Star force

[Frenchie]

A mate of mine posted this elsewhere and while I knew that star force is about as much use as a chocolate kettle there are things mentioned here which I didn't know about. So quoted verbatim below is the article he wrote.

"Here's a good laugh.

'StarForce' is a program designed to act as copy protection for PC games. Simple enough, because there's lots of protection types for games. Unfortunatly, StarForce is a little bit different.

Why's that, I hear you ask? Well, because it's the gaming version of a trojan horse.

It starts by installing a hidden driver into your PC, without your knowledge, when you install a game. It goes on to cause system instability, has been reported to interfere with numerous other programs, cause crashes, slowing down your system speed, and so on.To quote, "under Windows XP, if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk, XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable."

So why's it interfering with your CD writer if it's a copy protection program for a game? The same reason that it grants your access ring level to 0 - leaving your system wide open for viruses and trojans. Sounds like malware, right?

Nope. It's a very poorly-made, cripping piece of malware.

StarForce refuses to respond to any accusations of damage done, and has numerous times shifted the blame onto the customers themselves, and have been quotes as stating that "According to our research those of users [sic] that do run into compatibility problems are beginner-level-hackers that try to go around our protection system." So, if you're trying to protect your system from this malicious little piece of trojan, you're a hacker and a pirate. And if you're an innocent person who's HD gets damanged by using this program, expect to be called a liar.

Of course, there's been a truly massive cry-out among the PC gaming community against this thing, which StarForce actively deny is anything like a 'rootkit', despite the truth of the matter to the contrary. They made quite a stir when they threatened legal action against CNet for stating the same facts as I just have. Game producers and designers have been dropping the program left and right.

And today, they levelled another blunt legal threat against this chap,(http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/30..._malware_.html), in yet another obvious attempt to silence the facts from being heard. This is a company that, it seems, depends solely on the hopes that people don't know the truth about how much damage their piece of badly-coded, dangerous program actually does.

Thankfully, there are some tools to remove this from your system, if you're unfortunate enough to have it, but the sucess if limited. If you think you're unfortunate enough to have caught this little bugger, simply check under your My Computer - Properties - Hardware tabs. Show Hidden, and you'll see it under the Non-plug and play devices.

And now, a list of PC games that StarForce have provided their 'copy protection' for.

# 7 Sins
# American Conquest: Divided Nation
# Anstoss 4
# Bandits: Phoenix Rising
# Bet on Soldier
# Beyond Divinity
# Black Mirror
# Blitzkrieg 2
# Blitzkrieg: Rolling Thunder
# Breed
# Brian Lara International Cricket 2005
# Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon
# Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
# Castle Strike
# Chaos League
# Chaos League: Sudden Death
# Codename: Outbreak
# Codename: Panzers - Phase One
# Codename: Panzers - Phase Two
# Cold War
# Colin McRae Rally 2005
# Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
# Cross Racing Championship 2005
# Curse: The Eye of Isis
# Cycling Manager 3
# Cycling Manager 3
# Cycling Manager 4
# D-Day
# Dead to Rights
# Demonic Speedway
# Desert Rats vs Afrika Korps
# Domination
# Emergency Fire Response
# Enigma: Rising Tide
# Etherlords II
# Fire Chief
# Fire Department
# Freedom Force vs The Third Reich
# Gangland
# Garfield
# Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris
# GT Legends
# GTR: FIA GT Racing Game
# Heroes of Might and Magic V
# Horse Race Manager
# Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
# Keepsake
# Kicker Manager 2004
# Kill Switch
# King Kong
# Knights of the Temple 2
# Korea: Forgotten Conflict
# LMA Professional Manager 2005
# Lock On: Flaming Cliffs
# Medieval Lords
# Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
# Neuro Hunter
# Nibiru
# Obscure
# Pac Man World 2
# Pac Man World 3
# Pariah
# Pax Romana
# Perimeter
# Perimeter: Emperor's Testament
# Pferdehof - Pferd und Pony
# Pop Star Academy
# Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend
# Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
# Pro Rugby Manager
# Psi-Ops
# Pure Pinball
# Rally Championship Xtreme
# Restaurant Empire
# Restricted Area
# Revolution
# Runaway: A Road Adventure
# Scrapland
# Second Sight
# Silent Hunter 3
# Silent Storm
# Silkolene Honda Motocross GP
# Singles 2: Triple Trouble
# Singles: Flirt Up Your Life
# Sniper Elite
# Soldiers Heroes of World War 2
# Sommerspiele 2004
# Space Rangers 2
# Splinter Cell 3: Chaos Theory
# Star Wolves
# Steel Saviour
# Still Life
# Street Racing Syndicate
# Sudeki
# Super Architect 3D Platinum
# SuperPower 2
# Syberia II
# The Fall: Last Days of Gaia
# The Moment of Silence
# The Suffering: Ties That Bind
# The Westerner
# TOCA 2
# TrackMania
# TrackMania Nations
# TrackMania Sunrise
# Traitors Gate 2: Cypher
# UFO: Aftershock
# V8 Supercars 2
# Virtual Skipper 3
# Virtual Skipper 4
# Vivisector
# Wildlife Park
# Wintersport Pro 2006
# World Racing 2
# World War II: Frontline Command
# Worms 4: Mayhem
# X3: Reunion
# XIII
# Xpand Rally
# Xuan-Yuan Sword 4

If you have any of those games, please check and make sure that you've not got those drivers stuck on your system without your knowledge.

So yeah, if you value your PC security and stability, think carefully before picking up any games these hacks have done protection for. If you respect your right to legally back up the software that you've bought and own, as you're legally entitled to do so, tell these guys where to get off and get the word out."

Never mind biscuit taking seems they've run off with the whole bloody barrel. Could explain why my dvd drive appears to be heading up the spout.

Frenchie