Celesta, you are full of wonderful and useful information.  Thank you so much.

It certainly does look more and more like I have a SecuROM problem.  However, since so many people seem to think that this is impossible (I mean, SecuROM is only a harmless copyright protection program, right), my tech guy and I want to make absolutely sure that it can't be anything else before we attempt removal of SecuROM.  That way, when everything immediately gets better afterward, no one can say that it was because of something else we did.     I especially want to be able to list everything I did when I send a nice little e-mail to EA support.   

I really thank you (and everyone else) for all the support and help.   

BTW, does anyone know of any anti-virus/spyware programs that will run all the way through with SecuROM on the computer?  I currently have Defender Pro, AVG, Ad-Aware and SUPERAnti-Spyware.  Some of them will run when you do the quick scan, but none of them want to complete a full scan -- even in safe mode.  I'd prefer it if I can get some free software since my computer fund is all tapped out with all the problems I've been having.   Thanks again!

Celesta, thanks for trying to explain this to me.  I finally called in a favor from a computer geek friend of mine.     He's going through my computer with a fine-toothed comb to see if all my problems (BV tries to launch but sits on the same screen forever, anti-virus/spyware programs stop in the middle of a scan, computer lags, internet connection lags, etc.) is caused by SecuROM or something else.  He says that there is definitely something funny going on with the system, but he's not sure if it's a trojan or other malware let in by SecuROM or if it might be SecuROM itself.   Neither one of us wants to guess what's wrong, we want to know for sure so that when we fix it, we make sure it's fixed for good.  So, I'm going about this the slow, methodical way.     I will keep checking the info here to see if anyone has any other info that might be useful to us in our quest.   

Edited: for clarity.

I really appreciate how helpful everyone is trying to be.  I know that I sound a little paranoid, but I'm an infant when it comes to computer stuff (I know just enough to get me in trouble -- I'm not awesome at all), so I always check everything out several times before I actually make a decision.  That caution has paid off many times.  I just wish I had been that cautious when I decided to install BV.   

The "turn off" method is appealing to me because it has been possible to turn off things in the services menu for quite a while, so I feel that this method is tried and true.  It doesn't feel like an experimental attempt at all.  My only problem is that I don't have the .exe file needed to turn the program off and I need to figure out how to do it with the files I have.  I guess that could be considered the experimental part.   

I know that many people have deleted the keys from their registry and installed the no-cd crack without problems.  However, I have read some posts where this HAS caused problems for people.  Since I have the "unholy hybrid" (the game plus the patch), I worry that I will be one of those at risk.  And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not allowed to reformat my computer, so I need to make sure that whatever I do doesn't cause a disasterous problem. 

People here have been telling everyone to read up on the SecuROM issue because the net is full of information about it.  Well, I have been reading and something that gave me pause about using the regular removal method discussed here is something I read over at wrongplanet.net.  The poster worked in security.  He doesn't like SecuROM, but warns people about cracks in general:  "I let my cert expire a while ago, so I won't recommend against buying one copy and downloading another. Just go over your downloaded one with 3 or 4 different AV/anti-trojan scanners before you use it, because half of the cracked stuff I've seen has had non-Sony rootkits in it, and those are even less fun than SecuRom. Stuff in RAR format seems to be especially bad, since few AV packages know how to see through the compression like they do with ZIPs, etc."

As I mentioned earlier, If possible, I would like to try the least harmful method first, and then move on to methods that might be more likely to hurt my computer.  But no matter what, I do want to get SecuROM off my computer.  If for no other reason, I need to see if that is what is causing the problems I've been having. 

So, although I know that many of you want to just tell me to shut up and use the delete/crack method, I would really appreciate it if anyone that might have the knowledge to help me with the "turn off" method would speak up and let me know their thoughts.   Thanks again to everyone.

I installed from the disk, but I only have one user account on my computer -- the administrator account.  I did notice that instead of having the UAService7.exe file in the system32 folder that I had the cmdlineext.dll file.  I don't know what you mean when you say that I have "2 windows services running."  I would like to find out about this since I'm having so many problems.  Could you give me more info?

Thanks!

Jolrei, here is the original information that I quoted back to:


I found the information in this thread on page 6. 

As you can see, the method doesn't turn things off in the registry or mess with the registry.  It turns SecuROM off in the Services panel.  Since I don't have the executable file necessary to do the swap out of files (I have the cmdlineext.exe file), I was hoping that someone could tell me how to complete this method some other way. 

Yeah, I figured that out too late -- just as I figured out that SecuROM was installed on my computer too late.    

I'm still trying to find a way to use the "turn off" method.  I know I should just give up and delete the keys from the registry and use the removal method, but there have been people who have said that removing SecuROM caused other problems with their computers that then forced them to reformat.  Reformatting is sort of a no-no with our computer situation (long story), so I'd like to try the least invasive method first before I am forced to move to the harsher remedies. 

If anyone knows how I can make the "turn off" method work, or has an idea about how it might be possible, I'd love to hear from you.  I know there are a lot of computer geniuses out there that are so awesome that they can come up with a way to make it work.   

lordrichter, I just want to make sure that I understand what is being said.  In JCSpencer's post that I quoted, it says that when you turn SecuROM off using the method of replacing the .exe file, that SecuROM will never load or install again.  I assumed that this was because when it checked or touched the file, the file was turned off and therefore there was nothing for the .exe file to do (i.e. load, mess with the computer, etc.).  Are you saying that this is incorrect? 

BTW, I am definitely having problems with SecuROM and that is why I need it stopped.  I would like to try this method first (if possible) before I resort to messing with the registry.  The truth of the matter is, I'm lazy.  If this will turn SecuROM off and I never have to deal with it again, then I'm all for that.  I'm just not sure that I'm going to remember to check files and mess with stuff later on when I patch or install new games.  I don't like to mess with things unless I absolutely have to.     See what I mean -- I'm lazy.   

I am very interested in stopping the madness when it comes to SecuROM.  I would very much like to give this method a try:


My problem is that since I only have one user account on my computer, and it has administrative privileges, I don't have an executable file -- I have the cmdlineext.dll file instead.  Does anyone know if there is a way that I can still make this "turn off" method work?