Regional Playback Control,  also known as RPC

The movie/dvd cartel has devided the world into 6 zones with the idea that dvd's are only allowed to be played in the zone they were bought in.

RPC is enforced on anyone who wants to use the dvd logo: Dvd players, dvd playback software and operating systems (Windows) are all forced to employ RPC.

Dvd players are shipped with the zone not set. The first time you try to play a movie, the playback software will tell you it must set the drive to the same region the movie is or it won't play. When you say OK the zone is set.

Now if you get a dvd from your auntie who lives in another zone, the drive will have to be set to that zone. The problem is that all dvd players only allow  5 changes and then they lock on the last zone played. The manufacturer can reset it (up to 4 times) for you. You might have to ship the drive to them. If you use the 5 changes after that, the drive will be locked for ever!

Windows keeps an eye on all of that too. If it 'thinks' the drive and the dvd are not of the same region, it might prevent playback.

You might say to yourself: Wait a minute, these are my dvd's, my drive and my computer! I think it's my freedom too!

In other words, you want to disable RPC and make you system REGION FREE.