Starforce forum hacked or bad joke?

[nerva]

Jito463
I'v already commented what i mean under "less destructive". I have nothing to add.
Also i have to add that possibly we will wright our own forum engine, so "Under constraction" on our forum section could be slightly delayed.

[Reef]

This 'autoremove service' is a joke. If it was only used to auto remove drivers, then games should still run without problems if this service is disabled/removed. But they don't.

So my conclusion is that this service also acts as an 'autoRUN drivers'.
My thread about this subject got deleted on the SF forum, and I doubt Nerva will ever answer anyone here.

[nerva]

its not a joke
service is working good

how it works:

- first of all you have to be sure that there is no 3.xx drivers on your computer, coz servise couldnt remove it
- simply use sfdrvrem tool to remove all drivers
- reboot
- install any SF v4.xx protected game (FlatOut2 for instance)
- first run/reboot
- there will be sfrem.exe in Winopws/system32 folder, 3 drivers in Windows/system32/drivers forlder and SF autoremove serveice in services panel. Also there will be some registry enters. This service is stopped, coz it only works during startup and then get stopped.
- uninstall the FlatOut2. Now there is no any 4.xx protected game installed on your machine
- reboot. Service disappeared, drivers was deleted from the HDD, but some of them still occupay memory. sfrem.exe is present. But dont worry! On this reboot Windows just marks drivers as to be deleted.
- reboot
- now you have completely SF free system - no drivers, no registry enters

This the way how its work.

Sry everybody, but i couldnt answer your questions next 2 weeks, will be far far away from there. ;p

[Underheaven]

...

Reef- this 'autoremove service' looks like a good idea. It seems that on the 3rd boot you'll only have sfrem.exe left in some temp folder.

[FordPrefect]

I agree with Underheaven.

[Reef]

What if I just want to uninstall things manually? First we were forced to have SF drivers on our system to play games, now they also added this 'service'.

I like being in control of what's running on my PC. And I don't want some service that automatically removes drivers. If I want drivers removed then I'll do it manually.

If this service is only used to remove SF, then I don't see any reason why the protection checks for it's presence when launching a game. I did not touch the drivers, so the game should run, if not then this 'service' does a lot more than removing drivers.

Quite funny how SF people always claim everything is working good. Sure it's working good... FOR THEM. But when will they ever start caring about what the end user thinks?

[Underheaven]

constantly running background service

What if I just want to uninstall things manually? First we were forced to have SF drivers on our system to play games, now they also added this 'service'.

I like being in control of what's running on my PC. And I don't want some service that automatically removes drivers. If I want drivers removed then I'll do it manually.

If this service is only used to remove SF, then I don't see any reason why the protection checks for it's presence when launching a game. I did not touch the drivers, so the game should run, if not then this 'service' does a lot more than removing drivers.

Quite funny how SF people always claim everything is working good. Sure it's working good... FOR THEM. But when will they ever start caring about what the end user thinks?

Oh now I see why they deleted your comments. They want to hide the fact that this new 'good for you service' is required to play SF 4 games. Users would actually have control over their computer system if that constantly running background service was optional. Now I am following you.

[Nil Einne]

I agree, it's bad enough that they install drivers which are known to cause problems for users legitimately using their hardware in various ways but now they are introducing a compulsory service.

Reef I have a question. They claim that the service only runs at startup, performs it's checks and stops. Is this true or does it run constantly? You are unable to remove the service if you want to play protected game but are you able to stop it from running (disable it or require manual activation)?

[Reef]

Reef I have a question. They claim that the service only runs at startup, performs it's checks and stops. Is this true or does it run constantly? You are unable to remove the service if you want to play protected game but are you able to stop it from running (disable it or require manual activation)?

The service just runs at startup and then stops, and it can be stopped/disabled through the services control panel (services.msc). But I would like to know what exactly it does while it runs. Does it really only check if drivers need to be removed? Or does it do some other things too?
The fact that games won't run with this service disabled makes it kinda fishy.

So if Starforce wants to prove me wrong, make it so that games still run without this service. But I'm afraid this will not happen.

[Nil Einne]

The service just runs at startup and then stops, and it can be stopped/disabled through the services control panel (services.msc). But I would like to know what exactly it does while it runs. Does it really only check if drivers need to be removed? Or does it do some other things too?
The fact that games won't run with this service disabled makes it kinda fishy.

So if Starforce wants to prove me wrong, make it so that games still run without this service. But I'm afraid this will not happen.

Just for clarification, you mean that you can stop or disable it through the services control panel and the game still works? The game only stops working when you actually remove the service?

In any case, I agree with your comments. I hate it when programs think they have the right to control your computer when you didn't ask them to. Mind you, I don't necessarily think SF has any malicious purposes here but it demonstrates their continous contempt for the user that they force you to have the service and ignore us when we ask why... If nerva comes back in two weeks and explains why this service cannot be removed then I'll withdraw my comments but until the SF team at least provides an explaination...

[Reef]

Just for clarification, you mean that you can stop or disable it through the services control panel and the game still works? The game only stops working when you actually remove the service?

After disabling the service (so it won't run anymore at Windows startup) the game refused to run. It just complained about drivers that need to be installed, but I didn't remove the drivers nor the service.

[Black-]

he but its funny, the big game protector cant protect theyr forums, drops a bad light on them and lets them look noobish.

but i would say stop using IE, der are ALOT traps for, you can cheat it in 1000 ways.

i suggest using firefox with following plugins, so a java or whatever site will never show a popup or backdoor again.
for sites you wish to use java you can simply click an icon on the bottom right to allow it.

install firefox -> extras -> plugins and surf to the plugin site.

search for:

NoScript 1.1.4.1
Adblock v.5
Adblock Filterset.G

even those nasty overlay popups are gone, havent seen any in the last 5-6 months ;D
the plugins are updated all the time.

[nerva]

some explanation on remove service working:
- Service only track when drivers must be removed, and remove them when it need. You have to belive that now we wount be so silly to make this service doing somthing else.
- Protection checks all its components in system every time you start protected application. Autoremove service is the protection component too, so if protection discloses that some of the components are missing or there is somthing wrong with it, protection tries to fix the problem.
- advanced users could easily remove all our drivers together with autoremove service using our sfdrvrem tool.

[Reef]

Advanced users should be allowed to disable or even remove this service, as it is not really a part of the protection.

BTW Welcome back Nerva! How was your vacation?

[nerva]

BTW Welcome back Nerva! How was your vacation?

Thanks! Great! But a lilttle bit tired... :wink: