Product of the Now
July 31st, 2009
Good day All and welcome to Product of the Now,
Today I will be looking at something I discovered at work… while I was surfing the internet. Yeah, so
rry, there is no way this would cut it at the airport.. not enough megahurtz and jigawatts. But for home use? Sounds interesting and very intruiging. Right off the bat they beat out the competitors with their price tag ($399 MSRP, $350 at Newegg) and their feature set which is based around the Intel Atom and the Windows Home Server. Those three features alone are enough to convince me of this product, then Acer goes ahead and give your a WD Green Terabyte drive to get you started.
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Securom Removal Update – Windows 7
July 31st, 2009
Alright everyone, I’ll skip the introductions this time. Just let it be known that Securom is evil and should be destroyed. More information about this rootkit here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securom
In order to remove it you must first download the Securom Removal Tool from Securom themselves. After they got sued a bizillion times they were required to make a removal tool I guess… but don’t trust it so much. The link is here:
The key here is to execute the program using the command prompt in Windows so that you can initiate a full uninstall. I find that just executing the tool doesn’t actually remove all of it. Here is the play by play on how to do that:
1. Download the Securom Removal Tool using the above link
2. Extract the contents, in this example we are going extract it to D:\SRT
I would never recommend extracting the contents of a file on your root drive, try to use a USB drive if available. Plus if you using Windows 7 it won’t let you run it or extract it there anyways.
3. Run the command prompt, you can get to it by typing in CMD in the start menu search area. You will need administrative privileges to do this.
4. Navigate to the extraction directory. The code will be something like:\
“cd\ d:” enter
“cd\ SRT” enter
“SecuROM Remover.exe /fulluninstall” enter
This will launch the regular Securom remover. Proceed with the removal.
*** This is the key part that keeps this crap out ***
Go into all the directories that the Securom Remover lists as removed and replicate them. I believe there is a folder in the user’s application data directory. In order to view it you will need to set Windows Explorer to view hidden files.
1. Remove the Securom folder and make a new folder with the exact same name in the exact same position.
2. Remove all read/write/modify permissions for all users to those folders. This will prevent Securom from repopulating itself automatically. So far this has been what has stopped it from reaccuring.
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SecuRom Succubus
July 1st, 2009
Company of Zeros
Recently I began the tedious installation of Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. The last time I did this Opposing fronts was pretty much the last game, since then they pushed out some major patches and then another expansion: Tales of Valor.
My question to Relic -> You guys know how to slipstream installations? Because I am really fucking tired of spending an hour for an installation then spending another hour or two patching over 2gb of patches. At least I don’t have to download it because I keep the files for when I have to patch in the future, or for my LAN buddy who has a slower connection.
But seriously, my real problem with this game is not the actual game… although after 2gb I found that they really didn’t actually fix anything though I do appreciate the arty smurfs. I have a serious problem with Relic feeling they have the right to install a third party application(s) on my puter to help out their company. The first program I noticed was a torrent client that seeds out the patches from my computer… maybe if Relic wasn’t pushing 2gb of shit to everyone they wouldn’t have to do this. Though this doesn’t particularly bother me so much, I would rather use torrents personally, though there should also be an FTP or HTTP option still. And one thing… did they not realize that their game is an online game and that if the players are seeding patches then they would have seriouse lag?
What really got me pissed was the installation of SecuRom on my puter. I actually bought this game, keep that in mind, after I tried out the full version from torrents. On my new puter I didn’t put in a CD-Rom drive because I find them ugly and archaich, but that’s just my personal feelings towards CD and DVD drives. So when I go to play the game guess what? It asks me for the DVD. Okay no problem, I mount the DVD using Magic Disc, then SecuRom pops up with a “Virtualization Detected” message. Now I can’t play the game I legally purchased because a program was illegally installed on my puter. Isn’t this ironic. You know what? The bootleg torrented version never gave me any bullshit.
This is what I did to fix it:
1) Download the Securom Removal Tool
2) Extract and Execute the Removal Tool
I had read other people’s horror stories about SecuRom and how it was so impossible to get rid of, but since I use Windows 7 Beta I guess they do a good job at preventing rootkits. I didn’t have to use the command console at all to execute the Removal Tool and I didn’t find anything in the registry when I searched for the usual SecuRom keywords. Hazaa to Microsoft!!
In case your aren’t as fortunate to run Windows 7 or you are turbo paranoid here is the long story about how you should proceed to remove SecuRom:
http://reclaimyourgame.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=106
Good job on the explanation guys!
Please not that I will be boycotting Sony for their crimes against computing, from this day forth I shall never buy another Sony product unless they renounce the use of SecuRom. They don’t realize the ripples of their rootkit, which can be easily modified for harms use and would be nearly impossible to remove completely for the average user.
Tags: company of heroes, relic, rootkit, securom, windows 7
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