Removing SecuROM from your system

I am anti-”copy protection” and it pisses me off that these big corporations can leave crap (such as the SecuROM rootkit) on your computer after you’ve uninstalled the game, and yet since its big corporations (such as Sony, which developed SecuROM) nobody seems to care that it can hurt your computer. (I’ve seen cases of it disabling CD burners, not letting you open the task manager, forbidding access to the legal games you bought, and even making the operating system unusable.)

However, you can get rid of SecuROM by following these instructions. Read them very carefully, and only attempt if you know a fair bit about computers.

Good luck!

Have Protected WMA’s? Convert them to MP3.

NOTE: This tutorial is only meant for legal uses, such as putting the songs on an MP3 player. Always check copyright laws in your area before doing this!

So, you’ve got some WMA’s protected by DRM, but you want an MP3? I discovered this method completely by accident, although it is floating around the web.

If you use Audacity, an open-source audio editor, you can do it. (However, you may need to do it a few times, to find the right settings.)

Install it, then find the protected song and open it in a different audio player, such as Windows Media Player or Winamp. You’ll need the license for it, or it won’t work.

Open up Audacity. At the top, there will be some buttons and drop down menus.

You see this?

Change the “Microphone” to “Stereo Mix.”

Then hit the Record button, the red circle. Play your song. When the song ends, stop the recording (yellow square.)

Edit out any “dead air” (silence) at the beginning and end.

Now, you have to export it. If you want to download the lame_enc.dll file, you can export directly to MP3. If not, export to WAV, and use one of various converters to change to an MP3.

Good luck!