>My boss is not too happy with the methodology we are using to protect our vertical market app from copying and distribution to nonpaying customers. Basically we have an encrypted file that matches certain fields in a 'company file'. The app is forms intensive and the information in the company file prints on many legal documents. If the user changes any of the company info without our permission it shuts him down. To change they have to call us and we give them a code which updates the encrypted file with the new info. Our problem is that if a customer copies the program and then calls in with a request for a code we really do not have any way of knowing if this is a pirated copy or not before we issue the code. Many customers do not have internet access or do not know how to use it. Can anyone suggest a better method. Thanks!

One thing you can do is to print the company name on all reports. In some cases at least, this would render the system useless for pirated copies: it doesn't look very professional if another company name appears on a report. In some cases, it may not even be legally valid - on an invoice, for instance.

Hilmar.