Make a program that cant be copyed?

[Gamemaster1494]

Is there a way that you can make an .exe that you cant copy? Like to someone elses computer, that it has to be made directly?

[RobDog888]

Thread Moved

[Nightwalker83]

I'm not sure but if they had access to a decomplier they could probably recompile your code after getting at the source code.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Ultimately, the answer is no, unless you require some kind of specialized hardware that is intrinsic to the functionality of the program. For instance, if you required a board with a special type of processor that the program worked with, it would be useless to copy the software without having the hardware. Otherwise, everything can be cracked, it comes down to how hard people have to work to crack it. For instance, you could tie the program to various system identifier numbers, such as an HD serial number or MAC address. That would require the cracker to fiddle with the code, which is possible, but would be above the average user. On the other hand, once one person has cracked the system, they would have the means to write something that would allow EVERYBODY else to crack it without any particular skill.

[FunkyDexter]

You can't stop it being copied. It's just a file and (assuming operating system level permissions aren't preventing it) ALL files can be copied.

What you can do is build in functionality to stop it being run and this is the sort of thing Shaggy was averring to. There are various third party products out there which you can build into your app or you could try and write something yourself (but I suspect it's a very difficult problem to crack on your own)

[Shaggy Hiker]

"Averring"?!?! That's a good one. Sometimes people in this forum stretch out the vocabulary.