Spore – Another Game Using SecuROM
It has been a little over a year ago since I brought the gaming world’s attention to Bioshock and SecuROM, which turned out to be a rootkit debacle. Spore, another game using SecuROM copy protection, was released on the weekend of September 6th.
Once again if you dowload rootkit revealer from Microsoft, you will discover that the program will show SecuROM as being a rootkit. Some will say it is just a false positive, and others will swear it is a rootkit. It seems like Microsoft would have figured it out by now. So, the question still remains, is SecuROM is really a rootkit? This is what shows up after installing Spore:
There is still one thing that is for certain, removing SecuROM isn’t an easy task for the everyday computer folks. To remove SecuROM from you computer you have to delete several registry keys and other files and folders from you computer. And, it requires downloading separate programs to do so. To remove SecuROM from you computer you should follow these steps, keep in mind this doesn’t always work with all the left over files with SecuROM:
Download RegDelNull here and place in C:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys…egDelNull.mspxDownload MoveOnBoot from here:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/moveonboot.htmlRegedit (or more specifically..Securom) will not allow deleting of Securom Registry keys, hence the need for Regnull.
From command prompt (assuming RegDelNull is in root of C, type/paste
C:\regdelnull HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2052111302-1757981266-725345543-500
\Software\SecuROM -s(Im assuming this key is the same for all users..you can check yourself using Regedit)
When asked to delete..choose YesDo the same with this Key from command prompt (Start..Run):
C:\regdelnull HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SecuROM -sNow run MoveOnBoot and navigate to the “hidden” securom folder in:
Docs and Settings\Admin\AppData\Securom
I chose 3 files for removal upon reboot. After I rebooted, Securom
wasnt in registry or Docs & settings folder.Delete UAService7.exe from your windows/system32 folder.
Besides the SecuROM bundled with Spore, the game has been fairly enjoyable so far. I’m still in the creature phase. I’m not condoning alcohol abuse, but I really enjoyed the cell stage while extremely drunk. I felt a sense of accomplishment emerging from the sea with by defensive spikes killing the larger cells attempting to eat me.
September 11, 2008 at 9:33 pm | Simulation, Software | 6 Comments
September 13th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Does the game still function without the rootkit? My computer has been very unstable since I installed Spore and I’d like to get it back to how it was – with or without being able to play.
September 14th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I haven’t tried playing without SecuROM. It may function after you install and activate the game, but I don’t think you will have access to the online content. Don’t quote me on that though.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
Spore completely ruined my computer. Everything took twice as long, and games had a tendency to completely lock up my enyire system. After removing Securom, everything is better. Too bad I can’t play Spore anymore, because I liked it.
Never EVER going to buy a game from EA again.
October 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
So you can’t play the game after uninstalling Securom?
June 6th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Oh, come on guys. You can download modified Securom-free SporeApp.exe files for any existing verson of Spore. Just check with your local P2P site. What version of Spore are ya’ll using? I can make a batch file that will patch Spore up for you in only a few seconds, if you want.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Well, I don’t even play the game anymore, it got extremely boring during the space phase.