Redmond, Wash. (AHN) - Microsoft defended its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) after a blog charged that the tool acts like spyware as it constantly checks in with the vendor when a user boots a PC with the tool installed.

According to a report by IDG news service, Microsoft said that when the WGA Notifications checks in with Microsoft when a PC is booted, it does not provide any information to the vendor if a PC's copy of Windows has already been validated.

Instead, it is checking with a "server-side configuration setting to determine if WGA should run or not."

The statement came after Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility, International Open Internet Coalition, and the

Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative, posted a statement in his blog saying that the tool (WGA) may be acting like spyware, which is software that gathers user information through his or her Internet connection without the user's knowledge.

The software giant said that the check-in at every booting gives Microsoft the ability to disable the WGA program, if necessary.