SOftware Protection

Hey All,

I Am Quite new to all of this, but i figure i'll try and ask and see if anyone knows.

Anyway,
I ahve finished my latest Program and I would like to sell it. But the thing about that is, I dont want people to be able to crack it simply. I have added the Hard Driver Serial Number to my Program, but i have sat down, and cracked it in 45 Minutes.

Do any of you know a Different way I can make them register?

1. I want to let ONLY paid Members have access.
2. If possible I would like to make the Program verify the Key typed by the user to verify via the internet, and maybe on a database located on my server somewhere

These are just ideas floating around and I am NOT stuck on these options. I am up for anything..

Thanks alot!

Ed

if i were you, i'd go for option 2. its the best way to track your program and control its distribution

There is no way to pretect it. If there was, then Microsoft, Adobe etc would have already implemented it.

Option 2 does seem better.

Take a look at MartinLiss' example here - http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=232146

Hey, I just looked at MartinLiss' example, and i tried it out, but it said my registration key was incorrect after generating one..lol

help?

I havent used it but if you post a reply in Martins thread I know he will reply in the morning or about 5 hours or so I guess :)

oh yeah i downloaded that sample... and its seems to be working for me though

Hm....I downloaded it and when i get my HDD Number it returs Negative -2072485274

and i put that into the gen, and it doesnt like it. I dont know how to make it Positive.

Moved to General Developer

What language is the application written in? I am developing a .Net component that is geared towards registering but, like mentioned, anything can be cracked.

The most fool proof way I found is how Valve packes their games in their application called "Steam." It only allows you to use the games if you login to their server first. This means you can't have more than 1 copy running and it verifies you purchased it.

If I remember correctly, it was originally in Classic VB forum. So it would be vb6.

The way I thought about implementing pirating protection on an operating system I may create was to only ship part of the software (like an incomplete EXE that still runs or something or just the setup file) then verify the serial online on my server, then remove it from the server so it can never be used again, incode the other part of the program with the serial number that was used and hardware information of the installing computer and download it. Then the OS would verify it self on on the server everytime its connects to the internet.

Right, and then you also need to include a hardware hash so it can beidentified as a unique system tied to your single serial number for your app.

If it finds multiple hashes then it wont run.

Hey, Thanks alot for all the Posts.

RobDog is correct as I am using VB6. Also my program IS web based so they do need to be online to use it. Thats why i would like to use somthing to verify via the internet. I would REALLY like to make the program check hte Serial against a database located on my server somwhere, But honestly, ihave never played around with databses and VB. Thanks alot

Just remember that when you do check it agaist a database, make sure to encrypt the queries somehow so theey can't be intercepted and changed.

I haven't done any VB+SQL stuff either (just PHP and SQL) but I'm sure you'll find something if you search the forums.