It's very sad how greedy record companies are now using these "trojan" based copy protections to stop you from copying your Audio CDs and preventing freedom w/ iPod etc.. Like Alex Halderman proved nothing is 100%.

I know all you CD Freaks know how to disable the MediaMax drivers. The purpose of these instructions is meant to disable the other (less known) trojans being used on Audio CDs.

As always if autorun is turned off there is no need for these instructions, however when it isn't - these drivers will infect your PC and then you need to either reformat or simply remove them as stated below:

HOW TO REMOVE CD AUDIO PROTECTION DRIVERS FROM PC

CDS-300 (MacroVision) http://www.macrovision.com

How to identify: There will be a directory in the root called “CDS300” and multiple files with “CDS” in the name.

Win98/ME: No protection

Win XP/2K: On windows partition (where Windows is installed default is C:/ drive) search for file called “sdcplh.sys” and delete it. You must restart the computer & now copy protection is now permanently disabled.

The default path is C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers

XCP2 (First 4 Internet) http://www.xcp-aurora.com/

How to identify: There will be a file called “VERSION.DAT” if this is opened with Note Pad it will say something like “VERSION=XCP2, Version 1.7”

Win98/ME/2K & XP

Step 1. Press F8 during startup to boot into safe mode.

Step 2: On windows partition (where Windows is installed default is C:/ drive) Search for a file called “$sys$caj.dll” and delete it.

The default path is C:\WINDOWS\system32\$sys$caj.dll

Step 2: Reboot PC and go to “Device Manager” and uninstall all CD/DVD drives and then rescan for hardware changes.

Now the XCP protection is permanently disabled.

If you are looking for info on SunnComm's MediaMax CD3 see: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~jhalderm/cd3/