Kiwi
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join:2003-05-26
USA
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edit:
May 17th, @09:32PM
| PACE Anti-Piracy?
I'm still getting used to WINXP Pro reg files & while going through the reg files I found a reference that did not add up, perhaps?
PACE Anti-Piracy:
»www.museresearch.com/press_relea···ilok.php
Seems to have a rather large key component under it, is this something to be concerned about; have no idea how this was installed. Certainly not detected by any protective software, am I overly concerned about this entry?
{Edit} -Now it gets interesting...»www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/02/soni···and.html Seems this tracks back to the kernel killer MyDVD
»q.queso.com/archives/001606
Seems it's spyware.
Cheers
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g
512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.
ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v
--
AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~
2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net |
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Kiwi
Premium
join:2003-05-26
USA | No comment from the experts, on this item? |
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dadkins
Merry Whatever
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
| Either way, this is BS! I don't have a Tivo, so this most likely won't affect me, but ANYTHING that installs without notice is MALWARE!
All this DRM crap is getting out of hand!  |
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Kiwi
Premium
join:2003-05-26
USA
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| reply to Kiwi
Based on your response, I searched the forum for DRM -Nothing anywhere around here on PACE; found this:
»Re: How To Save The Internet
Now, unless NERO, PowerDVD or the removed MyDVD; planted this seed -I have nothing else that would even hint @ a reason to have this in my reg files. Certainly no warning or uninstall. Crafty, whom-so-ever dealt this one out!
Looks dicey to remove without an uninstall....
Thanks.
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v--AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net |
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dadkins
Merry Whatever
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA | »www.paceap.com/contact.html
Contact them and ask what has to be done to remove that BS! |
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Kiwi
Premium
join:2003-05-26
USA
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| reply to Kiwi
I won't state here how I notified them, but they will definitely get the message:
Told them I was going to have them reviewed for unsolicited software installation and lack of an uninstall. I also stated their software met the criteria for spyware. -Short version.
Spent 2.5 hrs going through the reg files & finally killed them off {Wish I had remembered each & every action} So, I don't need their uninstaller. I'm amazed @ the products tied to this dang thing and I do have a slight glitch I'll have to fix, due to deleting the blasted PACE entries. An uninstaller should be provided.
If I take the software product(s) off my Rig, that used PACE Anti-Piracy ~Then, It's prudent they have no further Rights to my Rig!
I'm ticked, over this.
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v--AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net |
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dadkins
Merry Whatever
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA | Kinda reminds me of StarForce Game "Protection" Driver(I have the removal tool if anyone needs it). You remove the game, guess what's still on your machine...  |
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Kiwi
Premium
join:2003-05-26
USA
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| reply to Kiwi
I'm surprised nobody seems interested! Considering the Reg depth and invasive nature of this product!
I remember the StarForce fiasco, but fortunately avoided the effects -Didn't run their software...But, on an unrelated note Black&White was "Fun" - Fixed that one & they wanted to know how, but kind of "Give it to us"..Huh!
Wondering where the folks are on this issue, that being Zzzz "Security". Has this site gone to sleep..No realistic input or thoughts, it seems! Particularly as I see nothing related to this on a DSLR search.....
Come on, this deserves some input?
Cheers
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v--AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net |
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Kiwi
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edit:
May 19th, @10:54PM
| reply to Kiwi
I'm sort of interested? The latest & greatest!
Seems, this has some ear marks, perhaps. Though I also see some false positives, when running this.
{Edit} -Sorry, I inadvertently uploaded some personal info. Rootkit Revealer had some items of interest.
Cheers |
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salzan
Experienced Optimist
Premium
join:2004-01-08
WA State
edit:
May 19th, @11:04PM
| reply to Kiwi
I'm interested but I'm still trying to figure out what this is all about. I have Sonic MyDVD but it's version 4.6.0. I can't find any of the files that should have been installed with PACE. I also have Adobe products but haven't yet figured out which ones are affected, if any.
This page has this partial list of products.
# Adobe (Adobe Systems, Inc.)
# Agfa (Agfa Division Bayer Incorporated)
# Antares (makeres of Auto-tune plug-in)
# Avid (Avid Sports LLC)
# Corel (Corel Corporation)
# Curious Labs (Curious Labs)
# Digidesign (Digidesign, Inc.) makers of ProTools
# Disney (The Walt Disney Company)
# Dolby (Dolby Laboratories, Inc.)
# Electronic Arts (Electronic Arts)
# Inprise (Inprise Corporation)
# InstallShield (Installshield)
# Kodak (Eastman Kodak Company)
# Lexicon (Lexicon, Inc.)
# Linotype (Linotype Hell GmBH)
# Morisawa (Morisawa and Company, Ltd.)
# NetObjects (NetObjects, Inc.)
# Opcode (Opcode Systems, Inc.)
# Pantone (Pantone, Inc.)
# Pinnacle Systems (Pinnacle Systems)
# Sanyo (Sanyo)
# Steinberg (Steinberg, Inc.) makers of Cubase, Nuendo and other packages
# Trakker Technologies (Trakker Technologies)
# Waves (Waves Ltd.)
# Yoon Design (Yoon Design Institute)
I've been using this info to try to find any trace on my systems:
"How can I tell if I have PACE on my system?
Pace installs the following Registry key trees:
HKEY/LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Enum/LEGACY_TPKD/
HKEY/LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet002/Enum/LEGACY_TPKD/
HKEY/LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/TPKD/
HKEY/LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/LEGACY_TPKD/
There may be more.
Pace installes the following files:
On a Windows 2000 Professional system:
C:\WINNT\Tpkdboot.reg
C:\WINNT\System32\Drivers\tpkd.sys"
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TheJoker
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-26
Alexandria, VA | reply to Kiwi
I seem to have the PACE entries also. I've never used Sonic's MyDVD, but I do have Sonic's Backup MyPC (previously Veritas Backup Exec Desktop). I'd bet that's where mine came from.
--
TheJoker |
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salzan
Experienced Optimist
Premium
join:2004-01-08
WA State
| reply to Kiwi
Not a lot of readily available info out there about this but it seems to have several variations depending upon the application. Low end programs install a "driver" similar to StarForce as dadkins  mentioned. A different version may be associated with high end programs, many of which require a "dongle" with the activation code to function. Considering the number of companies using this protection scheme, I suspect many people have PACE that don't have a clue it's on their systems.
Problems known to be related to PACE:
* Inaccessible floppy drives. This could also apply to any other device using IRQ 6.
* BSOD on shutdown or start up with "DRIVER_POWER_STATE_ERROR". This is related to the above.
* Spontaneous reboots.
* Corrupt registry entries (could be related to spontaneous reboots if Windows is writing to the registry when this occurs.)
* Missing (not zero-byte, but none) paging file (swapfile.)
* Inaccessible boot device.
The only uninstall info I can find at the Pace site requires you to download and run the driver install program. If the program finds you have PACE drivers present you're supposed to choose the "uninstall" option. I don't know exactly what happens if you don't have the PACE drivers installed. Maybe it just goes ahead and installs them....:(
It would be interesting to know where the companies mentioned in the partial clients list use this technology. For instance, if Adobe is using it in house for internal security, fine. If, however, it's being bundled with Photoshop demos, that's not so fine. |
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Kiwi
Premium
join:2003-05-26
USA
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| reply to Kiwi
email, I have maintained the privacy of the sender:
Noted to this company: Please send the uninstaller for the reg entries created, that I was completely unaware of. There was no indication that your software was being installed; I have no reason or purpose for it and want it removed off my system ASAP. It would be a recommended Endeavour to inform owners of software that you intend to install PACE-Anti-Piracy on their paid for system. I find the methods used meet the criteria for spyware.
Thank you for your opinion.
Removal of the Interlok driver is simple. If the software you installed which used out technology did not properly remove our components in It’s uninstall you may do so via two simple methods.
1)If the software which used our technology included the option, you may remove our components via Windows “Add/Remove Programs” feature found in the ‘Control Panel’.
2)You may download our Interlok Extentsions installer from our website and use It’s uninstall feature. You will need to launch the installer from our website and use It’s uninstall feature. You will need to launch the installer then choose the “Uninstall” option. The following link will take you there [Not linked].
Yet another available option (If you are using Windows XP) is to use a restore point prior to the installation of the software which used our technology. To do this you would have to have this Windows feature enabled. For further information on restore points and how to use them, please refer to Windows Help.
We hope this information has been helpful.
Are you suggesting I install and then uninstall –Exactly why was this not optional on removing the infected software and because of this scenario why should I trust that the install does not further lay waste to the reg files. There was no “Install/Uninstall” related to Windows for InterLok or PACE! I noted the list of critical issues/problems related to your unannounced installation. If I had not suspected a reg entry causing issues, I would not have found your pretty well hidden files [At least to the unsuspecting]. As it happened your software corrupted the Adaptec SCSI ASPI driver. So, you see that such malware with documented issues should not be blindly loaded onto an owners system. [To keep this short I tagged the issues off their site, at this point].
None of the suggestions we provided you suggest to "install and then uninstall". Typically any software installer application will give you the option to 'install' or 'uninstall'. If you choose 'install' it will actually install the software. Choosing 'uninstall' will of course uninstall the specified software.
We leave the choice up to you on how you wish to continue with the information we have provided to you.
We also leave the option to the software developer on how they wish to use our technology. We give them the tools and they build the software. We cannot explain why the option to uninstall our technology was not provided other then the software developer choose not to incorporate this feature.
Again we thank you for your opinion and perplexed on your claim that our technology has corrupted your "Adaptec SCSI ASPI driver" as this would be the first such incident in the 15+ years of our technology being available to the public.
Do you know what version of our driver was installed at the time of installing the software developer's product in question? Did you attempt the basic of computer diagnostics and installed the latest version of available drivers? We were unable to determine this based on your initial response to us.
Please let us know as we take pride in resolving any issue that comes to our attention. We appreciate your initiative in contacting us for support in getting to the bottom of what it is you are experiencing.
We hope to hear back from you very soon.
I added the italics, to make a point.
So this is a privacy based company that allows the software vendors to manipulate the "Privacy" software -Well, that's an easy way to get a bad name fast! I don't use "Restore" -There are good reasons and one is inadvertently re-installing walware. It surprises me that this company can even guess at the results if a third party can indeed change how it functions.
At the very least, there should be a notification of installation and that It has the potential to damage your system files, as already noted (Won't repeat) by salzan.
I'm also surprised that a "Software Privacy" company suggests methods of uninstalling It's software -All too much for me.
Cheers
Malware
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v--AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net |
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dadkins
Merry Whatever
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA | Three words: What A Crock!  |
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Kiwi
Premium
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USA
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edit:
May 20th, @08:36PM
| reply to Kiwi
I have sent this to Spybot S&D.
Just located a missed entry -Liquid Player uses the dang thing too, that's my secondary player -Goodbye, Liquid Player!
{Edit}*Wow* Almost doubled the speed on my internet connect, apparently completing the, Er -'Unofficial' Uninstall of the last malwared program made a significant difference! |
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salzan
Experienced Optimist
Premium
join:2004-01-08
WA State
| Great that you removed it.  Were the file names and registry locations/entries that were listed correct or were they changed? It sounds as though the individual vendors can rework the program to suit their own needs. That sure doesn't make it easy to detect/remove. In fact, it kinda sounds like some of the more devious malware...
Also not too surprising it messed up the ASPI drivers, a crude but effective way to keep you from burning CD's loaded with their precious PACE software. 
How did you find out about Liquid Player? Any clues you could share to help others find this crap would be greatly appreciated. |
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Kiwi
Premium
join:2003-05-26
USA
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·Aristotle Internet
edit:
May 21st, @12:07PM
| said by salzan :Great that you removed it. Were the file names and registry locations/entries that were listed correct or were they changed? It sounds as though the individual vendors can rework the program to suit their own needs. That sure doesn't make it easy to detect/remove. In fact, it kinda sounds like some of the more devious malware... Also not too surprising it messed up the ASPI drivers, a crude but effective way to keep you from burning CD's loaded with their precious PACE software. How did you find out about Liquid Player? Any clues you could share to help others find this crap would be greatly appreciated. Accident actually, as an after thought I decided to re check the tpkd in the reg and I must have over locked Liquid Player entries -Because it was saturated through that progo (Or perhaps I didn't want to know I was going to lose LP0)  Liquid player came with a CD writer about two years ago that died and had just kept the player.
Completely agree with you, anything that can be reworked by a third party that involves such random/deep reg changes; has the potential of killing almost anything. Those companies only care about their program, not our system. The upside is that I was expecting NERO to be loaded out with this monkey and was not. I'm not surprised at all that the SCSI driver was mutilated.
Again I wished I had followed with recording all the fles, but I was so surprised by the number & depth, I ended focusing on getting rid of the mess instead of tracking.
Guess I could load LP back up and re delete, the problem there though is each set of reg entries were progo specific -As already noted by PACE-Anti-Privacy, these are changed at will from third party sources; each set was different. Apparently though the uninstall worked on that one system, that's even more bizarre, coming from the source of the issues.
I hope Spybot S&D give this thing the once over...
{Edit spelling}
Cheers
--
2.66g/533fsb Intel CPU @ 3.48g
512meg Twinmos PC3700~466 DDR @ 2.8v -PCpower&Cooling 512.
ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700 Pro @1.6v
--
AMD ASUS A7N8X-E ~
2500+ @3200 ATI 9500 Pro, Corsair 512LL.-- Aristotle.net |
|
Name Game
Premium
join:2002-07-07
North Myrtle Beach, SC
| reply to Kiwi
said by Kiwi :I have sent this to Spybot S&D. Just located a missed entry - Liquid Player uses the dang thing too, that's my secondary player -Goodbye, Liquid Player! {Edit}*Wow* Almost doubled the speed on my internet connect, apparently completing the, Er -'Unofficial' Uninstall of the last malwared program made a significant difference! Now I am interested in this thread..;) Find any more apps..make a list guy.
--
Gladiator Security Forum »www.gladiator-antivirus.com/ Missing Kids »www.missingkids.com/ |
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Name Game
Premium
join:2002-07-07
North Myrtle Beach, SC
| reply to Kiwi
Liquid Digital Media is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy describes our information gathering and dissemination practices. This document will be updated to remain consistent with new products, services, processes, and Internet privacy legislation.
Please read on to understand how your personal information is treated when you use our products and services.
What information do we gather? How do we use it?
Liquid Player & Passports
When you use the Liquid Player to preview or purchase music, we collect and store the song names you're previewing to ensure proper royalty payments to the musicians and song owners. We also gather the Liquid Player's version, your computer's IP address, machine type and operating system type and version for quality control. In addition, our Web servers gather the referrer URL, Web browser name and IP address to understand Web site usage ("traffic analysis") to improve the site.
When you use the Liquid Player to purchase music, we also gather your unique passport ID. Passports are used to ensure that your music is secure and to protect artists' intellectual property rights. We use two types of passports: Full passports and FastTrack passports. Full passports allow you to download tracks and move them between multiple computers. FastTrack passports allow you to download and listen to music on one machine. A Passport is a file stored on your computer.
When you register for a Full passport or when you register for a Liquid Player Plus upgrade, we collect and store on our servers your name, email address, address, city, state, ZIP/postal code, country, phone number. This information is stored in the Passport. We use your email address to send you an email message confirming your purchase and upgrade to the Liquid Player Plus. In addition we gather and verify your credit card information. We submit this information to one of our payment-processing partners for verification. The payment-processing partner keeps the credit card number after processing. This allows them to maintain error and transaction logs that make it possible to synchronize credit card information with customer names. Our payment-processing partners do not share this information.
Liquid Digital Media does not keep your credit card information on our servers. The credit card information is stored in a protected manner inside the Passport kept on your machine. Do not give your passport to other people! During the registration process, the Liquid Player will ask you for a password to keep your Passport private. We will ask you for a phrase to help you recall a forgotten password. This phrase is stored on our servers to assist you in recalling your password. We also store information that allows us to see who changed or issued the passport.
When you register for a FastTrack Passport, we gather your name, email address, post code, and country. We collect this information in order to restore a lost Passport, and for fraud detection.
At registration time, we also remember if you've chosen to receive periodic communications from Liquid Digital Media.
Liquid Affiliate and Liquid Commerce Web sites
more info here
»www.liquidaudio.com/privacy/
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Gladiator Security Forum »www.gladiator-antivirus.com/ Missing Kids »www.missingkids.com/ |
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salzan
Experienced Optimist
Premium
join:2004-01-08
WA State
| Wal-Mart's Music Downloads service uses the Liquid Digital media system. Liquid Press announcement So, by extension, is this DRM scheme (PACE) is being installed on all Wal-Mart customers' machines who use the WMP Plugin download they get "to make their shopping experience more convenient"? |
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