Licence idea

To possibly save any more frustration, time wasting etc with licencing issues, here's a suggestion that hopefully "might" help everyone

Why can't each persons Prevx have a unique code imbedded into it on the first contact with your server. And/or encrypted and stashed away seperately on our HD.

So even if we uninstalled/reinstalled, your server would know who we are, and how many installs we had done, and auto allow up to the maximum allowed.

 

What? One cannot uninstall and re-install Prevx as many times as one likes/or have to?

Hmm..this is getting worse and worse

 

There is no issue to install and reinstall on the same OS as many times as you want the problem comes when you reformat and install the OS often or put it on a different machine! But this is what I said in the other thread if you need to reformat and install a clean copy of the OS: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1748289&postcount=15

HTH,

TH

 

We had thought of this before as well, but unfortunately there are a few issues with it:

Firstly, uninstalling/reinstalling is ever a problem (as TH has said ) - you can uninstall/reinstall as many times as you like on the same system, but if you reformat the PC or reinstall the OS, that will break the license. From there, you can use MyPrevx to deactivate the PC if needed.

However, back onto your point - trying to store the hardware id onto the hardware is unfortunately imperfect. If the user was to then format their PC, the code would be erased anyway, and trying to store data outside of the operating system could potentially break files if the data is then used by the OS (the TDL3 rootkit tries to do this as well ).

Additionally, we don't trust any data stored on the PC itself for calculating the PC's identity - we calculate it on the fly and store it only encrypted in memory. This prevents someone from going through and cracking the software by just replacing the data or causing it to impersonate another agent by replacing the entry as well.

We're certainly open to this discussion - let me know if you have any other thoughts

 

Isn't it possible to use somekind of verification through email with the help of MyPrevx? So instead of limiting the amount of activations, you instead send a verification email to the specified emailadress which the user must confirm to reset his license.

 

The issue isn't really with MyPrevx and verifying that the user is really who they say they are (they already would have gone through the login process). We still have to limit the number of verifications because users who want to abuse their Prevx licenses can just sign up for MyPrevx and deactivate the license each time they want to clean up a PC.

 

@ Triple Helix

I see, thanks

@ PrevxHelp

OK no problem, just threw out a few random ideas that occurred to me

 

How about raising the limit of activations by just a couple ?

This might cover a substantial proportion of those reinstalling through necessity who only find they need to do it once or twice over a period of time - and those testers & tweakers who reinstall regularly can still have their license manually altered as it is now, who are presumably fewer in number by default ?

Just an idea, as I thought that might cut down on the frustrations of some at least

 

I got it

 

How about charging the users a few € or $ extra (and by that I mean a few), and you get a VIP license which you can de-active a few more times in MyPrevx?

 

Definitely a valid suggestion (same goes to Fad as well ) - I'm not sure how many activations we allow in MyPrevx at the moment but that could be the source of the frustration - allowing just a couple more reactivations could save quite a few hassles (although at that point you can always just send the license to myself or one of our support team and we'll get it reset for you )

 

Excellent support, Joe.

I think either increasing the numbers of resets the user can do for free or at least offer the user to add a few more $/€ in order go get an increased number of resets, for those who need to re-format often.

Being able de-activate old install on Windows after re-formating yourself is important, as it's very easy and practical. My thoughts go to those outside Wilders who experience the issues with licensing. Of course, they can contact your support, but some might not.

 

Ahh, now I understand why I just recently got this response when asking to deactivate one of "my" PCs:

"Please note we will only deactivate/reactivate machines a limited amount of times. We do this to protect yourself and ourselves from theft of a license. If you require cleanup for multiple machine please purchase further users on the license or further new licenses."

It's more to protect yourself ! But let me ask a question: do you really believe you're going to sell more licenses in the long run by imposing this restriction ? I admit that one or another who can't cheat you is going to spend *another* couple of bucks. But does that really pay off in the end ? Or isn't it just annoying a lot of honest customers who never thought about cheating ?

I bougt a license about a year ago and extended it to 6 PCs in the meantime. No, I never have played the game: deactivate this pc, activate and clean that one and vice versa. Even if it might seem so: According my.prevx Manage PC I've Successfully Deleted 15 machines in the past.

But let's assume I have cheated you a couple of times in the past? Say I met an infected friend and cleaned up his pc with Prevx. He's a potential prevx customer now, b/c your solution proved to be working ! Have you lost any money in the end ? Would I have cleaned up the PC with prevx if it wasn't possible to cheat by buying another license? Maybe. But is this maybe enough to impose a limit ? Rather not.

Other example: say I have 3 PCs at home and don't want to spend money for all of them. I might use one license to clean them all if this was possible. I could save some bucks with it, why not ! It sounds somewhat tempting ;-) Does the limit make sense here? Maybe. Yes because I might extend my license sooner or later because of the measure and no, because I might switch to another solution (eg free or one that lets me continue to cheat). And if I choose the second option you may even lose the money you might not have lost if it was possible to cheat !
The other thing to consider is: I don't get realtime protection without being activated. The resident guard is the reason I've bought Prevx. I don't trust the removal routines anyway, I rather restore to a former state.

But the strongest argument against these limits is: a honest customer is not going to cheat even if he's able to do so in the majority of the cases. Assuming that the vast majority of your paying customers are honest, what do you really gain by limiting the amount of activations per license ? More money or just a lot more support tickets and annoyed customers ?

 

This is quite an assumption from what we've seen... it honestly puts a completely different perspective on society as a whole when we see some of the people in our support inbox

However, I do suspect your case has been handled incorrectly - if you're still having problems with your license key, please send it to me in a PM and I'll get it reset for you

 

I don't really care for the license thing either, but I understand why it is done that way. A lot of people are just not honest with software. A lot of people at my workplace admit to using "shareware/payware" for a long time and never pay for it. If they like the software so much, why not support it by paying for it? These people make plenty of money to afford the software.

On another note, I occasionally have to reinstall my O/S due to slow downs or corrupt files, etc. Although I keep backups of my O/S, I still would rather do a fresh install occasionally to keep things running smoothly and start lean again.

I will need to reinstall my O/S today and I've reached my Prevx activation limit a long time ago. One thing I hate is that I can't deactivate my system, because I ran into the limit. But Prevx Support has always been nice enough to reactivate me once they verify my account.

 

If you know you're going to be reinstalling your OS, feel free to send me your license key beforehand so that I can get it reset for you and ready in time for your new install!

 

Just to add my tuppence worth, I don't really have a problem with the licensing. When I have had to contact support to get my licence reset it has been done really quickly.

 

Nope, all is well. And I've just extended my 6 PC license for another year ;-)

Is there anybody who never cheated? Eg winrar, who's using a paid version? It's kind of a human attitude, we just need to know when it's time to stop with it. Ok, I really should buy a copy of winrar now.

Same here. My own product requires it as well ;-) All we need is some tolerance and goodwill. That's why I like the shareware principle.
A good product requires some protection, no question, we're living in an evil world. But too much protection is bad. Fear is a bad adviser.