Hi gethelp-ga,
The first step in implementing any software licensing/anti-piracy
system is to realise that there is no perfect system to do what you
want. People who are really interested in using your application for
free, will find some way to crack/circumvent your registeration
process.
Also, articles on how you can implement software schemes are few
and far indeed. Most of the people with reasonably successful
protection schemes, try to keep them under wraps in order to make it
harder for people to circumvent them. This meant that although I was
unable to find articles specific to vb.net, I did find artcles and
source code for VB6, detailing the steps you need to take. Since you
appear to be a fairly experienced programmer, I believe that you will
not have any problem in understanding and adapting these.
Here they are :
- COMponent Builder: Protect Your Application by Monte Hansen
from the July 2001 isuue of the Visual Basic Programmers Journal
( http://www.fawcette.com/archives/listissue.asp?pubID=1&MagIssueId=400#
)
This article shows you how to implement a License key protection
for your program, avoiding some common mistakes. You can get the
sample code from ( http://killervb.com/LicenseKey.aspx )
- ACTIVELOCK
ActiveLock is a free ActiveX control that can be used to protect
your VB programs from piracy, add registration features to your
softwares and create trialware. You can download the source code from
the site given below, and see how the solution is implemented.
- ActiveLock v1.7
( http://www.activelock.com/faq.html )
Be sure to check out the following tutorial :
- How to Use ACTIVELOCK
( http://www.internetion.net/ActiveLock/activelock.asp )
- The following freely downloadable VB code snippet demonstrates
another way you can generate a serial key for your application.
- Code Snippet by Stephen Blaising
( http://www.vbcode.com/asp/showsn.asp?theID=2187 )
============
You can also find a number of ideas on how to protect software
written in VB on Google Groups. Check out the following discussions :
- Subject: Any suggetions ?
Newsgroups: alt.comp.shareware.programmer
( http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=9vs6gq%24rd2%2400%241%40news.t-online.com&rnum=1
)
- Subject: developing a software license scheme
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion
( groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=e7UxmekbCHA.392%40tkmsftngp09)
- Subject: How can VB get the unique hardware ID?
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.vb.enterprise
( http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=efGVQ13%23BHA.2384%40tkmsftngp02
)
====================
The following articles contain some general tips and tricks you
should keep in mind while writing code for your software protection
functions :
- Anti Cracking FAQ How to make cracking your programs a little
harder
( http://www.inner-smile.com/nocrack.phtml )
- Defending Shareware Against Cracks by Adam Smith
( http://www.senseofsecurity.com/sharenc.asp )
- Protect your programs from piracy
( http://webdon.com/vitas/antihack.asp )
- How To Protect Better
( http://www.searchlores.org/protec/protec.htm )
====================
COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS
Most of the major software vendors do not spend their time
implementing custom software solutions, instead they use commercial
off the shelf solutions to protect their products. Note that even
these commercial solutions are not entirely crack proof. In fact, you
will find that the more popular the program, the faster its software
protection is cracked. However by offloading the protection task to
these commercial products, you can free up your time to concentrate on
improving your software application. Practically all of the ooptions
available today allow you to easily create time/feature limited
versions of your product, that the user can activate by entering a
serial number. Here are a few of these commercial offerings :
- ASProtect
Individual Developer License : $99
( http://www.aspack.com/asprotect.htm )
- Armadillo
Basic Version : $89
( http://www.siliconrealms.com/armadillo.htm )
- FlexLM by Globetrotter Software
( http://www.globetrotter.com/ )
- Protection PLUS
Standard Edition : $349
( http://www.softwarekey.com/plus/ )
- Privilege Usage Builder by Alladin Softwares
( http://www.ealaddin.com/privilege/protecting_preparing.asp )
- ShareDog
$49.95
( http://www.kingtigerchina.com/index.htm )
You can find a lot more products by doing a search on Google for
"software protection"
================
Hope this helped.
If you need any clarifiactions, just ask!
:)
------------------------------------------
Google Search terms used :
vb.net registration piracy
piracy vb.net serial key
visual basic piracy register crack software how vb
Google Groups Search Terms used :
.net serial key protection
.net serial key protection group:microsoft.public.vb.*
serial key piracy vb .net
software protection piracy vb.net
developing a "software license scheme" |
