I went to a site that carries No-CD patches for just about every game ever made. This site had Painkiller featured prominently on the first page I went to. I downloaded the No-CD patch (got the wrong one at first, then had to backtrack), installed it, and voila the game ran perfectly. I became a software pirate in about five minutes of searching, installing and double-clicking, or did I? You see, I bought this game at the store. I have the box and media right here. I can take a pic with the digicam if someone asks for it. But the game in that box would not work on my computer without me altering it and breaking the law (such as it is). The copy protection used on it is so overbearing and intrusive, it literally prevented a legitimate paying customer from using the product. There is something deadly wrong with this scenario.