Hai guys, I ve developed a salary calculating software using vb.net.... Its working fine and i ve converted it to an exe file... My drawback is it can be copied and pasted in another system very easily... I want to generate a key for the exe file and while installing the key should be used and when installation is completed ,the key should not be used again... Is this ya secured one or give me some ideas how it can be done....
A:
You'll need to sign your assembly, and have some form of online authentication process to manage the keys.
Randolph Potter
2009-10-12 07:10:34
+2
A:
There are many product on the market that will help you generate software keys, for example www.softwareshield.com and www.exeshield.com Or simply do a Google Search.
For more serious protection you can use a hardware key that unlocks your software, for example http://www.matrixlock.de/english/index.htm
leonm
2009-10-12 08:35:48
Hardware keys are generally considered a bad idea. They are very inconvenient for the user. A lot of people will not tolerate them unless the software is so great that it's worth the trouble... Hardware keys would definitely be a big reason to look for alternatives if I were looking for software.
Quagmire
2009-10-12 08:40:00
A:
Whatever copy protection scheme you implement....just make sure that your paying users don't get a lot of discomfort from it.... You want to keep bad users from copying your software without permission, but when good users get problems because of faults in your copy protection software, you will lose a lot of credit.
Quagmire
2009-10-12 08:42:05
+1
A:
It all depends on your adience.
If you are targetting end-users / home-users: no matter what you do, your software will be hacked (if it is good enough).
If you target the enterprise: Companies are mostly willing to buy your software, and do not copy to other companies. They have far more to loose when running illegal software. But also they are the first to complain if they cannot distribute your software using their distribution system. And this system will be blocked by your copy protection scheme.
Conclusion: Implement the simplest and cheapest protection scheme you can find. And also find a way you can bypass it easily if you want enterprises as your customer.
GvS
2009-10-12 08:53:40
+1
A:
If you do not want the key to be used again, the only solution is to use hardware-locked keys - such keys have a hardware-ID (in some form) embedded in them and can be used only on that machine.
CryptoLicensing is one license scheme you can consider for your software.
logicnp
2010-05-04 10:15:23