How to get rid of SecuRom, NOW

[Ambular]

MS DOS?  Anyone remember Apple IIE?  The Commodore 64?  Programming in BASIC, "Hello World", backing things up on real cassette tapes, the innovation of the "hard" floppy, now THOSE were the days.

Well if you count non-Intel machines, the first personal computer I ever had was an Atari 400 (basically a crude game console with a keyboard tacked on and a few optional peripherals, including, yes, a cassette tape drive, and a version of BASIC hardwired into it.)  I wasn't cool enough for a Commodore 64.  :p  I did use those and Apple IIE's in a class at school, though.

* AmberDiceless wonders how long it'll be before Venusy splits or locks the thread for veering entirely off-topic.  Sorry all. 

[Deviancy]

I had this old tandy thing, I won't call it a computer even though Radio Shack called it one.

It was like a keyboard that hooked up to the tv and I could write programs on but in order to back anything up, I had to use casstte tapes.  So I got the hookups for my cassette recorder, supposedly that's all I needed and this tandy thing supposedly stored the data on tapes.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.  I also had one game cartidge for it, some mud like game.. sigh..

I don't miss that thing..

But at the very least it was what helped me learn how to type.

Apple IIE was what I played Oregon's Trail on when I was in 5th grade I think.. I swore it was IIC, there was a IIC right?

Oregon's Trail.. that was one fine ass game...

Oh the topic.. hrmm..

I see why Securom 7 is an issue for sim addicts and not those who play Tomb Raiders newest release..

Anniversary uses an earlier version of 7, I don't believe the earlier version installed uaservice7.exe, if it did I'd have that on my system and I don't. I think the newer version came out around time bioshock did, and 2k went all out to try and prevent that game from being pirated. 

So unless you lil addicts can really put maxis on the defensive, the next Sims expansion which is due out in Febuary will be hell since Securom most likely will step things up, I just have a bad feeling they're following in Starforces footsteps.

[tabbs]

I don't think I have SecuRom on my computer. I ran the checks for it under the start--->run--> regedit and the other one suggested and didn't see anything for it, so does that mean I don't have it or could it mean that it is hiding? Does everyone have it that installed BV or is it just some folks? I just want to make sure I'm understanding this right.

Also sorry if that was a stupid question.

[Deviancy]

If you downloaded Bon Voyage from a torrent site and followed the torrent instructions, chances are you don't have securom on your system.  If you downloaded Bon Voyage from EA, I believe they use a different form of protection, but don't quote me on that.  However, if you bought the game from the store and installed it, and played it from the cd.. you should have securom on your system. 

I'm trying to create a faq about securom 7, how it affects the game.. and the newer securom 7.

I went over to a few other sims sites.. far to many are downloading the patch..

Not good..

[Invisigoth]

You're also not letting the lurkers know that some hacks are patch specific such as inteeniator, which I bet will not work on the fairlight crack, at least properly..

Actually, (according to Jase) inteen doesn't need an update for this patch. As for the part about it not working properly with cracked executables can you show me a source? I can't find any sort of reference to that in the inteen documentation or anywhere on their site.

[Deviancy]

I have no idea where I read that at, I just remember reading something about not supporting nocd cracks since they're not legit.

But it's good to know Inteeniator won't need the patch.

[Kyna]

If you downloaded Bon Voyage from a torrent site and followed the torrent instructions, chances are you don't have securom on your system.

It depends on whether you downloaded an image of the CD or a cracked exe.  If the image uses the original exe then secuROM will be installed the first time you run it.  If you only ever run the game from a cracked exe (such as the Fairlight one), then you should be ok.

BTW, inteen is spelled inteenimater, not inteeniator.  But on MATY it's better known as the kitten killer.

[Deviancy]

I spell it like 5 different ways, I have no idea why, I just do.

And the kitten killer?

My mind is making me think that's because it either kills the pets in the game or has some kind of deviant meaning..

And someone, maybe you, earlier said it was made fun of here.  Why is it made fun of?  I always found it to be a rather complex hack that does quite a bit.  For one, it adds a very nice level of realism to the game.  And it's the best solution that I know of to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy in the game.  The old days, I used to use the tombstone to speed up the pregnancy, then I aged the sim.. then I killed the sim.  But with Inteen.. "abort.. abort"..

[J. M. Pescado]

[Deviancy]

Haha.. so in other words.. Jase loves you guys?

[Ambular]

Haha.. so in other words.. Jase loves you guys?

Jase wears his non-awesomeness like a badge of honor.  XD  The InTeen is apparently a bit of a monster from a programmer's POV (and even Jase admits this,) suffering from a lot of unnecessary file bloat and badly in need of a rebuild.  It's not really his fault--he's still limping along on code he wrote in the early days of Sims 2 modding when a lot of things weren't yet well understood, and it's now got six expansions worth of new features and fixes he's tacked on as best he could.  But it also makes so many fundamental changes to the game that a lot of other mods aren't compatible with it, which makes things difficult for the other modders because they'll get bug reports about their own work that turn out to be caused by InTeen incompatibility.

The InSIMenator has also been referred to as "the Puppy Killer" for similar reasons, though Pes seems to have less of an allergy to it...

[tabbs]

Ok I installed the game from the CD version, and sadly I also patched it. Man I hope I'm not screwed..

Now I need to really search for this.

I haven't seen any changes on my computer thus far, though I'm still on XP and not Vista but I still don't want it on my system.

And I'm guessing that you can still play the game without it on your system?

Edit to add:

I finally found it. Now because I installed the patch, is it still safe to remove? or am I going to have to re-install all together?

[Zazazu]

Ok I installed the game from the CD version, and sadly I also patched it. Man I hope I'm not screwed..

Now I need to really search for this.

I haven't seen any changes on my computer thus far, though I'm still on XP and not Vista but I still don't want it on my system.

And I'm guessing that you can still play the game without it on your system?

If you installed it from the CD, you have it. Period.

Here's a better way to check: Open up "My Computer". Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR NAME HERE. On the window's menu bar, hit Tools, then Folder Options. Click the View tab. Under "Hidden files and folders" make sure to click on the "Show hidden files and folders" radial button. (Insert beef about Windows hiding crap from computer owners for no valid reason here). Click OK. Now click on the new light-colored folder called Application Data. See a folder called SecuRom? You have it.

I'd suggest having someone a bit more computer savvy carry out the instructions for you. Nothing personal, we all have our levels of comfort with different things.

As for Windows 3.1 being the mark of respect, that's funny. I was programming in BASIC on my Commodore 64 when I was 8 6. I remember seeing the Tandy, but never actually got to play with one. My parents have never been computer-savvy, so I always got to play with the new ones and figure them out so I could teach them.

For general issues of concerns with other hacks, it's really upon the user to go to the site that deals with said hack. Unless all hacks are at one place, you can't expect people to be able to advise you, or to feel the responsibility to. Whining that the kitten killer is screwing up your game here generally gets you laughed at, and gives Pescado an excuse to post the domokuns.

[jsalemi]

MS DOS?  Anyone remember Apple IIE?  The Commodore 64?  Programming in BASIC, "Hello World", backing things up on real cassette tapes, the innovation of the "hard" floppy, now THOSE were the days.

Heh -- remember Logo?  I first started programming in that on an Apple II in the local library when I was killing time waiting for my then-wife to pick me up after work.  My first computer was a Franklin Ace 1200, which was Apple II compatible and also had a CPM board in it so I could run Wordstar and SuperCalc. I remember when I bought it that the salesman swore to me that 64k RAM was more than anyone would need for the foreseeable future.

Anniversary uses an earlier version of 7, I don't believe the earlier version installed uaservice7.exe, if it did I'd have that on my system and I don't.

uaservice7.exe is only installed if you install/run a game with a user account that doesn't have admin privileges. It's used by SecuROM to bypass the restrictions on a regular account, and give itself admin privileges. Which is one reason why most of us don't like it -- nothing should go behind our backs and give admin rights to a program when we specifically created an account without those rights. And frankly, a program that gives itself admin privileges in an account that shouldn't have them pretty well fits the definition of malware.

[tabbs]

I did find it. And I'm going to remove it, although it doesn't look it from my previous post - I do know how to do things on my pc, I'm not as dumb as I sound (read). Anyway I just woke up and this SecuROM thing is very new to me.

While I like BV I'm going to uninstall it all together, but first remove the SecuROM and start new. (Without installing BV I don't like it enough to go through the crack thing. But I might change my mind later, who knows.)

I'm just glad that MATY is here, you guys are the best. /kissass

[Quinctia]

You don't have to be that old to remember IIe's and Commodores.  I'm 24 and used those the first few years of grade school.  I could do very basic programming in BASIC (har har).  I remember being amazed at the IIgs's in the lab...with a MOUSE and COLOR.  My mom, however, brought home the largest floppy disk I have ever seen the other day.  It was bigger than my head and stored an amount that seems ridiculously small now.  It was from some programming/accounting class she took somewhere around the time when I was born, I think.

I wouldn't worry too hard about NoCD.exe's and patches, either.  Recently, I installed Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, and the NoCD explicitly said to download the patch(es) first, and I'm about to switch out my Knights of the Old Republic for a NoCD, and I believe that one's a post-patch as well.  (I hate hearing CDs whiz around in the drive when there's no need.)

You might have to wait a little bit to benefit from the patch, but it's not like the scene doesn't make new .exe's.  It may be that it's not a general practice for Sims games, but it doesn't seem like a problem elsewhere, so I doubt it will be, especially now that there's added incentive to use a NoCD.

[JCSpencer]

This is the only thread that search returns for "SecuROM," so I'll ask here. What the hell is it, or rather why is it so evil?

I was posting a list of problems on Insim in the General Help area, and I got the response that because I have Deluxe (Base+NL), I have the evil SecuROM and that is the likely culprit. I really don't understand how copy protection software can cause the errors I was experiencing, but because I have no knowledge about this particular program, I obviously can't be 100% certain of that fact.

[sluggo]

This is the only thread that search returns for "SecuROM," so I'll ask here. What the hell is it, or rather why is it so evil?

I was posting a list of problems on Insim in the General Help area, and I got the response that because I have Deluxe (Base+NL), I have the evil SecuROM and that is the likely culprit. I really don't understand how copy protection software can cause the errors I was experiencing, but because I have no knowledge about this particular program, I obviously can't be 100% certain of that fact.

'

Oooh.. Do I get to make a  LURK MOAR POST?
  Had you actually read through, You'd have seen it's mentioned a few hundred times what it is, where to find more information on it, yadda. yadda, yadda. Scroll up just a few posts, and read. I know it's hard, and it makes the brain hurt, but it may help with your problem

<edit>: oops.. quoted the wrong post

[morriganrant]

I installed with a torrented copy even though I legally bought the game. I nearly always do if only so i can leave by cd in the box and I only need open the box for the cd key. Anyway, It did still install some Securom files onto my computer, just apparently not all. My actual SecuRom file was empty, but I still found one file in my Windows 32 folder and the keys in my registry. They wouldn't have even been there but I installed the game the day it came out and I had not been able to locate a no-cd crack.

But anyway Deviancy, about the kitten killer, have you never heard the saying, "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten"? That is pretty much what the kitten killer phrase is a spin off of, unless I am sadly mistaken on this. Anyway, the others have told you the rest, it changes so much code that it wrecks hell on other peoples mods and hacks. I happen to like it, not that I use it's features all that often, I just like the option that I could if I wanted to. Anyone posting an error log on this site that then turns out that the problem is that hack then they are not given help and their help thread is locked. We do not support it here, and if someone is silly enough to have not removed such an involved hack and then testing before asking for help then they can do it the hard way with the fifty fifty method, actually, they should have used that method already before asking for help. You have said it, there are no kid gloves here. Don't use the Retardo land area as a judge, seems like most here are 20's-40s or more, those primarily in Retardo land ...well it's a little hard to tell, sometimes kids get lost.

[JCSpencer]

Oooh.. Do I get to make a  LURK MOAR POST?
  Had you actually read through, You'd have seen it's mentioned a few hundred times what it is, where to find more information on it, yadda. yadda, yadda. Scroll up just a few posts, and read. I know it's hard, and it makes the brain hurt, but it may help with your problem

<edit>: oops.. quoted the wrong post

Had you actually read through, you'd have seen it's not mentioned "a few hundred times," smartass - in fact, it's hardly mentioned at all. The best I can gather - which is the same [useless] information I gathered from searching other websites, googling it, etc. (so thanks again for another ASSumption) - is that it can cause some problems with some CD burners and virus protection software. Well, in my book, "cause some problems" isn't exactly an answer, and isn't very threatening. In fact, if I go solely off of what I've researched, it's really not that big of deal, and I tend to agree with Deviancy (hmm, how could I do that if I hadn't actually read through?). Then again, the *real* problem with it seems to simply be a matter of installing 3rd party software without consent; that receives more press than any actual problems that may occur/exist. Yeah, sure, it pisses me off to learn that this was passed on to us without our awareness or consent, but this is hardly the first piece of software to do that, nor will it be the last. Game companies - most companies in general these days - couldn't give two squats what we think. They do whatever they want to do that they feel is in their best interest, or just because they felt like doing it regardless of interest. Who knows, maybe it's a conspiracy and they are in cahoots with Sony so that we at least have to buy Sony burners if we want to keep burning stuff (since Sony can't seem to make a computer worth buying). [I figure I better mention that I'm being sarcastic here.]

As for "where to find more information on it" - I didn't ask where I can find out more about the NOCD hacks, which *are* locations mentioned in the posts. I wanted to know why SecuROM is supposedly so bad that I need to remove it. Again I agree with Deviancy - with the information I've been presented, I don't think it's really that big of a deal, but threads like could unnecessarily panic someone, or encourage people - especially newbs - to: 1) do something they may not need to do; 2) do something they have no idea how to do properly; and/or 3) do something they don't fully understand the consequences of. That is, of course, unless they actually try to learn something more about the problem, like I was attempting to do. Do you do all of your college research and then never ask you professor any questions, assuming everything you read is both correct and consummate? Simply because someone researches everything they can doesn't mean they've found all the answers they need.

As for my reading skills - for your information, although I could really care less if you know or not, I've spent about 30 hours of the last two days reading hundreds of threads on this site looking for mods, suggestions, fixes, et cetera. I never post a question unless I am absolutely 100% certain it either: 1) wasn't already answered; or 2) wasn't answered thoroughly enough for me, or at least didn't actually answer my specific question. To do otherwise is a major pet peeve of mine, as there is no excuse to post a question just because it wasn't answered on the first page of a multi-page thread. I hate that, and don't particularly care for anyone insinuating that I've done such a thing. Of course another pet peeve pertains to people that take the time to post, but only post derogatory comments, instead of using those few minutes to be helpful. Thumper's mother had some good advice along these lines, I believe. It should be a staple of Internet etiquette.

Hypocrites are my third pet peeve. So thanks for playing, try again soon. You'd better pick a different target next time if you actually want to score.

[jsalemi]

Check the 'BV with no CD' thread -- I believe there's more discussions about why SecuROM is bad there.

[JCSpencer]

For some reason that thread didn't get returned by the Search feature, and I probably would've overlooked the title because I don't have Bon Voyage, and thus don't care about playing it without the CD. LOL. I never would've though it could include something pertinent to my questions. I'll check it out now.

Thanks, Joe!

Oh, and I finally managed to (successfully) respond to your post in the Wants & Fears Sanity thread. LOL. Be forewarned: I talk a lot.

[sluggo]

Had you actually read through, you'd have seen it's not mentioned "a few hundred times," smartass

Hmmm.. Not even going to bother pointing to them, cause anyone can simply read the first freaking page which clearly shows how to remove said maulware and also points to a few spots suggesting what said program can do to your system what other people have experienced. Of course, you want to be spoon-fed and to top it off praddle on in your follow-up post when someone calls you on your non-clear-ity of your first post.

<edit>: Goggle is your friend, too!
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM

Result 1 of about 735,000 for securom.

[JCSpencer]

Oh for God's sake. You obviously didn't even bother to READ my post, let alone anything else. I never, EVER asked "how to remove said maulware." I also still do not see a link to any location of *what* SecuROM can do to your system, but there are plenty of links to how to get rid of it, as well as to sites for things like Daemon Tools, NOCD cracks, YASU, and whatnot. As for your last sentence - I'm not even going to bother. You'll just respond with more witty remarks for lack of anything better to do (such as, say, oh I don't know... helping someone by giving them information instead of infantile insults?). If you wanted to clarify yourself, why wouldn't you "bother pointing to them"? Or is it simply because you can't be bothered to actually read through everything? And as far as research goes (which you are so fond of telling me I should do), it wasn't even my first post, which you can find out easily from this site's very own tools.

And now to someone who actually IS interested in being helpful, thanks again, Joe. There was definitely some interesting information in that thread, but nobody can really seem to agree on any one method of removing SecuROM, other than it involving a crack. Of course, I still didn't see very much about *why* SecuROM is so bad. Venusy did makes some interesting points, but most of them were identical to what I've already seen on other sites while doing my research (self-spoon-fed, I guess). It can cause problems with certain burners and certain virus protection programs. That leads me to believe that not everybody really needs to remove SecuROM.

That said, Venusy did mention one other thing that did stand out - that it was a potential security threat. However, I am wary of that statement. Let me clarify that I am not claiming Venusy's statement is incorrect; I am by no means an expert (but I'm also by no means an ignoramus, as some here would like to think). The problem is that I can find almost nothing to substantiate it. What proof has anyone discovered of this? Have there been any examples of security breaches known to be related to SecuROM?

I guess what I'm saying is that experience has shown that panic ensues anytime something happens to a person's computer - often a very personal and important thing in our lives - that they didn't authorize or were unaware of (yeah, I know, I ended my sentence with a preposition - unless you count the part in parentheses ). These days it's not surprising that some people would jump to the conclusion that such an underhanded method of installation must surely insinuate a shady purpose. One such purpose being? Oh, spyware. I did see mention of spyware in one of B's posts, but it pertained only to the new Maxis launcher (which troubles me, but isn't a worry for me as I don't have that EP, yet).

Obviously, the inexperienced user could read that thread and see all of these different methods and bits of information (security risk, registry files, spyware, etc.) and think, "Oh my God, SecuROM is from the devil [MicroSoft] and my computer's going to explode in 5 seconds!" Fortunately, I know a bit more about computers, so I'm not panicking. Instead, I am trying to learn more about the "devil." So I guess the reason I was asking about SecuROM is because I'm wondering if I'm missing something obvious, because right now I just don't understand why SecuROM is so bad. In the other thread, one of the members actually *likes* SecuROM (at least for the purpose of making backup copies). I don't have a burner/VP problem, so that's out. I can't find any information that actually states what security threat it could pose, if any, so I feel safe there (not to mention there are plenty of other safeguards you can enable to minimize that risk either way). And my game seems to run fine (or the only problems I encounter can be linked to bad mods or known Maxis bugs).

That's all I really wanted to know. As it stands, I could care less about SecuROM (but I'm still pissed at EA). Unless of course somebody edumacates me otherwise. Sans insults.

EDIT:

<edit>: Goggle is your friend, too!
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM

Result 1 of about 735,000 for securom.

You know, I love a good back-and-forth. Debate is a great way to test your knowledge against others, as well as to learn other viewpoints. But it's really no fun at all when all the other person can do is come up with immature one-liners like, "Google is your friend." You keep accusing me of not reading, then instead of actually reading my replies to find out that's not true, you accuse me of "praddling." That's called hypocrisy (aka: double standards). So the question is: Are we going to keep going with this childish Inquisition, or can we simply agree that neither one of has all the answers, no matter how much research we may or may not do, that insulting each other about it accomplishes nil, and that if we let people that do need help ask their questions and those with the answers provide the answers, we can all be happy?

[tabbs]

I would like to see someone reply to JCspencer as well, I don't know that much about SecuROM (and I read quite a bit as well.)

I just assumed I wanted it off of there because I just got a new PC and didn't want anything to get messed up, I work hard to keep things off my system that I don't want on there or didn't put on there.

So on a 50/50 chance that it might mess up my burner, or disable some of my programs... Lets say it gets back on there, what could I do to limit it, so it doesn't have full rein over my PC?

Also I realized that if I buy other PC games it's most likely going to have some sort of protection on it and even possibly SecuROM, which will be on my pc anyways (unless I play with cracks, which I might do.)


(I already uninstalled SecuROM from my machine but since I patched my game I'm seriously thinking about just uninstalling BV, and reinstalling it the way that was suggested in the first post.)