shareware question

Factual Questions
1

I know a lot of you will think me despicable for asking this question, so go ahead and preach if you want. But I’ll ask anyway -

Can anyone tell me how to reset the registration feature on a piece of software I downloaded today? This looks like a pretty good program, but the evaluation period was only 2 HOURS (counting from the time it is first installed) and I haven’t really had any time to evaluate the thing before it’s cut off. I understand the guy needs to be reimbursed for his work, but for chrissakes, I’m not sending him $50 until I get more of a chance to look at it. This is ridiculous!

There is a warning that the registration feature is “foolproof” and it’s right. This is one of the first pieces of shareware that I’ve noticed that won’t even run again after being reinstalled from the net. My assumption is that it has left a cookie-like program somewhere on my computer, but damned if i can figure out where it is. I tried searching for files created around the time I installed the program, but that didn’t work…

My assumption is that

2

What operating system are you running? If MSWindows, is there something in the Windows registry?

3

You could install it, set your clock several hours back and then run the software. Might not work because I have seen software that can get around it, but it’s always worth a try…

4

The program doesn’t set a cookie. It merely writes a line in the registry, And as for “foolproof,” it is to laugh.

E-mail me the name of the program and I’ll tell you what you want to know.

Voted as the poster you’d most like to meet.

Please don’t tell me why.

5

Im with Wally, it probably wrote a registry entry that won’t change after an uninstall.

That means you could install it on another computer or find that entry it wrote to the registry & ummm change that :slight_smile:

6

Delete the program, if it has an uninstall, run it, then run REGCLEAN.EXE. REGCLEAN should be available from msn.com

This sig not Y2K compliant. Happy 1900.

7

RegClean won’t do it. It only cleans out HKEY CLASSES_ROOT.

The line will be written in HKEY CURRENT_USER under the Software key, or possibly HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Or even both.

A word of caution: DO NOT mess with the Registry unless you know what you’re doing. Your machine could crash or render some of your programs inoperable.

Voted as the poster you’d most like to meet.

Please don’t tell me why.

8

The trial period is a part of the evaluation. If you don’t like his evaluation period, don’t buy the software.

Trust WallyM7. Don’t mess with your Registry unless you know what you’re doing.

He’s the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor, shouting ‘All Gods are Bastards!’

9

WallyM7 I am sure has it nailed, right down to don’t mess with the registry unless you KNOW what you are doing.

My additional 2 cents:

Perhaps the fact that Mr. Brilliant shareware programmer gave you a test period of all of 2 hours says something about his programming skills. Not to mention what his service skills might be, should you encounter problems as a registred user. Or what the upgrade policy is likely to be…

Neh?

10

Thanks guys. The first time I messed with my registry a couple of years ago, I screwed things up big time. I learned enough while trying to fix it then that I was able to go in last night and find the proper piece that had been added by this program and deleted it. Everything works fine now (I have a fresh two hours) - including my computer.

Thanks for the help.