How to get rid of SecuRom, NOW
angelyne:
I dunno about a consensus. I think that most people who have the know-how to remove it have done so, just on principles. I know I have. But I think that if removing it means messing with things you aren't comfortable messing with, you might as well leave it there. LordRitcher has tested it and it doesn't seem to cause any problems, to his system anyway. Your millage may vary, but I'll trust a real life test over hysteria anytime.
And you are absolutely right. Copy protection encourages piracy. I've seen it in games, I've seen it with music CD. When customers suddenly find they can no longer use the product they paid for, or not use it in the way they want (like running the game without a CD, or moving music you bought to a new device), they go searching for answers. And the answers are not hard to find. And that opens a whole pandora's box.
My guess is that game companies consider that a reasonable risk. They figure this will stop more casual piracy than it will cause customers to embrace the "dark side". Although I have my doubts. Getting a pirated copy is absolutely trivial. Usually downloading a new expansion pack is faster than waiting for the game to hit your local stores. Would there really be more piracy if the games were left unprotected? Who is this copy protection stopping now exactly. Maybe the kiddie crowd, whose internet usage is closely monitored by parents.
One thing for sure they made a big mistake switching to Securom. They thought the change would be transparent. It wasn't. That's lack of proper testing. Like applying an untested patch system-wide in your corporate environment. As as you pointed out, the uproar caused a lot of people to discover the wonders of cracked exe's. Not good for EA. Good for the customer.
Celestard:
Quote from: Sugar on 2007 October 18, 19:49:35
I am very interested in stopping the madness when it comes to SecuROM. I would very much like to give this method a try:
Quote from: JCSpencer on 2007 October 13, 20:41:25
EDIT #2: I just found this online. Sounds a little too easy, but it also makes sense logically. Posting it here to see what any of you might think.
Quote
The easiest way to remove it without using additional software, is to go and delete it from the \windows\system32\ folder (I think the filename is UAService7.exe).
Then make a text file with the same name, in the same directory, and then right click the file, and make it "Hidden" and "Read Only". Then go into Control Panel/Admin/Services and disable/stop the SecuROM service. It will never load OR install ever again, and you are forever ridden of SecuROM but can still play all SecuROM games.
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?
I have heard that you can change the name of the cmdlineext file, and create a dummie file to turn it off. But the thing is that file I believe is only for creating the analysis file. The file that is activating SecuROM is the sims2ep6.exe which is communicating with the NEVER Delete key in the registry. In a user account the exe can not perform that action because of the limited priviledges it has. The UAService7.exe enables the sims2ep6.exe to communicate with the registry key in the user account. This is why people using an admin account use a no cd executible to replace the original, because SecuROM is removed from it and will not install or activate SecuROM and all together bypasses it. I can vouch that the no cd cracks at GameBurnWorld.com are safe. I have been using them since the Pets expansion and they have never caused me any problems. If you put the crack in before starting the copy protected game up, SecuROM doesn't install at all.
Sugar:
Quote from: CelestaLovesCats on 2007 October 23, 12:14:08
I have heard that you can change the name of the cmdlineext file, and create a dummie file to turn it off. But the thing is that file I believe is only for creating the analysis file. The file that is activating SecuROM is the sims2ep6.exe which is communicating with the NEVER Delete key in the registry. In a user account the exe can not perform that action because of the limited priviledges it has. The UAService7.exe enables the sims2ep6.exe to communicate with the registry key in the user account. This is why people using an admin account use a no cd executible to replace the original, because SecuROM is removed from it and will not install or activate SecuROM and all together bypasses it. I can vouch that the no cd cracks at GameBurnWorld.com are safe. I have been using them since the Pets expansion and they have never caused me any problems. If you put the crack in before starting the copy protected game up, SecuROM doesn't install at all.
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. ;D 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.
Celestard:
Quote from: Sugar on 2007 October 23, 13:13:58
Quote from: CelestaLovesCats on 2007 October 23, 12:14:08
I have heard that you can change the name of the cmdlineext file, and create a dummie file to turn it off. But the thing is that file I believe is only for creating the analysis file. The file that is activating SecuROM is the sims2ep6.exe which is communicating with the NEVER Delete key in the registry. In a user account the exe can not perform that action because of the limited priviledges it has. The UAService7.exe enables the sims2ep6.exe to communicate with the registry key in the user account. This is why people using an admin account use a no cd executible to replace the original, because SecuROM is removed from it and will not install or activate SecuROM and all together bypasses it. I can vouch that the no cd cracks at GameBurnWorld.com are safe. I have been using them since the Pets expansion and they have never caused me any problems. If you put the crack in before starting the copy protected game up, SecuROM doesn't install at all.
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. ;D 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 believe I can explain why your scans stop. It's my understanding that SecuROM performs some type of activity to remove itself from scan lists during the scanning process. In some anti spyware and anti virus programs this causes an interuption of the scanning process and it becomes stuck. The scans are actually picking up the SecuROM files as potentially harmful, therefore SecuROM was programed to remove itself from these scans. It's another attempt to hide itself and prevent removal. If the scans were permited to list the SecuROM files then you would be able to remove them. Also after running these programs it is necessary to restart your computer before attempting to start up the game, or SecuROM will refuse to let the game start up because it thinks you were attempting to remove or bypass the SecuROM protection.
Also there has been others who have reported general or overall decreases in system performance after installing SecuROM. If you removed SecuROM and these problems cleared up, then you would know whether it's SecuROM or something else. A number of individuals have done so and reported that all the problems went away once SecuROM was removed completely.
Sugar:
Quote from: CelestaLovesCats on 2007 October 23, 14:33:27
I believe I can explain why your scans stop. It's my understanding that SecuROM performs some type of activity to remove itself from scan lists during the scanning process. In some anti spyware and anti virus programs this causes an interuption of the scanning process and it becomes stuck. The scans are actually picking up the SecuROM files as potentially harmful, therefore SecuROM was programed to remove itself from these scans. It's another attempt to hide itself and prevent removal. If the scans were permited to list the SecuROM files then you would be able to remove them. Also after running these programs it is necessary to restart your computer before attempting to start up the game, or SecuROM will refuse to let the game start up because it thinks you were attempting to remove or bypass the SecuROM protection.
Also there has been others who have reported general or overall decreases in system performance after installing SecuROM. If you removed SecuROM and these problems cleared up, then you would know whether it's SecuROM or something else. A number of individuals have done so and reported that all the problems went away once SecuROM was removed completely.
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. ;D I especially want to be able to list everything I did when I send a nice little e-mail to EA support. :P
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!
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