Buying a Sims 2 Expansion Pack? Then You Need to Know About SecuRom

Are you buying a Sims 2 expansion pack? Beware - it may cause your computer to malfunction. Since April 2007 Electronic Arts (otherwise known as EA) has used SecuROM, a highly controversial anti-piracy product, to protect their games from piracy, and many customers are angry. Should you buy Sims 2 expansion packs inflicted with this anti-piracy product, or should you look elsewhere? What can you do to stop SecuROM from infecting your computer? Although EA has kept this problem closeted for some time, customers are being more vocal about it - and this is what you need to know before you buy another expansion pack.

What is SecuROM?
SecuROM is a anti-piracy product, developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM prevents users from making duplicate CDs by installing a shell extension - this extension prevents Windows Explorer from deleting 16-bit executables. Since April 2007 EA has used SecuROM as an updated way to protect their product from being copied. EA currently uses SecuROM ver. 7x. It automatically installs itself between the application (the one you've installed) code and the OS, and this causes problems because it interferes with the computer's system on some computers.

What Sims 2 Expansion Packs Have SecuROM?
The most notable one is Bon Voyage, a Sims 2 Expansion pack where your sims go on vacation. Many users report Bon Voyage as "very buggy", with some users reporting that their anti-virus software malfunctions after installation. Other users report that their CD burners won't function after installation and in rare cases, cause their computer to shut down.

Other Sims 2 Expansion Packs installed with SecuROM are The Sims: Pet Stories, The Sims 2 Deluxe, and The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff. There is a good chance it will be on a new expansion pack, Free Time.

What Problems Does SecuROM cause?
Many users are reporting numerous problems, but the most common ones are buggy gameplay, anti-virus software malfunction, malfunction of CD burners, and expansion packs refusing to launch. In rare instances, computers have shut down allegedly because of SecuROM.