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Questions about working with software distributed on optical discs
1. Disc launch and check
1.1 How to launch an application that is distributed on optical media and requires to enter a key?
1.2 Methods of disc check.
1.3 Do I have to insert a licensed CD to an optical drive at every start-up of protected application?
1.4 Do I always have to enter a disc key?
1.5 I have entered a wrong disc key; I cannot enter the right one.
1.6 I cannot find a licensed disc key in the package.
1.7 What do I have to do if a licensed disc check fails?
1.8 Disc check does not begin.
2. Protection drivers
2.1 Do all the applications protected by StarForce install the protection drivers?
2.2 How can I check if there are any protection drivers installed on my computer?
2.3 When are the protection drivers installed? Does the system always warn about the protection driver installation?
2.4 How do I know which protection version is installed for the application I use?
2.5 How to update the protection drivers?
2.6 How to remove all the protection components from the system?
2.7 Do the protection drivers uninstall automatically?
2.8 Why are the protection drivers installed?
2.9 Do the protection drivers conflict with other drivers and applications?
2.10 Do the protection drivers influence the hard disc performance?
3. DiscFree technology
3.1 What is DiscFree technology?
3.2 Does an application protected with DiscFree technology use protection drivers?
3.3 How do I know whether my application uses DiscFree technology?
3.4 How can I use the DiscFree technology?
4. General questions
4.1 Protection system used for my application does not support Windows XP 64 bit or Windows Vista. What can I do?
4.2 Does disc protection prevent operation of some other programs installed on a user’s computer?
4.3 Does optical media protection collect any information about the user or the user’s computer without notification?
4.4 Does the protection send any information about the user or the user’s computer to the Internet without his knowledge?
5. I cannot find an answer to my question concerning disc protection.
1. Disc launch and check
1.1. How to launch an application that is distributed on optical media and requires to enter a key?
First of all you should install the application from the disc prior to its launch.
Some applications distributed on discs require disc key input.
Please pay attention to the fact that today many applications, especially computer games, are supplied on several discs. A publisher usually makes an indication on the right side of the discs to show which one of them is the installation disc, and which one is to be used to run the application.
Launch the installed application; the required disc should be in the optical drive of your computer. Enter the key and follow the displayed instructions (a key is usually printed on the surface of a disc and consists of capital Latin letters and digits divided into groups by hyphens).
For all the questions concerning disc check, etc., see sections below.
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1.2. Methods of disc check
There are two ways to check a licensed disc.
- with the disc key input.
You should enter a disc key to begin disc check. A key is usually printed on the surface of a disc and consists of capital Latin letters and figures divided into groups by hyphens.
- without the disc key input.
There is no need to enter a disc key manually, since it is burned in the disc data area and is read automatically when an application is launched.
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1.3. Do I have to insert a licensed CD to an optical drive at every start-up of protected application?
No!
The StarForce Company meets the wishes of the licensed product purchasers, and has developed several versions of protection that does not require a disc to be inserted in a drive every time you wish to run the application:
- periodic disc check
In this case a publisher or a developer should indicate, while implementing protection, a period during which a disc is not required to run the application.
In other words, you inserted the licensed disc into the drive, launched the application and the disc check succeeded. Then during the next 10 days, for example, you may insert no disc into the drive, while the application successfully runs and operates.
In particular, this measure has been taken by StarForce to provide more safety to your licensed media.
- the Disc Free technology
(see section below)
It should be noted that it is a publisher or developer who decides, during the application protection, whether to employ these technologies.
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1.4. Do I always have to enter a disc key?
For the convenience of users, StarForce has developed a special technology that allows entering no disc key when launching a protected application. The technology is called Keyless.
Running an application protected using Keyless technology:
Disc check begins automatically after the application is run. In this case a disc key is burned in the disc data area and is read automatically.
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1.5. I have entered a wrong disc key; I cannot enter the right one.
If you have entered a wrong disc key for some reason, and realized that after the disc check began – do not despair! A key is not saved by the system, and you will be asked to enter a key again next time the application is launched.
If there is no suggestion to enter a key next time you launch the application, you can run the application once more while holding the Shift key*. In this case you will be asked to enter a key.
* Attention! This relates to applications distributed on optical media with manual key input only.
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1.6. I cannot find a licensed disc key in the package
Did you look at the surface of the disc itself? Try this! The publishers place the disc keys there very often. In other cases a publisher prints a disc key in the User Manual for the application.
All the problems concerning a disc key placement are solved by a publisher. Thus it is quite difficult to predict where the disc key is indicated (however it is usually indicated in places that are easy to discover).
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1.7. What do I have to do if a licensed disc check fails?
If disc check failed, the following window is displayed (message text may differ from the example below since a publisher can specify his own text in message boxes as well):
– Press “Information”. The system begins gathering information about the error and your system; this information is to be sent to the protected product support service in order to solve the problem successfully. You can interrupt information gathering at any time; however, the information gathered in this case is incomplete, and the possibility to solve the problem successfully is reduced a great deal.
– After the information gathering completes, the following window is displayed:
Pressing “View Report” allows you to view all the information before sending it to technical support service.
– Save the obtained file in a text format anywhere on your hard disc.
We draw your attention to the fact that the transferred information only contains technical data on your system configuration. These data are necessary to solve the problems concerning the software operation; they contain no personal or secret information such as, for example, password, your personal data, etc.
It is not recommended to modify any data within the file. Should this occur, your query will not be considered.
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1.8. Disc check does not begin.
In many cases disc check does not begin for some trivial reasons – a wrong disc is inserted or a disc is not inserted at all. Some information that may help you solve the problem yourself is also displayed in the protection message windows.
Sometimes it is sufficient to update the protection driver to solve the problem.
If you still could not solve the problem yourself, send an email to the technical support service of the protected application (not to StarForce customer support). Be sure to attach the text file with the system information. Make some screen shots of message windows when necessary and attach them to your message as well.
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2. Protection drivers
2.1. Do all the applications protected by StarForce install the protection drivers?
No. A developer or a publisher of an application to be protected decides whether it is necessary to install protection drivers for the application, depending on the required protection level.
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2.2. How can I check if there are any protection drivers installed on my computer?
The simplest way to do it is to launch the utility for the protection driver update available on our website. When launched, the utility reports that no protection components are found in the system. It means that there are no protection drivers in your computer and no protection components will be installed.
If the utility finds some protection components in the system, namely protection drivers, it updates them and suggests rebooting to complete installation.
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2.3. When are the protection drivers installed? Does the system always warn about the protection driver installation?
The drivers are installed on the user’s computer when a protected application is run for the first time, and the corresponding message appears*. The user can reject such driver installation; however, a protected application will not operate without the protection drivers installed in the system.
If you do not use the protected application, the drivers do not perform any additional operations and work during the application launch only. When inactive, the drivers occupy little resources on your computer – about 20 KB in RAM.
Different applications are protected at different times, and therefore, can have the protection drivers of different versions. If there are protection drivers already installed on your computer, but a message appears suggesting driver installation again when a new application is launched, then the application is protected using higher protection version. Update driver
* My system displays no warning about the protection driver installation!
Such warning was not displayed to the users in some older protection versions, which our company was reproached for. Starting with version 4.0, a message with this warning is enabled by default and should be always displayed. However, a publisher can disable displaying this message to user, during an application protection.
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2.4. How do I know which protection version is installed for the application I use?
Search for the protect.dll file in the protected application folder (the file can have another name, but it always has the .dll extension), right-click it and select Properties. Select Version tab then. The protection version number is in the BuildSignature section.
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2.5. How to update the protection drivers?
With the wide variety of PC hardware components and software available today, StarForce experts are constantly improving the protection drivers, by making them compatible with the newly released programs and operating systems.
If you have any problems in launching a protected application driver update can solve the problem in some cases, as well as it can improve interaction between the protected application and the drivers of third-party programs.
The following should be done to update drivers:
- Download the zip-archive of the SFUPDATE utility.
- Unpack the archive and save the sfdrvup.exe file to some folder on a hard disk.
- Run sfdrvup.exe.
- Follow the displayed instructions.
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2.6. How to remove all the protection components from the system?
All the protection components are removed automatically now after an application is removed (see Automatic driver removal service below). To make sure all the protection components including drivers and system registry records are removed, the following should be performed:
- Download the zip-archive of the SFREMOVE utility.
- Unpack the archive and save the sfdrvrem.exe file to some folder on a hard disk.
- Run sfdrvrem.exe.
- Follow the displayed instructions.
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2.7. Do the protection drivers uninstall automatically?
Automatic driver removal service.
Starting from version 4.0, StarForce has implemented a special service to all its products. The service tracks the usage of the protection drivers in a user’s system. If there is not a single application protected by StarForce on your computer, the service removes all the protection components from the system automatically, and it will remove itself during the next reboot*.
* Why are not the protection drivers removed when the protected application is removed?
StarForce protection has the means that allow a publisher or developer to implement a mechanism to remove the protection drivers along with a protected application removal, during the application protection. However, it is applied very rarely in practice. That is why the experts in our company have developed and implemented StarForce automatic protection driver removal service.
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2.8. Why are the protection drivers installed?
Drivers are necessary for special CD/DVD validation procedures and are used for that purpose only. Drivers perform no additional actions and only operate during the protected program launch.
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2.9. Do the protection drivers conflict with other drivers and applications?
Protection drivers are being installed and operate just as any other drivers, i.e. registration in operating system is necessary for the drivers to operate, since they perform a number of low-level operations. As any professional software, the protection system does not change other software installed on the computer by any means, and it has no other hidden functionality.
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2.10. Do the protection drivers influence the hard disc performance?
No! Protection drivers do not influence the hard disc performance. You can make sure of that by running any benchmark for a hard disc and compare its results for the operation with loaded and unloaded protection drivers.
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3. DiscFree technology
3.1 What is DiscFree technology?
The unique DiscFree technology allows you to employ the licensed software distributed on optical media, without the use of optical media to verify the purchased software. In other words, once you bought a licensed disc, you only use it to install and launch an application for the first time; then you put the disc away thus providing its mechanical safety.
The essence of the technology is that it allows binding the licensed software distributed on optical media to the parameters of your computer, so that no licensed disc is required to launch the application.
To perform binding to the parameters of your computer, you need a unique Serial Number provided by a publisher.
In case previously installed application is not operable, you can take the disc you bought, install the application once more and launch it without any problems anytime. You can also have two work copies of the application, for example, one copy at home, and another copy at work or in your portable computer.
However, it should be kept in mind that a publisher or a developer can use no such technology, it is at their discretion.
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3.2 Does an application protected with DiscFree technology use protection drivers?
In fact, an application protected with DiscFree technology employs a protection scheme with binding to computer parameters. As mentioned above (see Protection drivers section), if you use a disc, the protection implies using protection drivers to perform special operations to check the disc in some cases. However, when binding is changed from disc to hardware binding, what is in fact provided for by the DiscFree technology, there is no more need to check the disc. Therefore, the drivers on a user computer are no longer required.
If the protection drivers are used initially, they are installed on your computer (the appropriate message is displayed then). However, when binding is changed, the drivers are no longer required for the system, they cease operation and are removed, and the corresponding message box is displayed. Still the drivers may remain in the system in rare instances, for example, when an application has data files protected against viewing (such as images, wave and video files, etc.).
(For details, see “Do all the applications protected by StarForce install the protection drivers?”)
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3.3 How do I know whether my application uses DiscFree technology?
It is very important to understand that a publisher can place a note with some number to the disc package, and this number may have nothing to do with a StarForce Serial Number to activate the DiscFree technology. Therefore, you may think that the technology is absent in your application, which may not be the case.
To be fully confident that your program is protected using this technology, run the program while holding Ctrl or Shift. If the window shown in the point 3.4 with the DiscFree button is displayed, then your application is protected using this technology.
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3.4 How can I use the DiscFree technology?
First of all, it is a publisher who determines whether to use the DiscFree technology, when protecting an application. Therefore, if the publisher did not provide the technology for some reason and did not supply a Serial Number to activate a backup copy, however hard you may try, you cannot use the technology.
However, if the publisher decided to provide you a possibility to keep your licensed media safe, and make your work more comfortable, you can launch the DiscFree technology in two ways:
1st method
- Insert a licensed disc in a drive and launch the application while holding Shift or Ctrl. The following message box is displayed then; it suggests selecting a method to launch the application:
- By pressing Check Disc you launch the licensed disc check process (Disc Key input may be required)
- If you want to use the DiscFree technology, press the corresponding button.
You will be asked to enter a Serial Number to activate the DiscFree technology. Follow the instructions in the activation window.*
If for some reason you decided to use a licensed disc to launch an application at first, but changed your mind then and now you want to use the DiscFree technology, launch the application while holding Shift or Ctrl, and you will be asked to select a method to launch the application once more.
2nd method
Selecting a method to launch the application is offered automatically (see message box above) when any disc check error occurs.
* Note. You need a unique Serial Number of the protected application to activate the DiscFree technology. A publisher who provided for the technology for the application should supply you with such Serial Number by some means (either with disc or by request).
For detailed information about the DiscFree technology activation, see DiscFree technology, user manual.
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4. General questions
4.1. Protection system used for my application does not support Windows XP 64 bit or Windows Vista. What can I do?
You possess an application protected by out-of-date StarForce protection versions, that is StarForce versions 1.xx, 2.xx, 3.xx. If your application is protected by version earlier than 3.05.000, unfortunately, you will only be able to launch such a program on 64-bit operating systems if a publisher or developer of the program releases an appropriate patch.
Starting with version 3.04.062, you should update the protection drivers to enable 32-bit Windows Vista support. Use a special utility available on the StarForce website.
StarForce has implemented complete support for 64-bit operating systems and Windows Vista 32/64 bit, starting with version 4.00.000; however, you may have problems if an application protection version has a number between 4.00.000 and 4.00.012 inclusive. If you have problems when launching the application protected by such versions, update drivers on our website.
Starting with version 4.00.013, StarForce protection supports all the 64-bit operating systems completely, as well Windows Vista 32/64 bit.
How to find out which protection version is used? See section 2.4.
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4.2. Does disc protection prevent operation of some other programs installed on a user’s computer?
No!
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4.3. Does optical media protection collect any information about the user or the user’s computer without notification?
No! Collection of data on user’s computer configuration can only be initiated by the user himself, if there is a necessity to solve some technical problem. Such information is sent to the protected product technical support.
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4.4. Does the protection send any information about the user or the user’s computer to the Internet without his knowledge?
No!
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5. I cannot find an answer to my question concerning disc protection.
Ask StarForce!
If you need technical support, please write to support@star-force.com
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