How to protect your software

DrRakha

Dear all,
Any one knows how to protect the software. I mean imagine that you wrote software and you want to protect it from stolen, and you want to create license for your product,

Any help.

isuru

There are many ways,

1. Third Party Software
Many developers use third party applications to help protect their software. As a result many software developers use a combination of protection methods in an effort to thwart hackers. Third party applications are often part of a total protection solution.

Code:

ASProtect - http://www.aspack.com/asprotect.html
SoftwarePassport - http://siliconrealms.com/index.shtml

The downside to relying on a third party is that if the algorithm of the third party application is cracked your software can be at risk. Cracking software specifically made for software protection is a feather in a software pirate's hat and very desirable within their community.

2. Wrappers
Wrappers are applications that go around a software download. The wrapper handles the ecommerce, security access and tracks affiliate referrals.

3. Partial Key Verification
A method popularized by Chris Thornton of Thornsoft Development , partial key verification is a protection scheme that only verifies certain digits of the registration key. The verification digits vary in different versions.

4. Hardware Locking
Hardware locking, locks the software to a specific computer. Hardware locking is used so that a single license can not be used on multiple computers. This is generally unpopular with users because they will often have difficulties if they upgrade their system to a faster system or if they have a hard drive crash and need to replace failing hardware. In addition to the headaches associated with a system crash or upgrade, they will have the additional burden of contacting the software manufacturer so they can get their software to run on their new hardware.

5. Online Activation
Software activation services provide software developers access to a centralized license server on the Internet, preventing software piracy by means of online software activation. Software activation is the process of obtaining a license for your software so that it becomes active and ready to use on your computer. Many customers dislike software activation because it is a form of "phoning home" and though the access is declared, it can still be an inconvenience if the customer is off-line.

6. Separate Trial and Download
Another approach developers take to protect there software is that their trial version is completely different from their registered version. After purchasing, the customer is given a new download location to download the full registered version. The trial version is different than the registered version and it can not be cracked to increase functionality.

The registered download can be time limited and password protected to help minimize its effect in the "wild", should a license be obtained through the use of a fraudulent credit card. FileKicker, a third party file hosting service, has a number of optional controls in place to restrict download access.

7. Dongle Locking
Dongle locking is another form of hardware locking. The software will require the use of an external piece of hardware (either connected to the parallel port or USB port) to "activate" the software. This is unpopular simply because it causes additional points of failure and relies on something that can be easily misplaced or lost.

It is generally difficult to locate lots of detail on software protection. Software developers tend not to post or share their methods of protecting their software in the public. As a result the software conferences and private member only forums tend to be the best places for getting detailed information on the most effective ways to protect software.