BR>Hello All!

BR>Some Shareware programs I have seen have the ability to
  >check if you expired the evaluation time. Now I have
  >noticed that they don't change the program and that they
  >don't write something in some .ini file. Where are they
  >saving that information.
  >I am writing some shareware programs of my own and I think
  >that this could be very intresting to force people to
  >register.

I would (I've never written "Crippled or Nagged" Shareware) place it in
some crucial file that the user can't mess with intelligently.  I would
definetly NOT place it in an INI something like
"REGISTRATION","USAGENUMBER".  Make it something
sneaky.  I would place
it a data file or something that my program saves in its own proprietary
style.  Or, if you place it in an INI file, encode it somehow that the
user will not be able to "fix" it.  ie.  Take the date they first run it
(in the pure numerical format not mm-dd-yy) and modify it somehow,
perhaps multiply it by 2 or 3.  Save it in your data files.  When they
run it again, load the number back in, divide it by the 2 or 3 and see
if they've used it long enough.  IF, the number is not equally divisible
by the number you choose...  KILL YOUR PROGRAM and give them some little
screen about the Copyright laws and how they shouldn't play games with
them!  (Or something along those lines!)

This is only basic things you could do, but if you're going to do it, do
it someway that people won't break into and change without your programs
knowledge!  (You could even save the figured date under several places
(hide them though!).  Even further, you could add a number to the
figured date, say my birthday 01191976 and save it under a DIFFERENT
location.  Then, when the user runs the program again, check to make
sure that BOTH occurences of the date are EQUAL.

Again, this is basic stuff that you can employee to keep your program
secure from hackers (and they are out there!)

Michael Douglass
___
 .Mike's Mail Internet:   MICHAEL.DOUGLASS{at}LCHANCE.SAT.TX.US
                   
--- Maximus/2 2.01wb