Registry Key Orphan

3 Aug 2006 9:48 PM

eSolTec, Inc. 501(c)(3)

Thank you in advance for any and all assistance.

Is there a way to create a registry key, but orphan it from the program that
created it?

Reason: Create a key, but not associate it with the program, so that the
program can check for that key to see if the product has been installed and
stop a second installation or illegal installation.

If not orphan, can you encrypt the Key so that only your program can decrypt
it?

Michael

4 Aug 2006 1:15 PM

Chris Dunaway

eSolTec wrote:

> Is there a way to create a registry key, but orphan it from the program that
> created it?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'orhpan' but you can use the Registry
classes to create a registry key practically anywhere in the registry.
I don't believe there is any way to determine which program created any
particular registry key.

>
> Reason: Create a key, but not associate it with the program, so that the
> program can check for that key to see if the product has been installed and
> stop a second installation or illegal installation.

That would not be an effective way to stop an illegal installation.
All someone would have to do would be to use the registry monitoring
app found on SysInternals.Com to watch registry activity.

>
> If not orphan, can you encrypt the Key so that only your program can decrypt
> it?

You can certainly encrypt the contents of the registry key but I don't
know about actually encrypting the key itself.

4 Aug 2006 1:56 PM

eSolTec, Inc. 501(c)(3)

Chris,

Thank you for your response. There is away to find all registry keys when
software is installed. I have a technical program that I've been developing
for nearly a year now and one of the components is a uninstaller, that finds
all registry associated keys to a specific program installation. This is so
that a tech can delete program files, once the program has been surgically
removed from the registry. Example: spyware that hijacks the winsock2 when
it's removed, may have registry entries to reinstall, on reboot or restore,
when the computer reboots. Viruses may have variants that will install, when
the parent is removed etc.

What I'm trying to do, is create a registry entry that gives three dates.

A rollback date, in case someone attempts to rollback their computer clock
to attempt to extend their license demo.

An install date, so I have a start date to time the demo to get the end date
of the demo and the expiration of the beta that will be hard coded in each
demo.

--
Michael Bragg, President
eSolTec, Inc.
a 501(C)(3) organization
MS Authorized MAR
looking for used laptops for developmentally disabled.

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"Chris Dunaway" wrote:

> eSolTec wrote:
> > Is there a way to create a registry key, but orphan it from the program that
> > created it?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by 'orhpan' but you can use the Registry
> classes to create a registry key practically anywhere in the registry.
> I don't believe there is any way to determine which program created any
> particular registry key.
>
> >
> > Reason: Create a key, but not associate it with the program, so that the
> > program can check for that key to see if the product has been installed and
> > stop a second installation or illegal installation.
>
> That would not be an effective way to stop an illegal installation.
> All someone would have to do would be to use the registry monitoring
> app found on SysInternals.Com to watch registry activity.
>
> >
> > If not orphan, can you encrypt the Key so that only your program can decrypt
> > it?
>
> You can certainly encrypt the contents of the registry key but I don't
> know about actually encrypting the key itself.
>
>

4 Aug 2006 8:07 PM

Chris Dunaway

eSolTec wrote:

> What I'm trying to do, is create a registry entry that gives three dates.
>
> A rollback date, in case someone attempts to rollback their computer clock
> to attempt to extend their license demo.
>
> An install date, so I have a start date to time the demo to get the end date
> of the demo and the expiration of the beta that will be hard coded in each
> demo.

What I meant is that using the RegMon tool found at SysInternals.Com,
someone can watch the registry while installing your program and see
where the key is located.

For trial versions, I think it is safest for the parts of the program
that restricted to not even be included in the exe. That way, there is
no possibility of a hack. Or if you're wanting a fully functional
demo, then a web service that the app checks to see if it is still
licensed.

That's a tough problem but there should be plenty of discussions on the
web about it.

Good luck.

Chris