|
I am looking for a software licensing system. This is one of those systems where you register the product, and you get a key back, enter the key in a registration screen, and the product is enabled.
In our case, we're interested in this primarily for controlling access to different "modules" of a large application.
I have done some browsing, and it looks like there are a number of tools to do this kind of thing, including Protection Plus, Software Passport, and Encryptor.
Anyone have any experience with these or similar products? Recommendations? Things to look out for?
Thanks,
Don
|
|
|
|
|
note that resorting to an existing protector can be bad, since most of them can be detourned using crack tools,hence so for your application security.
|
|
|
|
|
I am at the moment dealing with issues like that and have decided not to go down the road like that at all. I do not know how big or small your target market is, but mine is relatively small. If All small suppliers go to a big licencing house, it saves them money, and have the security of a Big House. Also, the Big House becomes a target, because it becomes worthwile for licence breakers in that one big efford will break thousands of licencing schemes. If everybody designs their own scheme, (and there is very good Public Domain (PGP etc) Software about that can be customised ), it will take thousands of individual effords to break the codes, and becomes economically not viable for the code breakers.
The rules are:
-Pick a Scheme, PGP, Blowfish, whatever.
-Learn How it works. (Vitally Important)
-Inspect for Backdoors
-Customise
-Inspect for Backdoors (again)
-Implement Licence Tampering Detection
-Inspect for Backdoors (again)
-Hope for the best.
-Sue.
regards, and I know what You're going through.
![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
Bram van Kampen
|
|
|
|
|
We're a very small company. I have considered rolling our own, but unless there's better information on how to do everything than I've found, I don't have time to do it.
Not only do you have to learn about an encryption scheme, you also have to learn about how to tie things to the hardware (drive serial number, or whatever), how to block debuggers and decompilers from running, etc. And you have to write the UI components -- the registration dialogs, the app that you use to issue registration numbers, etc.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Don
|
|
|
|
|
Well,
You Cannot block Decompilers, because they attack the Raw Excecutable. Decompiling is not an easy task however, and it would not be the case in general that an afternoon spent with your exe and a decompiler would reveal your code. It is typically ManMonths of painstaking research before decompiling anything gives results. The question is one of economics. How many Licences, how much each. how desirable is your target market, etc. vs the cost of many manhours decompiling your code. It may well be easier for potential competitors to write their own (after having bought yours) than to try and de-compile.
Debuggers are blocked by ensuring that your final EXE is stripped from all debugging info.
Unfortunately you will need some UI Components to let the user know that they need to register, and a method to allow him(her) to enter salient details.
If you bounce an e-mail to bramvankampen@aol.com, I'll forward you software I found somewhere to deal with DiskId's etc.
Bottom Line.: If you think it's going to be big, and that you could become a Worldwide Target for Licence Decrytptors, your potential sales will be large, and invest in professionals to do this in a bespoke way.
Regards 
Bram van Kampen
|
|
|
|
|
If anyone else is interested, Bram sent me some public sources that he didn't remember where they came from. But a quick google turned them up at http://www.winsim.com/diskid32/diskid32.html[^]. This is "DiskId32 (freeware): A Win32 Application and Source Code for Reading Hard Drive Manufacturing Information".
Thanks, Bram.
Don
|
|
|
|
|
Hi Don
Thanks for recovering the link where I found it. I found it quite usefull. The only thing one wonders is, will it survive the various Vista udates and upgrades in the future. It appears to me that it depends on a lot of undocumented features. By the way, one wonders why there is no Kernel API to do something like that.
Regards,
Bram van Kampen
|
|
|
|
|
I am using MFC in an application with a lot of lengthy operations.
Any body can help me on a good and easy tool for code profiling ? (I only need to profile regions of code, not a whole application.
|
|
|
|
|
Hello,
can i convert string to date, when string is in format: "Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:11:32 GMT"
I try this but this dont work:
COleDateTime coletime;
if(coletime.ParseDateTime(L"Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:11:32 GMT", VAR_DATEVALUEONLY, LANG_USER_DEFAULT))
TRACE(L"KONVERT DATE \n");
Thanks for any help!
termal
modified on Friday, February 29, 2008 10:31 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hello,
ups, looks like my string format is not valid!
Thanks for reply!
regards
termal
|
|
|
|
|
If you are willing to remove the first four and the last three characters, it will parse fine.
"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it." - Ellen Goodman
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
|
|
|
|
|
Hello,
yes i do this, this first(and last) character i dont need, i remove them!
regards
termal
|
|
|
|
|
Why not write a small parser to do things like that. I wrote one years ago which still stands me in good stead. Apart from that I try to avoid as much as possible anything like COle... Admittedly I never had any use for the COM library sofar.
Regards,
Bram van Kampen
|
|
|
|
|
Hi,
yes i do that, thanks for answer!
regards
termal
|
|
|
|
|
Hi,
How to insert items into tree controls??
any new structure is to be created??
suggestions required... 
Gita
|
|
|
|
|
Gita.Bairavi wrote: suggestions required...
I'd suggest doing a Google search before asking very basic questions.
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero
.·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·.
Codeproject.com: Visual C++ MVP
|
|
|
|
|
They hide the answers inside the documentation [^].
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler.
-- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong.
-- Iain Clarke
|
|
|
|
|
CPallini wrote: They hide the answers inside the documentation.
Bastards. 
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero
.·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·.
Codeproject.com: Visual C++ MVP
|
|
|
|
|
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote: Bastards.
Indeed. 
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler.
-- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong.
-- Iain Clarke
|
|
|
|
|
LOL!! It's like South Park
"OMG they killed Kenny"..."You bastards!"
Mark Salsbery
Microsoft MVP - Visual C++
![Java | [Coffee]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif)
|
|
|
|
|
CPallini wrote: They hide the answers inside the documentation
led mike or no you are CPallini!
|
|
|
|
|
Oh, that all was based on Iain Clarke arrogant assumptions!
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler.
-- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong.
-- Iain Clarke
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi,
I have a tricky issue here:
A MFC dialog based App calls a Batch script. This batch script again calls a SSH tool to login to a remote PC. This is to enable FTP service on WinNT remote PC. This is done multiple times in my MFC app.
SSH login take approximately 30 seconds and somehow I can not make the control waut there until the SSL login goes thru.
I have used the following code to run the Sample BAT file:
<br />
-TestFTP.bat-<br />
ssh.exe -pw <password> <uname>@<ipaddress> <br />
net start ftp<br />
exit<br />
</ipaddress></uname></password>
In MFC I use WaitForSingleObject to wait for completion of TestFTP.bat:
SHELLEXECUTEINFO ShExecInfo = {0}; <br />
ShExecInfo.cbSize = sizeof(SHELLEXECUTEINFO); <br />
ShExecInfo.fMask = SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS; <br />
ShExecInfo.hwnd = NULL; <br />
ShExecInfo.lpVerb = NULL; <br />
ShExecInfo.lpFile = "TestFTP.bat"; <br />
ShExecInfo.lpParameters = ""; <br />
ShExecInfo.lpDirectory = NULL; <br />
ShExecInfo.nShow = SW_HIDE; <br />
ShExecInfo.hInstApp = NULL; <br />
ShellExecuteEx(&ShExecInfo); <br />
WaitForSingleObject(ShExecInfo.hProcess,INFINITE); <br />
However, WaitForSingleObject returns immediately and Not sure whats wrong here. How to wait till the batch completes? Any help would be great!
Thanks
Vikas
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
