Quote Originally Posted by Traveler
If they are connected to the internet, the application checks for a newer version, at the same time it checks the server date and time, realises its a trial version and disables the application.
Wouldn't ZoneAlarm (or any other firewall) give me a warning and the option whether the program is allowed to proceed with the connection? I could choose not to connect.
That's true, but one thing I have been thinking about is using other applications to bypass the firewall.

eg. Shell IEXPLORE.EXE, send a url to it passing the reg number as a query string, then read the text returned using the GETTEXT message or similar?