Software that expires in 3 days etc... How??

[benboy52]

Hi all, I am making a piece of software and I want people to be able to download it for free, but then pay for it after a 3 days free trial. Maybe a prompt for a registration key is asked?

Any ideas on how to do this, ie a service recommendation?

[OBonio]

We use Xheo licensing on our software.

If you want a free solution, then storing date of installation in the registry in some form of obfuscated way (so the user couldn't easily hack the registry).

Then, each time the software runs, check the registry!

[flubber]

None but I know many people simply change their computer date to get round such a thing. If you post such a question here then the answers may be far too useful for those who don't like to spend money to purchase software. That's bad for the sellers - and I personally like to try for up to a month (or 5 items out of a reg cleaner, or two copy dvd's ) before I buy, but I would say maybe a password for the purchased key and a link to any duplicated passwords, so you can pick up on hackers or shared programs? I think its probably going to be "get money-give password-record password- password only to be used once" situation that will keep you safe.