How to secure an Access app

[Scott]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for info on how to "secure" an MS Access application that I
might consider deploying in the future.

By secure, I'm really interested in anti-piracy protection that I could
build into the app to prevent the app being copied/run without my knowledge
and perhaps falling into the hands of my competitors.

For example:
1) Preventing the app from being copied from one PC to another.
2) Setting a "self destruct date" on the app, disabling features after a
certain specified date.
3) Perhaps being able to run the app from a "Live CD/USB Drive" saving data
files to the HD that are secure.

And any other suggestions you might have.

In particular, I'm looking for articles suggesting methods of doing the
above, examples of use, peoples experiences, pros and cons.

Many thanks in advance,
Scott

--
Scott

Xbox Live Gamertag: scottmorrison
Xbox Live Games: Top Spin, PGR2, RS3, RTCW, CounterStrike, Tetris

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 11:02:02 -0000, "Scott" <no****@nospam.com> wrote:

Near perfect protection can be achieved with a hardware dongle. I've
used this one in the past: http://www.ealaddin.com/hasp/

Depending on how much you want to annoy your users, you can also make
the software expire after a while, upon which users have to contact
you again (and send another check?) to get a new activation key.

-Tom.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for info on how to "secure" an MS Access application that I
might consider deploying in the future.

By secure, I'm really interested in anti-piracy protection that I could
build into the app to prevent the app being copied/run without my knowledge
and perhaps falling into the hands of my competitors.

For example:
1) Preventing the app from being copied from one PC to another.
2) Setting a "self destruct date" on the app, disabling features after a
certain specified date.
3) Perhaps being able to run the app from a "Live CD/USB Drive" saving data
files to the HD that are secure.

And any other suggestions you might have.

In particular, I'm looking for articles suggesting methods of doing the
above, examples of use, peoples experiences, pros and cons.

Many thanks in advance,
Scott

[Scott]

Tom van Stiphout wrote:

Near perfect protection can be achieved with a hardware dongle. I've
used this one in the past: http://www.ealaddin.com/hasp/
That's really intersting. An approach I had never even considered. I'll look
into it a bit more.
I assume you have had experience of using these dongles with MS Access based
apps in particular?
Depending on how much you want to annoy your users, you can also make
the software expire after a while, upon which users have to contact
you again (and send another check?) to get a new activation key.

I was thinking about this approach. One thing I couldn't fathom was: can
people not get round "self destruct dates" by adjusting their system clock?

Many thanks

--
Scott

Xbox Live Gamertag: scottmorrison
Xbox Live Games: Top Spin, PGR2, RS3, RTCW, CounterStrike, Tetris

[Scott]

Tom van Stiphout wrote:

Near perfect protection can be achieved with a hardware dongle. I've
used this one in the past: http://www.ealaddin.com/hasp/

BTW, do you have any information on pricing?

TIA

--
Scott

Xbox Live Gamertag: scottmorrison
Xbox Live Games: Top Spin, PGR2, RS3, RTCW, CounterStrike, Tetris

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 16:04:04 -0000, "Scott" <no****@nospam.com> wrote:

This was indeed for an Access 2.0 application several years back.
Contact the company for current pricing.
-Tom.

Tom van Stiphout wrote:

Near perfect protection can be achieved with a hardware dongle. I've
used this one in the past: http://www.ealaddin.com/hasp/

BTW, do you have any information on pricing?

TIA