Serial Keys

[Peter]

I am looking for some info on serial keys.

We have developed an application for use inside the company and I would like
to add some kind of key so if someone copies to this program to unauthorized
computer it will not run. I realize that any key can be cracked, but this
is just to prevent an average user from copying this program.

A scenario where user would have to send an ID or some serial number and IT
department would return a Key would work. Are there any examples of this in
C#, or does anyone has any other ideas?
Thanks
Peter

[Brian Patterson]

In the past I've generated a hash of the hard drives serial number along
with the netbios name of the machine. Then break the hash into 4 sets of
characters to read to the user. This works "fairly" well and ensures the
keys are on a per-machine basis and that keys can't be passed around.
Again - for simple users this is fine but I wouldn't recommend this for an
application with wide distribution.

Brian Patterson
http://dotnet.redeyepos.com
http://brian.redeyepos.com

"Peter" <pc*****@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

I am looking for some info on serial keys.

We have developed an application for use inside the company and I would
like to add some kind of key so if someone copies to this program to
unauthorized computer it will not run. I realize that any key can be
cracked, but this is just to prevent an average user from copying this
program.

A scenario where user would have to send an ID or some serial number and
IT department would return a Key would work. Are there any examples of
this in C#, or does anyone has any other ideas?
Thanks
Peter