Banned by Napster? Want to get back on? According to Register readers, it's a doddle, and we're happy to pass the information on to anyone who feels they've been unjustly penalised by the software company and/or Metallica, the band who's lawsuit provoked the ban.

It goes without saying - but we'll say it anyway - that we don't support the use of Napster to share copies of songs users don't own. Giving a friend a copy of a song, whether it's a Metallica track or not, and whether its on tape or encoded as an MP3, is illegal. So don't do it, kids, OK? Vulture Central does not like copyright infringers.

But, in a spirit of scientific enquiry, here's the trick of it. We haven't verified that it works, and if you want to mess around with your Windows Registry, as it suggests, that's your own affair and nothing to do with us, squire. Especially, if anything untoward happens to your system. It's a cruel, harsh universe out there, and you're on your own... ®

From Usenet:
1. Uninstall Napster
2. Delete all Registry keys that have NAPSTER in them.
3. Search for the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\CLSID\{CAD8C813-1F34-1B3E-00CEAE43FF0AAD} and make a note of the ID# value. This ID is what lets Napster know a banned computer is trying to log on.
4. Search for this ID# and delete all instance.
5. Install Napster.
6. Create a new login and use a different e-mail address. Don't use the same login ID or you may have to start back at step 1.
7. Only share dirs without Metallica and don't download Metallica.
8. Tell Metallica to go fuck themselves. And never buy Metallica again.