ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn
I'm not sure where I got this information, I copied it into a Word file that I keep in my emergency maintenance folder. Therefore, I can't give proper credit to the author.
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Starforce Critique
Starforce is a
TrojanKit:
Definition:
1. Security Applications installed without end user consent.
2.Software that grants Ring 0 access to Ring 3 (user level) applications.
3. Interferes with other software such as virtual drives, SCSI/SATA etc.
4. Puts its own virtual protection drivers on the system.
5. Interferes with other applications Windows registry settings.
6. Can be exploited with replacement malicious versions to grant Full Ring 0 access
Starforce once installed is constantly checking your system and sending info to drives interferring with streams back and forth.
SF is so over zealous about its sector checking that if it loses these it will refuse to function. On top of this, XP reads this as a disk I/O error. Which in turn causes it to step down the IDE speed to compensate. Eventually it will step down to the older 16 bit mode which disables DMA access altogether. No DMA means.
1. No Digital access to play audio CD’s
2. Unable to play DVD videos from DVD
3. Most current CD/DVD Games/Application will not run [or slow down to a crawl!)
4. CD/DVD writing becomes almost impossible (Up to 2 hours for a full DVD on 16x DVD writer) and it will make many coasters even on burn proof drives.
The issues concerning DMA can be cured by uninstalling SF and then uninstalling the CD/DVD drivers as well as the Primary and Secondary IDE controllers. Forcing XP to reload those drivers.
Hardware failure:
A lot of new CD/DVD hardware is not PIO mode compatible. Thus any period of time being used in this old 16bit mode can be interpreted by some drives as attempts to Overburn/Read an excessively over burned disk. I.E in over burning you force the laser to go right to the edge of the disk. This results in the laser in many cases hitting the side casing of its guide and in turn stripping the threads off the worm gear. Basically it trashes the hardware.
Some drives also interpret the search for specific sectors indicated by SF as an over burn read/write command.
Security:
SF opens up Ring 0 (super user level) access to Ring 3 (User level applications).
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This kinda explains things doesn't it?
There is a 10th Circle of H*LL waiting for the StarForce people
Excellent material Rhonda.
While it is NEVER the right thing to do, all that you included in the above material, is essentially why many will likely just go the route of downloading, aka pirating, a game, minus the Starforce, and in the process give the game maker the shaft, through a lost sale.
What the game maker needs to fully understand, is once a consumer finds Starforce in one of their games, they are generally black listed immediately by the consumer, and the consumer assumes all of the game maker's games are suspect.
That just inspires more lost sales.
I have to wonder, how a game maker can even today, yet still indulge the use of Starforce as the means of choice, given the considerable negativity directed at Starforce. Even the much hated Windows does not generate the same level of hatred.
For myself, finding a company employing Starforce, is nothing less than removing that company from my list of companies I will buy from. Total loss of economic support.
