StarForce has released an updated version 4.70.005.006 of its product, which has been redesigned to protect against all known emulators, including the latest versions of Daemon Tools, going by this report our Reviewer & Section Administrator Womble came across. Unlike previous versions that rely on blacklisting and for external signs of emulation software and force the end user to uninstall the emulators before using the protected product, this version looks out for the integral features of emulation software and thus allows consumers to run Starforce 4.7 protected software without needing to uninstall emulation software first. As a result, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools and other emulation programs to fully take on this protection.
According to this StarForce report, it looks like in an aim to discourage consumers from using 3rd party emulation tools for backing up protected software, their new version offers the capability to make a back-up copy for end-users, in which the consumer can make one or more copies of their copy protected product based on publisher's policy. This allows the product to be used without the original disc, thus allowing it be kept in a safe place and also allow the product to run on two PCs, such as on a desktop and a laptop.
Should the consumer need to move the product to another PC, such as after a new purchase or if the PC required new hardware or an OS reinstallation, the product features a deactivation to allow the product to be deactivated from one PC and activated on another. On the other hand, by no longer totally relying on a non-standard original disc as copy protection, it looks like they are now relying more on product activation, like that of Microsoft’s Windows and Office packages and what many other software publishers have started using.
