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marmin
10-04-2008, 03:40 PM
I'm looking for a simple copy protection unit. It can be very simple, such as a Name-Serial copy protection system, with a trial period.
It would be nice, if it could be compiled cross platform (fpc-lazarus). Of course, it can also be more advanced. Any tips? I don't feel like buying a complex package with xx features I don't use.

Pyrogine
10-04-2008, 05:06 PM
I think it's Delphi only, but maybe it can help...

Clicky (http://www.maxcomponents.net/index.php?id=1&page=1#TmxProtector)

waran
10-04-2008, 07:58 PM
Unless you do something very creative any premade protection can be broken easily.
So if you want to create pay-software you should think of a method which is as bizarre and unusal as possible.

If you aren't willing to invest such an efford you can also distribute your
shareware app unprotected - its actually the same but less work for you.

czar
10-04-2008, 08:08 PM
Just be aware that copy protection will increase your support requirements. People will screw up whatever you come up with. So the more bizarre and weird that you make it the more problems your users will have.

marmin
10-04-2008, 08:20 PM
I know that c.p. can be broken easily. But, I want that folks who use pirated software, realize that they use warez. Heck, i've used some warez too..() but I always felt guilty and uncomfortable when using it. So, even if a name and serial no. can be spread easily (not even a crack needed), a user knows it's not legitimate, and feels consciously or subconsciously guilty about it. So, a trial period and a serial no. willl do.

marmin
10-04-2008, 08:30 PM
Unless you do something very creative any premade protection can be broken easily.
So if you want to create pay-software you should think of a method which is as bizarre and unusal as possible.

If you aren't willing to invest such an efford you can also distribute your
shareware app unprotected - its actually the same but less work for you.

actually .. yesterday I came up with this idea: make a USB stick with the game imprinted in it, make it so that the data can not be written to a hard drive or any other storage medium (maybe encrypted??) but only can be read from the usb stick. Then we have a splendid c.p. system. Like a mini cartridge.

waran
10-04-2008, 08:56 PM
As customer I would find this too restrictive and I would never buy your program :)

And I guess its circumventable either (raw-copy + crack).

arthurprs
10-04-2008, 09:13 PM
use your imagination, files + hardware info + encrypt + dummy protection + customer info

Mirage
11-04-2008, 04:29 AM
I'm looking for a simple copy protection unit. It can be very simple, such as a Name-Serial copy protection system, with a trial period.

Generate a license key from name's hash. When user enters his name and key, generate a hash from name, restore hash from key and compare.
Thus the key generation algo is not present in program's code at all, so extract a keygen from it wouldn't be easy.
To implement a trial period you can encrypt current date and write somewhere to hdd/registry at program's first run. If the record is not present - assume that the trial is over.

marmin
14-04-2008, 01:07 PM
I've studied these c.p. components a bit; to me, the main weak point of these systems is:
No matter how genius the encryption or protection method is, there is always the moment you have (for example) :

if ValidationSucceeded = False Then Application.Terminate;

Or

if ValidationSucceeded = False Then Begin
writeln ('Please buy the product');
End;



Yousee? This is easy to hack.

cairnswm
14-04-2008, 02:28 PM
My thoughts have always been to make more than one valid test in the program. So create a Copy Protection object that contains about 50 different copy protection algorithms (each different). Then in 50 different places call a different CP function.

Yes it can be broken like anything else, but by making 50 or 500 different tests the hacker is going to have to do a LOT of extra effort.

czar
14-04-2008, 07:35 PM
You got to ask yourself - will anyone be buying my product? Is it the sort of person who would use a hacked version? If someone was to hack your program would they have been a customer otherwise?

The system I use is: I provide my users with a product number, they go online enter the product number and their details - the online script creates a unique activation code based on some hardware info that it receives automatically from the user. This way I can see who has registered and how many times etc.

We allow users to register up to three times, yes it means they could be giving it to their mates but my analysis of my data shows that most people register once, some people register a desktop and laptop computer. It seems most people are pretty honest. The copy protection could be hacked I suppose but I really can't be bothered with it.

Before implementing copy protection we received very few support requests, afterwards support shot through the roof. I had to tweak the system and make some changes in the presentation to improve it - due to these simple interace changes support for activation has dropped from 1 in 8 to 1 in 300 sales so I am pretty happy that way.