It seems like the majority of children’s software these days requires the CD in the drive in order to run. It’s an effective copy protection tool, but also a huge pain in the bum. Sure preschoolers can handle CD-ROM’s… but have you seen what they can do to them?

The solution is known as drive emulation. Basically, you take a part of your hard drive and make it act like a CD-ROM. There are many tools available. Today, we will look at one of the more popular titles… Alcohol 52% (and yes, it’s okay for minors).

Alcohol 52% is the little brother of Alcohol 120% and is offered in both a free and paid version. The free version requires you to install the Protection Database Search Toolbar. This is not adware, spyware or any other devious underhand thing. It provides you with access to a protection database to see what protection is used on a game along with the ability to search the Internet for information. If you don’t want another browser toolbar, there is the option to uninstall it at http://www.alcohol-toolbar.com/

The free version allows for 6 simultaneous virtual CD-ROM drives (probably more than enough) and the paid version supports 31. It’s not hard to use, but definitely not for Luddites.

To download the free version, go to http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition