Fu3lman

Quote: Originally Posted by BigMacZach My friend wasnt even stealing the game he actually just lost his cd key.

when you purchase software, you are purchasing a license, part of the agreement with that license is your cd key, meaning, it is your responsibility to keep it safe...

when you generate cd keys, its very possible that your key could be the same as someone elses, therefore you are infringing on their rights as a consumer...as well as directly contradicting very clear terms of the end user agreement made before the software even installs, and in most cases, asks for a cd key...

quit trying to rationalize it in a way that sounds less callous...

quit doing it...

if he lost his cd key, tough, he can call the phone number on the back of the box, cd case, website, whatever to request a replacement or something...

no one "steals" a game, they are hijacking the license to it...and if i were a consumer that actually had the game in question legally installed, i would feel violated by you and your friend for taking random shots in the dark at generating a cd key that very well might keep ME from playing my game online...

you have definately earned every ounce of your Guy Smiley Award, for excellence in getting exactly what you deserve...

i say enjoy your "viruses", i mean, they are violating your rights about as much as you are violating others...

BigMacZach

Well i ended up gettin rid of the viruses and spyware and what not. It wasnt as hard as it sounded to get rid of it. Just did live updates and ran nortan antivirus a couple times and ran Ad-aware se a couple times and also used 2 other programs. Cwshredder and Trend Micro anti-spyware worked quite well. Oh yes and also thanks to a autoruns program that made it to where the spywares wouldnt start up. Luckily i didnt have the hassel of going through the reg edit to fix my wallpaper. And thanks wordbiker for the helpful links. I just surfed around a little to find the solutions. The same way you find the problems.

the _klamper

Morion

Quote: Originally Posted by BigMacZach yea reinstalling windows would work but i want to keep my stuff and im sure theres some ways to get rid of these things. I'll keep surfing around and see if i cant find anything.

Re-formatting is a pain but sometimes it's neccessary evil. What I do is I make a partition for windows and another partion for my files and programs. That way if windows goes down or i need to reformat my files don't get affected.

BigMacZach

Yea actually my computer is partitioned, but isnt it possible there could be spyware and such on the partitioned drive? And i didnt post this thread asking for an verbal attack. I think i realize what happened and why it happened. If i wanted someone elses opinion on why it happened i would have asked. I remember asking on help for removing some spyware. ty

Seikatsu

Quote: Originally Posted by HigHTecHReDNecK I have a better idea, GO BUY THE SOFTWARE!! or tell your friend to. Buying the software w/cd key garentee's you a nice clean install, and keeps you from this kind of headache. Not to be mean , but if you dont have the skills to avoid getting your pc infected , your better off staying away from these "SCUMBAG" type of sites. So basiclly , like with drugs, JUST SAY NO ** to warez/hacks/etc etc**

*Pinches bridge of nose* I apologize for not making the point more clear (about what I consider questionable.) Basically if its a program I haven't used before or an audio cd I just purchased:

I consider them questionable until determined otherwise.
With things like Sony's MediaHaxx and OCP

(I disable autorun with each new clean install of Winblows-- but new DRM may not require that vulnerability)
, Ubisoft's irritating Force-ware, etc--
This is a good if somewhat paranoid "better safe than sorry" approach.