct 3D error an i directX error when i tried running a game..i didn't work, so i installed my graphic drivers again.so far problem has gone.. games work an haven't yet been asked to activate due to non-genuine copy.i hope it doesn't go rogue again

Series - Hmm.. hard to say what exactly happened. But it looks like the video driver got whacked by something. Could be a bad sector on the hard drive... Might want to check the hard drive's health. At least, it's no longer thinking it's an illegal copy.

hmm yea good idea... actually come to think of it, i have been hearing a Tick, tick, tick noise when i start my computer sometimes..(i figured cause its really cold in the morning) but it could be a drive malfunctioning -_-i hope not..thanks for the help:)

Series - Tick tick tick...? Yeah.. Cold starts can do it.. and yes, that could be the early signs of drive failure. Bearings wearing out and all that.Good luck!

Had same problem.So activation is required but is not working?Can not be true.It will not work till next june then, as promised.So something is wrong. I have in mind user i deleted....but still.

Oleg - Activation and WGA are two different thngs. Yes, Activation is working now as we speak. As you said - we'd all be in trouble now if that wasn't working.Windows Genuine Advantage, on the other hand, is not enabled as yet for Windows 7. WGA is a tool that checks periodically to see if your copy of Windows is genuine. In other words, you haven't backed up the entire hard drive and made a copy of it for someone else.Are you still having this issue? If so, please post the details. We may be able to solve the problem.

hmm so i think i may have found the problem..i'm using an old Winamp for my music right..Version 5.08 or something..anyway, when i open winamp i get an error telling me the DLL file "PX.DLL" is missing.so i d/l the PX.DLL file an place it in the "C:\windows\system32" directory which then gets rid of the error when loading winamp.awhile later windows gets the "An unauthorized change was made to Windows. Windows has discovered a change that will result in limited Windows functionality. Use the link below to find out how to fix Windows." Then the file "PX.DLL" has been deleted and winamp has the error again. Only difference is the 2nd & 3rd time this happen, DirectX didn't screw up so a little unsure why that happen.So the only thing i could think of the Unauthorized change is the PX.DLL file? make sence? lol:)

Series - Might be time to visit www.winamp.com and get a more up to date version... I think they're up to 5.552 these days. I installed it and had no problems with any missing files. But it does make sense. You're putting a file (px.dll) in a location that's supposed to be secure (c:\Windows\System32)- and if you put it there without the proper authorization, it will do exactly what you've seen happen. It kinda sucks that you can't do simple fixes like this any more, but then again, if it stops rogue apps from infecting your EXEs and DLLs, on the other hand, I'm NOT going to complain.

*blushesyea i got the new winamp today>< 5.552 an installedand runs fine..It is a shame that little things such as that are classed as an unathorized change but yea, i guess it for the best:)

But it does make sense. You're putting a file (px.dll) in a location that's supposed to be secure (c:\Windows\System32)- and if you put it there without the proper authorization, it will do exactly what you've seen happen. It kinda sucks that you can't do simple fixes like this any more, but then again, if it stops rogue apps from infecting your EXEs and DLLs, on the other hand, I'm NOT going to complain. That's curious. Do you have any documentation about this? egads - No.. Not off hand, but I have had the wonderful experience of cleaning up numerous pre-Vista (read XP, for the most part) boxes for clients that had malware drop a few hundred or so files in various locations - including System32. Stuff that turned an otherwise viable system into a spam spewing heap. A bit of better security on some of those folders and life would have been a bit simpler. While someone may find a way around dropping a file into System32, it would seem that Windows WILL let you know it in fairly short order and you can take steps to fix it before you've spammed half the planet...

ok well the Windows Activationerror just came up again. So i grabbed a Windows 7 Key an activated it once more:|I have not touch the system in anyway since the last error, only games & music.so i think its time to just format / reinstall. only thing i can think of that will fix it. now its just a matter of when i can be bothered><i'm supirzed no one else has had this problem? i've seach google for a while with no luck.

Series - Say... Did you ever get around to checking the drive for errors? Might want to grab a copy of the drive brand specific diagnostic tools from the manufacturer. Those generally look deeper into the drive's status than most other tools.

yea sorry, i have seagate drives, so grabbed seatools the other day. ran 3 different tests on all drive, took about 2 hrs or so an all drives passed:| which i guess is good>< loldo u think maybe the drive its installed on could be causing this?

Series - Honestly - I can't be 100% sure. Anything is possible. I do know that that sort of thing hasn't happened to me (yet, knock on wood) but then again, my drives are Western Digitals.. Just out of curiosity - how are your drives mounted in the case? horizontally or vertically? Someone I know is having some issues with his drive not being mounted so it sits flat...

actually i installed Windows 7 on a WD drive, a spare IDE i had laying around. do they have a HHD tool? i'll look at that drive (but its not the drive that ticks when cold)all my drives are mounted horizontally

Series - Yup.. Of course... it's available at www.wdc.com

i got the WD tool an scanned the HDD short and long tests and passed both, but when i first load the WD tools, it says the western digital drive failed a "SMART Status" "Spin up time" which could be (apparently) early signs of drive failure.

Series - Sounds like a "good news/bad news" scenario. It's passed the tests - for the moment -but that last bit about the SMART failuredoesn't sound good - though - SMART has been known to be wrong at times. But then again, there's that pesky "tick tick tick tick" noise you reported earlier. You've got a few options as far as I can see - 1.) Put up with the weirdness (ok.. NOT much of a solution).2.) Try a reinstall - see if that cures the problem. 3.) If the drive's under warranty - get an RMA. 4.) Replace it with another drive and reinstall. Either way - be sure to keep a good backup... Seems like you might need it. In fact, you might just want to save all yourimportant files on another drive entirely.

yea i understand, i mean the WD i'm using is fairly old, and its an IDE drive.. (only using it atm cause i can't really afford a new Sata drive:P)I think i will do a reinstall maybe over the weekend if it keeps playing up.The WD drive is obviously my C:\ so doesn't really contain much but windows an installed progs, all of which are backed up on seprate drives so thats all good.but in the near future i willl definatly be replacing the driveagain thanks for the help:)

I have the same problem, have done nothing to the operating system, activated it, all went smooth for 15 days, now i get this dumb message pop yp also everytime i open notepad, wordpad, or my pc just sets. the message tells me i might be running a counterfeite version of windows, then to resolve this issue click here, i click the link in the message and it takes me to this page that says. Validation is not currently supported for this version of Windows or for this non-Microsoft operating system. It appears that you are using an operating system that is not currently supported by the validation process. Only the following operating systems are currently supported: Windows XP Home Edition Windows XP Professional Windows XP Starter Edition Windows XP Media Center Edition Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Windows Vista If you are running Windows 7 Beta or the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC), you are seeing this message because the product is not yet available for purchase. Learn more about Windows 7. I sure would thing this is a fairly common problem and microsoft knows about it. Why have they not dealt with this bug/issue yet...There is no help on the page for this issue. THERE NEEDS TO BE A WAY TO TURN THIS STUPID NOTIFICATION OFF. Its enough to make me classify win7 in the same catagory as the usless windows Vista. what a waste of my money on vista ultimate. I sure don't want to make the same mistake with win7. I understand this version is not on the open market yet, I also do not have any hard drives going out, i build computers, preform upgrades for people, clean their pc's of spyware, malware, trojans, viruseses, etc. so im not new at this and know my computer.This is a bug that needs tending to right away. yes i could also uninstall the win7 and reinstall or go back to my win XP where with i never have problems with. If microsoft wants to sell a new operating system they need to build off windows XP foundation, i also know there are some programming that is used from win xp but most of win7 is coming out of Vista.So why can't there be a patch made to fix this issue of the win7 being a counterfeiet version. or are they trying to work on this issue now, or is it that nobody has a clue as to why this happens.Speculationon the issue is not a fix, it can drive the person with the issue nuts and cost a lot of unnessary spent time spent checking false possibilities out. Hard drives, video cards, win amp, program installs etc. 99% of the time is not the problem, yes it does happen from time to time.They need to tackle this problem head long. What if this goes to market and this issue reares its ugly head. Microsoft will no doubt loose morebusiness plus have a lot of unsatisfied customers.