I have an "expired demo" of a program I need to occaisionally use.  I
find that if I temporarily set the system date back (to any day before
expiry) I can still use it.  Once it's started I can change the system
date back to today.

Is there a way of automating this with a script?  I've tried a good
old DOS batch file but to no avail.  I'm using Win XP.  Thanks.

Hi webwrx-ga,

It's relatively easy to make a little program that sets the system
date back a given number of days/months/years, runs a program and then
resets the date to the current one. Luckily however there are already
a few people who thought of this before us and came up with programs
that do just that.

There are several tools available. Here are the ones I managed to
find:


Independence Date by Franck Perez:
http://membres.lycos.fr/idate/IDate.htm

This is a shareware program, which only functions for a single
program. The full version costs 15$.


Beyondo, by Bluefive Software:
http://bluefive.pair.com/beyondo.htm

This is a freeware program. Beyondo requires vbrun6 support files. You
can find more in


QuickDater, by SFApps:
http://jcprogs.50megs.com/Qdater220.zip

Another (very simple) freeware program.


Hope this helps,

Kind regards,

rhansenne-ga.

Search terms used:

"time-limited demo" "trial" "tools" "date" "reset"

---

Clarification of Answer by rhansenne-ga on 02 Jul 2002 01:44 PDT

Oops, part of a sentence seems to have been skipped while pasting. The
full sentence was:

Beyondo requires vbrun6 support files. You can find more information
on the website.

Thank you - exactly what I was after.

time command in a batch file or command prompt

time hh:mm:ss
sets current time

time /t 
outputs current time, does not prompt
Just in case.

-AI

With all due respect, did you ever consider paying the program's
author for a license?  Has it occurred to you that each time you use
the program in this way you are stealing?  If YOU had created this
software, how would you feel about people CHEATING to defeat the demo
protection?

It is amazing to me how people can use software like this without
feeling the slightest compulsion to pay for it.

Signed,

A Software Developer Who Pays His Bills by Writing Great Software that
is Sold Over the Internet and that People are Continuously Trying to
Get for Free.

dray-ga

The question had already been professionally answered, but your
comment is acknowledged.

If you need help with your software business you should consider
offering subscription-based services as an alternative to traditional
software sales. Think of your software as a service you rent-out
rather than a commodity.

You said: "It is amazing to me how people can use software like this
without
feeling the slightest compulsion to pay for it."

Maybe look at the reasons why.

If you think about it - why should anyone pay hundreds of dollars for
a package which they rarely use, is bloated with irrelevant features
which will only slow their system and take up space, is often buggy,
and will be quickly outdated?

Example from personal experience: a few months back I needed urgently
to re-partition an NT4 server's hard drive to free more space on C:
drive. After some searching I found a package for US$800 packed with
lots of other "useful features". I could even "buy it online" (and
then wait 14 days to have it delivered in a box)!

It turned out faster, easier and cheaper to just buy a new hard drive
and re-install NT from scratch. The whole experience left me
disillusioned with the way software is sold and distributed.

As a consumer I want the output (the "service") of the software - not
the software itself. I want to get the output either through a rented
pay-as-you-use model, or by outsourcing my specific task to a 3rd
party - costing just a few bucks each time.

Thankfully the widespread availability of the pay-as-you-use model is
not too far off and I believe this will bring enormous benefits for
consumers and developers alike.

Hopefully this has provided you the insight which will help you
continue to put food on your family's table.

Google search terms:
subscription software pay-as-you-use subscribe service
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=subscription+software+pay%2Das%2Dyou%2Duse+subscribe+software+service

Kind Regards,
webwrx-ga