Set default membership to a paid one

I'm trying to set my default membership to 'paid'. I found a place in the forum where it suggests going into the db and modifying the sys_acl_levels table and setting standard to 'purchasable'. The problem with this is that people can still join my site without paying. When they go to upgrade, then they see standard at the price needed. What's the point of this if they get the standard version for free? I don't want a free membership on my site. Has there been any advancements on this?

Check the market - there are a few extensions that require users to pay before they can make an account.  Alternatively, you can disable the promotional membership level and set the standard membership level to be uber restrictive.

try changing the Standard membership to removable in your database table - then clear your cache - and then disable the standard membership under Settings - Membership levels.

I have set the default setting for standard to 'removable' and set it to 'disabled'. however, it's still picking it as the starting type instead of the 'paid' version.