Playing "Starforce" protected games. Guide please!

[rlsuth]

I've no idea about the current state of Starforce drivers, all I know is that the first time I installed a game with Starforce, my CD-Rom whirred and made the most horrendous noise and finally stopped working all together. Now, admittedly, it wasn't the newest drive at the time, but still, it was obvious that whatever the hell Starforce was causing it to do, it put a rediculous strain on the device. Starforce actually admitted that their early drivers did this and said they'd fixed the problem, but sorry, I've avoided them ever since.

That first game also royally screwed up my system causing me to reinstall Windows to clear it out.

Long time ago now, but first impressions last and I just wont go there again.