Time to back up and start over

[MarcP]

I have an applicatio that I would like to make into a 30 day trial version. This software asks a series of questions, you answer the questions and the results page pops up on your browser. I have tried various date functions, countDown, setTimeout and a host of other functions but still no luck.It's time to back up and start over so I'm asking everybody in this forum; How would YOU approach this situation??Ideally, I would like to be able have the software be totally functional for a period of 30 days from the date that the user downloaded it, then after day 30 redirected to a different page.I'm not asking anyone to write the code for me I would just like to know how any of you would approach this.I have posted several items here, some have been answered (thank you) and some have not.If it would be helpful to see the application then here's the link http://igorrecommends.com/ColorFormulator/Control.exe You don't need to answer the questions to get to the results page.I have become so confused about this that I think that a fresh approach is now the answer.Thank you for all of your anticipated helpM~

[Little Goat]

is this Javascript? you might have the wrong section.Do you have some code that you have tried, or can you give a link to the page where the questions are asked?how I would approach this situation is write the expiration into the application.

[Webworldx]

I'm guessing you're using Visual Basic or equivalent to write the software? Why not just write the date of install into an .ini file and check that every time the exe loads? If it's after the 30 day period, redirect them somewhere else.Obviously that's a simple idea - you'd want to maybe encrypt the date so it's not easy to find and tamper with

[MarcP]

I'm guessing you're using Visual Basic or equivalent to write the software? Why not just write the date of install into an .ini file and check that every time the exe loads? If it's after the 30 day period, redirect them somewhere else.Obviously that's a simple idea - you'd want to maybe encrypt the date so it's not easy to find and tamper with

I'm using a compiler to write this and how do I write an .ini file??

[MarcP]

is this Javascript? you might have the wrong section.Do you have some code that you have tried, or can you give a link to the page where the questions are asked?how I would approach this situation is write the expiration into the application.

Thanks Lg, the link was mentioned in my original post and I've been tryin to figure out how to write the expiration in the app. any suggestions???

[boen_robot]

Different programmers have been trying to protect their software, and they never succeeded. If your software gets popular enough, it will attract skillful people known as "crackers" that will crack the defence method you've used and redistribute a patch (a.k.a. crack) that would be the exe file of your same application with the defence took off.As for a simple, yet relatively good defence mechanism, I suggest that during the installation, you create a file of your own format, unreadable by any application, orther then yours. This file must then contain something... ideally a UNIX timestamp. During the installation, you would also write a registry entry having this same timestamp as it's value.When the application is executed, it should first check if the UNIX timestamp of your file is the same as the content inside it (to ensure the file is not actually a false copy). Then compare the registry one with the application one. If the registry one has a larger value then the application one, but not larger then 30 days time, then the application is exeucted and the registry timestamp's value is changed to the current date and time's timestamp.Note that a UNIX timestamp is different then a date-time string. It's the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on January 1, 1970.As for how to implement all this... I have no idea. I'm not a C++/VB whiz .