There are a few easy things you can do to make it harder to crack. * Obfuscate module/method/variable names, instead of a method like "RegistrationCheck(username as string, serial as string)" use something like "PreferenceStore(str1 as string, str2 as string)" or some other non-obvious name
* Set up a bunch of dummy methods with obvious names, make them look fairly easy to crack. And remember to call them somewhere in your app so they will get compiled. The more time someone spends trying to figure out how to crack your program, the less likely it will be done. * Don't use a static serial number. If your serial number scheme requires people to enter an email address and their full name (as you would receive in a paypal payment for example) it will deter people from "sharing" the serial number publicly. At least until someone cracks your serial generator. * Obfuscate registration related text as this hints at where you registration code is in the binary. "thank you" strings, "wrong serial number" strings etc. Any kind of obfuscation is better than none. Another idea is to use a registration server and have the program check with that server to make sure the registration information is acceptable. Personally I think this is a bad idea in the long run. It punishes those without an internet connection, and years after your company has gone out of business, changed hands, etc, people won't be able to use the software that they paid for. Hope that helps, ~ Tomis --- Robert Carroll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > I've been spending some time recently trying to build a tighter > registration scheme to control access to the demo version of my > application. This has led to some concern over what information can > be read easily from the compiled application file. ie. serial numbers > etc. > > ... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives of this list here: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
