Securing the Application from Theft

[jsanders]

Well after nine months of intensive development I have completed my first application for distribution.

Now the hard part.

It needs to be nearly impossible for people to make unauthorized copies.

I'm thinking I would like to do some kind of internet authorization but I don’t have a clue.

It's definitely going be a stand alone product, not requiring the customer to have Access installed on their PC.

Any thoughts?

 

[WindSailor]

Well a MDE isn't going to stop other people from copying and pasting your application so it is going to have to have additional protection.

There was a sample here floating around about writing registry entries as an example of one form of protection and you could expand from there...
That is if you want to write your own.

There are commercial applications that will protect your Access application and prices vary according to what you want done.

I can't obviously tell you what I am using, but I will tell you that I did buy a commercial app.

Here are some examples:

http://www.zappersoftware.com/home.html

http://www.peterssoftware.com/ka.htm

There are others that support Internet Activation, but cost more.
I haven't done any current searches on Software Protection, just be sure they support Access. Most of them are geared toward .Net or VB apps.

I would honestly take your time researching this and thoroughly test it with your app and see how it installs on other machines.

Edit---------

Some of the higher end application companies will also manage or handle distribution of license keys, downloads, media etc. for an additional fee usually a percentage of your application costs... something to think about.

 

[jsanders]

Thank Rick,

It’s very daunting, I spent 9 months on that app and by the time I get to Version 2 I’ll have a year in it. Sure would hate to have it stolen.

 

[WindSailor]

True.

There are some applications that are 'reasonably' priced. Some I think operate on the 'fear' tactic and I feel are simply waaaaaaaaaaay over priced.

There are some you can combine together with others to get the 'ultimate' package, like layering encryption etc.

I would make a list of what you want including all of the program functions, support Access, VB, VB.Net etc. in one package.

They usually support trials (1 day to unlimited number of days), number of uses, lease options (unlimited time options), combinations of both or all, unlocking functionality within your application (free - personal - professional etc.), version upgrades etc.

Hardware binding or locking so your application is bound to the computer it was installed into, similar to Microsoft and beyond.

Some include options like license transfers when your application is hardware bound to their machine(s). And some offer network protection for monotoring multiple instances of your application on a network.

And like I mentioned before, some companies will let you use their website, offer a downloadable site for your application, handle license fees and distribution of them, give you a monthly statement and check etc.

The list just goes on and on.

You should be able to buy something like this (that includes all of the options above) for way under $1000, maybe even half of that.

I have seen prices of upwards of $15,000 for their 'ultimate protection'.

HTH

Edit---
The whole idea I think is to have it with the proper protection and make it user friendly so that if they do copy it and give it to someone else it is still locked. That is just good advertisement.

 

[Rich]

It's definitely going be a stand alone product, not requiring the customer to have Access installed on their PC.

How are they going to use it then?

 

[jsanders]

How are they going to use it then?

With the Access Run time software.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/842004/en-us

I think you need a net password to view the page

 

[Rich]

Then you'd better make sure your Error handling is bullet proof before even contemplating that step.

 

[jsanders]

Then you'd better make sure your Error handling is bullet proof before even contemplating that step.

Yup, the first hundred or so I'll be installing locally, hopefully most of the bugs will be killed before its ready to distribute to VARs.

It’s a very powerful app, it is designed specifically for subcontractors in the home building market. Soon I’ll have a Flash version on my site. I’ll post a link when it’s done.

 

[Rich]

Assuming you can drag subcontractors into the 21st cent.

 

[Oldsoftboss]

Assuming you can drag subcontractors into the 21st cent.

Gotta get them to the 20th century first.

 

[RuralGuy]

Here's an approach that one MVP has chosen:
Copy protection or how to safely distribute a demo Microsoft Access Application

 

[jsanders]

Here's an approach that one MVP has chosen:
Copy protection or how to safely distribute a demo Microsoft Access Application

Thanks Rural Guy.

 

[RuralGuy]

Glad to help. A difficult problem faced by anyone developing software, including dear old M$.

 

[jsanders]

Thanks Guys,

Yall've (is that a word) been very helpful.

 

[shadow9449]

Well after nine months of intensive development I have completed my first application for distribution.

Now the hard part.

It needs to be nearly impossible for people to make unauthorized copies.

Any thoughts?

See if my solution in this thread helps:

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=95390

There is only one slight qualification I want to make. VB or VBA can only store and retrieve from the HKUSERS > Software > VB and VBA Program Settings. In order to read and write to anywhere in the registry that you please (to make it more difficult to find your security settings), you need to use the Windows API. If you dig around the net, you can find wrapper functions that will make this task much easier.

In the meantime, it may be sufficient to just use the VB and VBA Program Settings and make it obscure enough that the user will not want to tinker with it.

Let me know if this helps

SHADOW