The end of Starforce?

Starforce is a copy protection software, designed to prevent piracy of CDs / DVDs (mostly games). This program is installed as an IDE drive hidden during game installation.

Users are completely unaware of, cannot choose whether to install and cannot delete Starforce using Windows' Add / Remove Software tool.

Starforce proved to be a copy protection tool, limiting crack (cracking) quite effectively. Many companies develop games that use it to protect their products (including Ubisoft, Egosoft, etc.) without expecting this tool to have a serious effect. Initially, Starforce was criticized for automatically installing it without the consent of the user. It was later discovered that it was "involved" in many incidents, in which the user did not recognize the risk and could only "complain" when there were "incidents". .

One of Starforce's most common errors is when reading or writing a disk, if a packet is lost, Windows XP will treat it as an error and reduce the IDE speed and switch back to 16-bit compatibility mode. for CD / DVD drive not working. In some cases, the drive is incompatible with the 16-bit mode, which leads to hardware failure (mainly a variety of CD / DVD drive types). 'The most noticeable symptom is the catastrophic disc burning speed (though burning at the highest speed of the drive). More seriously, Starforce can "turn around", become a backdoor, help viruses to easily penetrate and master the entire system.

Because of that, many game followers around the world participated in 'Holy War' against Starforce. The slogan 'Boycott Starforce' (Boycott Starforce) was quickly erected at the website www.boycottstarforce.org (currently broken for unknown reasons), attracting a large number of gamers. Together they propagated against Starforce and pledged not to buy any games with Starforce protection. At the same time, hackers are also eager to find a way to "break this neck" of the "breaker" (but no results yet). Some people give advice… to remove the CD / DVD drive.

In the end, the 'Holy War' also achieved first victories. April 13, 2006, Ubisoft officially announced its resignation from Starforce. Their games, starting with Heroes of Might and Magic V (scheduled for release on May 19), will switch to other copy protection programs. Even the Starforce development team advises game makers to provide patches to help players 'banish' this program.

However, many manufacturers will continue to maintain Starforce. 'Opposition' still calls gamers 'not to let go of weapons' as long as Starforce has not been completely wiped out and created a new website at www.glop.org/starforce/ to 'continue the struggle career'. . unfinished by www.boycottstarforce.org.

NGUYEN HOANG MINH