DxO Optics Pro and Pace Anti Piracy
May 29th, 2007 | 
Author: I’ve been looking through the search words people have used in order to find the site and there are quite a few search for DxO and Pace Anti Piracy. About 2 months ago I wrote an entry about this horrid protection scheme and the tactics Pace uses to secure their apps. They hide files all over the machine, make bogus registry keys, and pretty much do everything you would expect a virus or spyware to do. It’s pretty damn shameful.
I wrote an article on how to remove most of Pace if you decide to remove DxO Optics Pro from your machine. I have purchased 4.2 and like I said, I love the program, I have that DxO uses Pace. However, I went through and followed my own advice and remove all the keys, the crap spreadsheets files it makes in the Office directory, the fake Internet Cookies and everything else. Of course, as soon as you do an update all that nonsense comes back. Every key, the files, it all comes back as you update the program.
I guess the point is this, if you’re going to use DxO you’re just going to have to live with their antics. Unless DxO shifts to another protection scheme we’re all stuck with this virus like activity and there’s nothing we can do about it.
For those of you fed up with Pace and their nonsense (why there isn’t a lawsuit against them I don’t know) you can read my previous article on how to remove their files. The entries look a little odd, but basically just go down the list and delete all the top level registry entries that are listed. For example delete HKLM\Software\Dog, HKLM\Software\Gravity, etc.
The second part is the list of files Pace adds. Just delete all of the ones listed, they are junk files and serve no purpose.
I bought DxO Optics Pro because I really like the results it gives me, but I despise what Pace does to my machine. I guess this is really is one of those Catch 22’s.
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I love DxO too… I guess they have to protect against piracy somehow…
As far as I remember, Adobe CS2 also had an activation / DRM solution. Is it PACE? If not does it have the same drawbacks as PACE.
just wondering…
Activation and DRM on their own are fine. Lots of programs use the method entering the CD Key and checking this against the server. You can see this in Microsoft Office and Windows, Corel Paint Shop, applications from Symantec, Adobe, and dozens of other companies, so it’s certainly common practice. My issue is all the “hidden” changes Pace does. Making registry changes or creating a hidden or encrypted file to protect your app is one thing, but making files all over the drive and masking your changes as though another application did it, seems a little shady. I guess you can look at this way, what if Microsoft activated their products this way?
Pace doesn’t seem to be used in that many apps. And those I know of are very niche, like audio apps, etc. I have a feeling if they tried to go a little more mainstream there might be more of a backlash.
But despite this, I still like and use DxO Optics, it does a great job. I just wish they would get some more lens modules out! I’m still waiting for the Sigma modules they have for 3.5 to be available in 4.2.