I have encountered multiple problems with the SecuROM software that Bethesda uses for copyright protection. First, it objects to my having Process Explorer from Sysinternals.com running in the background, so every time I run the game I have to shut this utility down and restart it after. Process Explorer is a legitimate application that helps me resolve problems with invisible programs hogging processor cycles and also facilitates emergency shutdowns when Windows glitches; I would like to leave it on all the time. Once past that hurdle, I am confronted with allegations of other software supposedly running on my computer that I'm pretty sure are figments of SecuROM's imagination. It makes the whole gaming experience suboptimal, in my opinion. Other gaming titles have not presented such problems for me.

Let us not forget that SecuROM regards itself as a pirated program in some cases...

After all, it's already installed on the computer. Why would another game by another publisher dare put it on one of their CDs, unless that CD itself is pirated?

You can run the game without the diskcheck and copy protection running. Create a shortcut to the actual game EXE (Fallout3.exe) rather than running the launcher. You only need to run the launcher if you want to tweak your settings, and the disk check only runs from the launcher, not from the game itself.

SecuROM detects Process Explorer as a blacklisted application. This is neither a new feature nor a mistake. There is nothing that says the game has to accommodate just any application that you also have on your computer.

Anyway, simply follow the workaround. Question asked, answered in full, thread closed.