Software Protection Solutions

Software protection is need of the day. It is estimated that about 30% revenue is lost due to piracy but these figures fail to explain the fact that piracy also increases legal sales. Director of a software company told me they learn about some companies using their pirated software but they did not took any action. The director was not surprised when he received order from the same company next year. He said in the absence of a workable demo or just to try full features before making a purchase decision many people use pirated versions. This does not mean that software companies should not protect their products but only mean that a legal demonstrable product should be made available to customer for evaluation for a sufficient period of time.

So let us learn how to protect software.

1. Third Party Software

Many developers use third party applications to help protect their software. As a result many software developers use a combination of protection methods in an effort to thwart hackers. Third party applications are often part of a total protection solution. The downside to relying on a third party is that if the algorithm of the third party application is cracked your software can be at risk.

2. Wrappers

Wrappers are applications that go around a software download. The wrapper handles the ecommerce, security access and tracks affiliate referrals.

3. Partial Key Verification

A partial key verification is a protection scheme that only verifies certain digits of the registration key. The verification digits vary in different versions.

4. Hardware Locking (generally Hard Disc)

Hardware locking, locks the software to a specific computer hardware, it could be hard disc, sound card, processor, graphics card etc. Hardware locking is used so that a single license can not be used on multiple computers. This is generally unpopular with users because they will often have difficulties if they upgrade their system to a faster system, change hard drive, face system crash. User will have the additional burden of contacting the software publisher so they can get their software to run again.

5. Online Activation

Online activation services provide software developers access to a centralized license server on the Internet, preventing software piracy by means of online software activation. Software activation is the process of obtaining a license for your software so that it becomes active and ready to use on your computer. Users dislike software activation because it is a form of "Call-back" and it will be additional head-ache if you do not have internet connection on the computer on which you want software to be installed.

6. Separate Trial and Download

Many developers release different trial version and full versions. This requires users to uninstall trial and reinstall full version.

7. Dongle Locking

Dongle locking is another form of hardware locking. The software will require the use of an external piece of hardware (either connected to the parallel port or USB port) to "activate" the software. This is very-popular among developers because it is easy to incorporate and easy to deliver. Users always dislike anything extra.

8. USB Drive Lock

USB drives also has unique manufacturer identification numbers like hard discs. Some companies are using USB pen drives as locks. The benefit is that you can continue to use USB drive for data storage. Additionally entire software can be provided in the pen drive with data in it. Imagine taking account ledgers or custom designs (like interior design projects, land escaping project etc.) with you when meeting a customer and updating details their it self. USB Drive Lock solutions will be very popular with users as will as developers.

Having a proper software delivery system is also a requirement in International Standards like ISO 9001, ISO 27001, BS17799 etc..

Submitting your content to article directories

Today, the Internet is definitely the largest global source of information that is still in a constant growing process. There's always new content needed to feed this growth, and the rates at which new content is created are always on the rise. The purpose of this content could be quite diverse, from advertising certain products, to sharing opinions and informing other people on different subjects and aspects of life. But regardless of this purpose, the main intent driving the creation of new content is attracting visitors to specific webpages that are hosting this very content. There is a vast array of specific sources from where to get original content for your site. Some webmasters choose to have their own in house content creators that would create and tailor the content specifically and exclusively for them. Others use the services of special companies, who create and distribute content among users, providing services only in that specific domain. Some masters even choose to go with less original content, minimizing their expenditures in that field. There is also a group of masters who are very interested in understanding the mechanisms by which the info is distributed throughout the web. One of such powerful mechanisms are article databases. These sites are created with the sole purpose of article distribution. Authors are posting their articles, which then can be used for a fee or on a free-pay basis by a site owner if the content is relevant to their needs. Such a form of article exchange is really beneficial for different groups of content distribution chain participants. And you don't have to be a doctor in economics to see that it is a good way to save your money and get high quality original content at the same time. What's there for the author in this article exchange scheme? Getting a good spotlight through a major Internet portal is really difficult for many authors, and this also refers to news and event writers. Many of successful journalists, writers and bloggers you see at major sites have probably started with article submission directories too, as it is a very fruitful marketplace where original and talented copywriters can be spotted fairly easy. If there's a good demand for the content you create in article directories then you are on a right way to success. For the business owner, an article directory is a great opportunity to promote products or services. If a business owner is able to submit relevant and helpful information on a certain subject that would raise the credibility and expertise of the business showing profound knowledge in the domain. For example, it's always more substantial and credible to have an article about lawnmowers written by an actual lawnmower manufacturer with vast experience in the domain rather than a college student having only the power of search engines to support him. As you can see, article directories are a very useful and effective way of exchanging content on the web. In fact, this is exactly how Internet was intended in the first place. And by visiting sites like host-my-post.com you will clearly understand why such websites are getting more popular each day.

The essence of advertising through a blog

Many websites selling products or offering services online have switched to using blog promotion for advertising their offers today. Even such a well established domain of Internet promotion as affiliate marketing is using the benefits of these activities. Numerous websites and personal users employ blogs in order to attract more traffic to their sites and generate higher income. Sometimes the ease of using blog promotion techniques makes it look like a magic wand for maximizing income. And partially it's true, especially when you are aware of the following promotion techniques: Blogs for personal or business use Creating a specific blog for business purposes can help accumulate substantial traffic increase in various ways. Personalizing the blog by providing a biased opinion on a subject or a product is the best way to create discussion and promote potential customers. For example, if the blog is aimed on advertising certain electronic devices, it would be nice to provide detailed information, revues, comparisons and personal opinions on such products, going more personal and more detailed than a typical product support page would be. The key to success here is gaining credibility among the readers of your blog. Try to be as honest as possible, providing positive and negative feedback on products that truly deserve it. If readers are getting only pure advertising at your webpage then they would soon find another place to get information from. In such a way, creating plain advertisement blogs is not the smartest idea for businesses. A much better option is to run a corporate blog that would reflect all the information about your business, making it less formal and closer to customers and potential consumers. Writing about company achievements, events, giveaways, sharing some insider information is a great way to attract users and establish a dialogue with potential and existing clients. In this way, users really feel that the business is interested in their customers and is willing to get feedback, going over the standard "we sell - you buy" form of seller-buyer relations. Generating traffic through blog advertisement There are many websites out there that actually offer businesses already existing and running blogs for promoting their products and services. Sites like host-my-post.com can be a very fruitful source of relevant blogs, the authors of which would be interested in promoting your product through the means of their blogs. And in some cases these blogs have phenomenal unique page views and frequent readers - a potential customer group so vast that it would be really stupid to not use it for promoting your products. Most blog owners are well aware of their advertising potential for businesses and have special fees forblog advertisement. The prices mainly depend on the number of readers and the relevance to the actual blog concept. Let's agree, that it would be weird to promote sex toys through a blog dedicated to heavy metal music, right? So if you have decided to go with blog advertisement, it's really important to find relevant blogs where your products and services would fit in organically without contradicting the actual idea of the blog.