watch dodogg MAXIMUM PC TAKES A BITE OUT OF BAD GEAR
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SONY BMG SETTLES ROOTKIT SUIT
Sony BMG has agreed to settle a class-action
lawsuit that alleged the company engaged
in deceptive conduct by secretly installing
digital rights management software on
people’s computers.
Sony BMG found itself in a crap-
storm of trouble when programmer
Mark Russinovich discovered that
Sony was including a rootkit in its CDs.
Album’s such as Celine Deion’s On Ne
Change Pas, Neil Diamond’s 12 Songs,
and Gerry Mulligan’s Jeru, among many
others, contained the rootkit. When con-
sumers inserted one of these audio CDs
in a PC, the rootkit would automatically
install. A rootkit is software that helps con-
ceal processes in an operating system so users
are unable to detect them. Sony’s rootkit prevents
users from copying its CDs, but a flaw in it let
hackers exploit its features to also hide malicious
software. Sony used three different copy protec-
tion schemes on its CDs, so the settlement will
vary depending on the scheme.
Consumers with XCP protection can receive
$7.50 in a check or debit card and a free album
download from a specified list, or three free
album downloads. That consumer will also be
entitled to download the original album he or she
purchased from any of three major download
services, within 180 days. The original CD must
have been purchased before February 1, 2006. As
part of the deal, the consumer must also provide
proof that the original CD was returned to the
store where it was purchased, and run a Sony
update of the XCP software that removes the
security holes.
Consumers who purchase CDs with
MediaMax 3.0 software before December 31, 2006
(these CDs are still on store shelves), are eligible
for an MP3 download of the CD. Consumers who
purchase albums with the newer MediaMax 5.
before December 31, 2006, are eligible to receive
an MP3 download of the album as well as one
additional album download from a list of 200
albums in the Sony BMG catalog. Consumers
with either version of MediaMax must submit the
original UPC code, a purchase receipt (which canbe an electronic receipt), or a credit card or bank
statement showing the purchase. For more infor-
mation on the settlement visit http://www.girardgibbs.
com/sonysummary.asp. See the websites below
to find out what copy-protection scheme is on
your CDs:
Albums with XCP protection: http://
cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html
Albums with MediaMax 5.0: http://www.eff.org/
IP/DRM/SonyBMG/settlement_faq.php#
Albums with MediaMax 3.0: http://www.eff.org/
IP/DRM/Sony-BMG/mm_3.0_titles.phpWHOSE FAULT IS IT?
WINDOWS, OF COURSE
I bought an A8N-SLI Deluxe
motherboard from Asus, because
Maximum PC praised it so highly.
Asus advertised it as supporting
4GB of memory, so I bit the bulletand filled all four slots with 1GB DIMMS. But in Windows,
I can’t get more than 3.5GB. I find this unacceptable.
Can you shed some light on the matter?
— Dan LinsDan was one of several readers to recent-
ly hit the dreaded 4GB limit on their PCs.
Another reader reported seeing only 3GB
of his 4GB in Windows XP, on his Abit
AV8. The problem isn’t that the mother-
board or chipset companies are failing
to meet the specs they publish, it’s the
OS. In other words, blame XP.
The Dog installed 4GB of RAM in both
an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe running a pair of
6800 GS cards in SLI and a Sapphire PC-
A9RD480 motherboard with a single Radeon
X1900 XTX card. Both boards identified a total of
4GB on POST, but in Windows, only 3GB was avail-
able with the Sapphire board. The SLI system fared
worse, showing just 2GB of RAM available.
The problem lies with how Windows XP
allocates physical address space for devices. For
more details we asked Asus to explain: “As you
know, Windows XP is a 32-bit operating system
and has a total of 4GB in memory space. Hardware
devices will take I/O address resources from
this 4GB. For example, the 3.75GB ~4GB (256MB)
memory space is reserved for I/O APIC and BIOS
EPROM; 3.5GB~3.75GB is reserved for configu-
ration-space memory-mapping access for PCI
Express; 3.25GB~3.5GB is reserved for PCI bridge
devices such as the IDE Controller, USB devices,
and onboard audio. When you have a PCI Express
graphics card with 256MB of RAM, 3GB~3.25GB
will be allocated to the first PCI Express graphic
card. A second PCI-E card would take another
256MB in the 2.7GB~3GB range. That’s the reason
you might see 2.75GB [out of 4GB] of memory
available for Windows application.”
The Asus spokesman said memory remap-
ping could be a solution, but there’s a perfor-MA XIMUMPC APRIL 2006Our consumer advocate investigates...
PSony Rootkit PXP RAM Limits
PNewegg Ad Errors PSquealing Dell
Macintosh, Watchdog of the monthGot a bone to pick with a vendor? Been spiked by a fly-
by-night operation? Sic The Dog on them by writing
[email protected]. The Dog promises to answer as
many letters as possible, but only has four paws to work with.Our
MacintoshThis Velvet Revolver CD contains software
that prevents people from copying the
disc and potentially leaves your PC open
to hacking.SONY BMG SETTLES ROOTKIT SUIT
Sony BMG has agreed to settle a class-action
lawsuit that alleged the company engaged
in deceptive conduct by secretly installing
digital rights management software oninstall. A rootkit is software that helps con-
ceal processes in an operating system so users
are unable to detect them. Sony’s rootkit prevents
users from copying its CDs, but a flaw in it let
hackers exploit its features to also hide malicious
software. Sony used three different copy protec-and filled all four slots with 1GB DIMMS. But in Windows,
I can’t get more than 3.5GB. I find this unacceptable.
Can you shed some light on the matter?Dan was one of several readers to recent-
ly hit the dreaded 4GB limit on their PCs.
Another reader reported seeing only 3GB
of his 4GB in Windows XP, on his Abit
AV8. The problem isn’t that the mother-
board or chipset companies are failing
to meet the specs they publish, it’s the
OS. In other words, blame XP.an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe running a pair of
6800 GS cards in SLI and a Sapphire PC-
A9RD480 motherboard with a single Radeon
X1900 XTX card. Both boards identified a total of
4GB on POST, but in Windows, only 3GB was avail-
able with the Sapphire board. The SLI system fared
worse, showing just 2GB of RAM available.
This Velvet Revolver CD contains software The problem lies with how Windows XPSONY BMG SETTLES ROOTKIT SUIT
Sony BMG has agreed to settle a class-action
lawsuit that alleged the company engaged
in deceptive conduct by secretly installinginstall. A rootkit is software that helps con-
ceal processes in an operating system so users
are unable to detect them. Sony’s rootkit prevents
users from copying its CDs, but a flaw in it let
hackers exploit its features to also hide malicious
software. Sony used three different copy protec-and filled all four slots with 1GB DIMMS. But in Windows,
I can’t get more than 3.5GB. I find this unacceptable.
Can you shed some light on the matter?Dan was one of several readers to recent-
ly hit the dreaded 4GB limit on their PCs.
Another reader reported seeing only 3GB
of his 4GB in Windows XP, on his Abit
AV8. The problem isn’t that the mother-
board or chipset companies are failing
to meet the specs they publish, it’s the
OS. In other words, blame XP.an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe running a pair of
6800 GS cards in SLI and a Sapphire PC-
A9RD480 motherboard with a single Radeon
X1900 XTX card. Both boards identified a total of
4GB on POST, but in Windows, only 3GB was avail-
able with the Sapphire board. The SLI system fared
worse, showing just 2GB of RAM available.
This Velvet Revolver CD contains software The problem lies with how Windows XP