Don't worry, this isn't another Anti Piracy act of any sort. PACE is a company you see, they make products to 'Prevent' software piracy. What makes PACE products unique is they are classifiable as drivers; This means they effectively embed them selves into your computer. Furthermore, they are a product, not a form of built-in protection. This means that they should be installed as such; The user should generally know what goes onto their computer. For all of the owners of Adobe CS 5.5 here, You are also the proud owners of a PACE product (InterLok I believe). I believe it was stated that PACE was included in the installation, Some 3/4 of the way down the license agreement. (Which I'm sure everyone read of course). Why the commotion though, Just an anti piracy program is all, right? I have earlier mentioned that the program is a driver, And therefore embeds itself into your system effectively. Clearly this is the most effective of method preventing you from tampering with one And only one program. One of the members of this forum can attest to this, That is, once they've re-installed Windows. I decided to investigate a little, Grabbed a virtual machine with Windows XP, Got PACE onto it. And observed a few things. Most companies make products so that they have some semblance Of order to them, and are easy to service and remove. PACE seems to have a slightly different idea in mind. Given what I have observed, It should only take a few HOURS to remove it completely. Most programs like to keep their registry entries organized; The registry is already a mess as it stands. PACE on the other hand - apart from making close to 100 registry entries, most of them spam - Decided to spew around it's registry entries into every Conceivable spot you can think of. (Clearly you must put stuff into my Microsoft Office directory). On top of that, It doesn't ship with an Uninstaller. But, I got the Uninstaller, And ran through the process, recording the results. What it did: - Removed a bunch of the registry keys - Removes the data files from Program Files - Removed the data files from Hidden Folders What it didn't do: - Remove the actual driver file from the computer. I can't tell if the driver remains functional, But in any case, it's still there. =/ More over, A large amount of anti-virus solutions consider Products like InterLok to be mal-ware and/or spyware. Anti viruses look for code that they see as malicious; They're seeing something in there they don't like. False positives, sure. Given the background... Thus, To boil down: Anti Piracy software, is a system driver, installs without You being aware of, suspect to causing damage to People's data, spams registry to make it hard to remove, Doesn't completely uninstall, triggers AVs. Best of all, Comes with big brands like Adobe, Apple, Corel, etc. Additional sources: http://q.queso.com/archives/001606 http://www.8x10gallery.com/Wordpress/index.php/2007/02/07/dxo-and-pace-anti-piracy-scandal/ Discuss? Sent from my iPod touch 4G using Tapatalk
I hate stuff like this. Look at DRM. How ****ing well did THAT turn out? Anti-piracy's fate is likely leading to requirements of online registry/connection.
I wouldn't know where to begin, this goes way over my head as far as tech stuff is concerned. Though it sounds bad. They are forcing something into your computer that seems to be running amok doing what it pleases. I honestly I'm not sure what to make of all that info, so I'll just be quiet and watch this thread.
Well yes, but only if it does what it's supposed to. And from the sound of things... But hey, I don't know. Like I've said before, computers and software are largely a mystery to me. I'd like to keep a wary eye on this though, it really doesn't sound friendly.
You scared me for a moment I thought this was another anti piracy bill...It sounds like a good and proper virus if you ask me. Anti Piracy my *** I think they are stealing information or something along those lines. Why do all those major companies suddenly have it and what if you wanted it gone? Something fishy is going on here if you ask me... Prove me wrong.
I literally installed something that came with this, got annoyed with the product and uninstalled all of it 5 minutes before I found this thread. I've lost all faith in anti-piracy now so I just avoid it completely.
well, I don't know about windows, but dual boot can fix things. while you're installing your new software, you can do it in linux via wine (install to windows hard drive), and observe installation. Linux can give you everything that installs and where, and when it's all done, go trough list of files installed, and delete ones you don't want (yes, it will last a bit). when you're done, go back to windows, and enjoy your new program
This seems like an effective way to stop Piracy. Atleast it ain't so collateral as ACTA/SOPA/PIPA. Only people complaining are People Flankhurt because they can't Pirate CS. >.> Just a matter of Time, and SKIDROW or RELOADED or another organization takes care of it though. Though.. if they ain't allowing an un-install, It's technically Malware.
5.5 really doesn't boast any groundbreaking features over 5 except an actual composing software, iirc.
