Many Old CDs Won't Work on Windows 10

So! If you were to ask a PC gamer why they prefer PC gaming over console gaming (presumably because youre looking for a cure for your insomnia), one of the many, many, MANY points theyd lay over you is the fact that PC Gaming has near-perfect backwards compatibility: with the right software, a PC can play any game, no matter how oldanything from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to the original The Secret of Monkey Island.

But what if something goes wrong?

Thats what Windows 10 users are discovering: that many of their favorite CD games from 2003-2008, such as The Sims, Grand Theft Auto 3, Crimson Skies, and Microsoft Flight Simulator dont work on Windows 10not because the game itself is incompatible or because Windows 10 cant accommodate older games but because it flags some DRM built into the games software as unsafe. Namely, SafeDisc and certain versions of SecuROM.

Now, weve known this would be an issue for a semi-long time now, with Microsofts Boris Schneider-Johne talking on the subject at this years Gamescom. Its in German, but I embedded the video anyway.


 

"Everything that ran in Windows 7 should also run in Windows 10. There are just two silly exceptions: antivirus software and stuff thats deeply embedded into the system needs updating but the developers are on it already and then there are old games on CD-Rom that have DRM."

Well! Weve known that for a while (at least if you speak German), but now were finally beginning to understand why its flagged by Microsoft: apparently, the SafeDisk and Securom were very flawed pieces of software, and using them left your computer with gigantic loopholes that could let your computer be remotely hacked and controlled by people who aren't you. Removing the option to play the DRMwhich is outdated, by the wayactually keeps your computer safer.

And acts as another nail in the DRM is stupid coffin.

Now, theres no word either from Microsoft of the creators of this DRM if this will ever get fixed some way or another, but at least we now know what explains it. In the meantime, just help yourself to some games from GoGthats all DRM free. So it should work perfectly on your Windows 10or your Windows Anythingcomputer.