FAQ - General

Which product I actually need to protect my applications? PC Guard for .NET or PC Guard for Win32 depending on your needs. More information about choosing appropriate version is available here. Can we protect an unlimited number of programs without further costs? Yes, PC Guard for .NET/Win32 is royalty free. You can protect and distribute unlimited number of your programs. There are no limitations related to number of different programs, number of distributed programs and a way of distribution - no limitations related to protected programs. However, each copy of PC Guard for .NET/Win32 is locked to one specific computer. If you need to use it on more than one computer you will need additional licenses. We are providing discounted pricing for larger quantity orders. Please contact us for more information about volume pricing. Which product I need if I want to automate activation process for my clients? You can choose between Activation center (ACEN) and Activation suite (ACCS) depending on your needs. More information is available here. We are a software reseller company. Do you have special reseller prices? Yes, we have our affiliate program for authorized distributors. Please contact us for further information. Is there a discount for package/site license or for multiple licenses? Yes. Please contact us at sales@sofpro.com for more information. Is technical support free? Each licensed user is entitled to one year of free technical support and free updates from the registration date and access to our online activation center. You can activate, reactivate and transfer your licenses from one computer to another 24/7 in our online activation center. Technical support subscription includes: - 1 Year Technical Support. - 1 Year Software Updates. Technical support subscription ensures you always have the most current release of purchased product during the term of your subscription: - Receive all versions released during your subscription period. - You can use each software release perpetually. However, a tech support subscription guarantees you'll receive new features and bug fixes when they're released. - When subscribed, you will be able to request your unique copy of purchased product 24/7 online in our activation center. Please see our Support SLA for detailed information about tech support. Is any special hardware or software needed at the replicate or mastering house? Protection is applied directly to the applications (EXE/DLL files) and is no way related to software distribution media or mastering and replication process. Can we automate protection process for a group of applications? Yes, protection process can be automated by using command line interface. Please see command line interface chapter in help file for detailed information about available options. Our program is designed to be run from CD only. Can we still protect it? Yes, you can. Protected program can be run directly from CD without coping any files from CD to HD. Will your software prevent copy from CD to CD or DVD? No, we are not offering CD/DVD (or any other) media protection for two reasons: 1) there is no effective media protection today. Anything can be copied with appropriate software sooner or later. 2) you should let your client make legal backup copies of installation CD's. Your client will be able to make backup copies of your software (regardless of distribution method) but he will not we able to use it until he obtains valid activation code from you. Each computer requires different activation code. Protected application can be distributed by any means (cd, dvd, floppy, Internet... ) Should I protect setup.exe? There is no point in protecting setup.exe and in most cases this is even not possible. Such files (usually self-extracting archives) contain integrity checks (against archive damage or virus attack) and will refuse to work after protection. You should protect your program before it is set up with installation program and include protected version in distribution archive (setup.exe). If you really need to protect installation executable you can use NSIS Installer to create installation application (setup.exe). Please note that you need to set CrcCheck option to OFF in your script in order to prevent installer from doing self-integrity checks. Are administrator privileges required for protected program? Can it be run by restricted user? Protected program can be run by both administrator and restricted users. You should set "Enable access for restricted users" option if you want to allow access to restricted users. Application should be installed and activated by user with administrator rights. Once this is done any user will be able to access protected program. Is there a French/Spanish... version of your application? No, there is only English version. However, you can translate default English messages to your language in language editor. Up to 15 languages can be defined in language editor. Multiple languages can be embedded into protected application. What can (and can not) be protected with PC Guard for Win32? PC Guard for Win32 can protect almost any 32bit Windows applications (EXE) and dynamic link libraries (DLL, OCX...). You can not protect document files such as text documents, pictures and similar non-executable files. In general, if you are able to convert your document file to executable file than you will be able to protect it. For example, there are various tools for conversion of video documents such as AVI, MOV or QT to executable to standalone executable applications. What can (and can not) be protected with PC Guard for .NET? PC Guard for .NET can protect both Microsoft .NET framework and Win32 applications. It contains all features of Win32 version + support for Microsoft .NET framework applications. .NET version currently supports all .NET framework releases (1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 beta, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5) and service packs. Supported .NET applications: standard fully managed .NET executable (.EXE) and .DLL (dynamic link library) files. In case of .NET dll files both main application (.exe) and .dll file must be protected. Not supported .NET applications: .NET Active X controls, .NET services, mixed .NET applications (with both managed and unmanaged code) and standalone .NET .DLL applications. What is Activation center (ACEN)? Activation center (ACEN) is ready-made, full featured ASP .NET WEB application for management of clients, programs, orders and licenses with flexible automated activation system for programs protected with PC Guard for .NET V5, PC Guard for Win32 V5 and PC Guard for Win32 V4. ACEN includes full ASP .NET source code and unique copy of AC Generator for .NET (web component for calculation of activation codes licensed to your company). ACEN requires Microsoft ? Windows based WEB server with support for ASP .NET 2.0 and Microsoft ? SQL server. ACEN can be installed even on shared hosting server. More information is available here. What is Activation suite (ACCS)? Activation suite (ACCS) provides you with the tools you need to integrate calculation of activation codes into your application (AC Generator API) and over your Internet connection (AC Generator WEB). It also allows you to securely let other authorized parties such as software vendors calculate activation codes for you (AC Generator) with full control over license management process. Sample source code and scripts are provided to get you started right away.   Activation suite is set of add on tools for main product (PC Guard for Win32/.NET) and is sold separately. You can find more information about Activation suite online here. Executable applications which you can not protect. There are applications which you can not protected with PC Guard for Win32/.NET. Here are some examples: a) Some non-standard applications with internal overlay. Most non-programming application development tools are using internal overlay (additional data located at the end of standard Win32 application). Internal overlay is repositioned after protection and usually can not be located successfully by protected application afterwards. Macromedia Director standalone executables are good example of such files. These files require special support - additional code which will manage internal overlay successfully. PC Guard for .NET/Win32 includes special support for quite a few non-standard applications (see features for full list). PC Guard for .NET/Win32 also includes Advanced Overlay Management (AOM) code. AOM is a new, universal approach for managing protection of non-standard applications with internal overlay. Until AOM, we've been implementing different solution for each of these applications. The main purpose of new AOM code is to provide universal support for non-standard applications. In general, protect your program and try it. If it works than it does not need additional support. Turning OFF "Encrypt internal overlay" option could help for some files with internal overlay which are managed via AOM. If you encounter problems in running files with internal overlay please contact us and we'll try to add special support for your applications. b) Files with internal anti-virus or integrity check functions Such file will generate an error after protection and will refuse to run as file structure is changed after protection - file is encrypted and additional protection code is added to it. If you want to protect such file you should remove integrity check functions. Self-extracting archives, setup files, previously packed or protected executables with integrity check functions are also goods examples of such files. c) Badly linked files with strange header information and files with damaged structure If your application refuses to run and it does not belong to files from a) and b) it probably belongs to this group. Please send us such application so we can make some further analyzing and testing and get back to you with some solution.  Protected file refuses to run. What should I do? If something goes wrong protected file will usually:     a) end its execution with an error or     b) just quit without any error message You can do the following: - Please check if your file can be protected with PC Guard for Win32/.NET at all. See above notes about executable applications you can not protect. - Try turning ON one or all of the following options: - "Compatibility flag 1" option. - "Compatibility flag 2" option. - "Compatibility flag 3" option. - "Enable smart DLL handling" option - Try turning OFF one or all of the following options:     - Code, Data or Resource section encryption     - "Check API hooking" option     - "Hide executable object names" option     - "Check license file position" option     - "Self checking against modifications" option     - "Erase import directory data" option     - "Encrypt import directory data" option     - "Anti-dumping protection enabled" option     - "Encrypt internal overlay" option (for files with internal overlay) Additional tips: - Turn ON "Compatibility flag 1" option for Adobe Photoshop plugins. - For Borland C++/Delphi files try turning off data section encryption. - For MS Visual C++ MFC projects try using "Use MFC in a static library" option instead of "Use MFC in a shared DLL". - For ActiveX (COM) DLL try turning off "Hide executable object names" option. - EX4J Applications: Turn OFF AOM (Advanced overlay management) option. - Protecting a DLL with "Check program filename" option set could sometimes trigger false warning. Turn this option off if you encounter such problem. - If Sound Blaster PCI 64 sound card is installed on Win9x system try disabling joystick port. - If Zone Alarm PRO 3 is installed and active in memory update it to the latest version. One particular release of this program was triggering Kernel errors.   - If debugger is active in memory unload it before running protected application. If protected file still refuses to run please send it to us at support@sofpro.com with detailed error report so we can make further analyzing and testing. Internet explorer is not able to open help (.CHM) file ? If you are getting 'Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page you requested.' error message when opening user manual please try the following: 1. Right-click the manual.chm file, and then click Properties. 2. Click Unblock. This issue is caused by the Microsoft security update MS05-026. Additionally, you can download this tool and fix almost all problems regarding html help files. Is your software protection system compatible with Windows Vista? Yes. Protected applications will work just fine under Windows Vista. Please note that you need to set "Enable access for restricted users" option in order to be able run protected applications from standard (restricted) user accounts under Vista.