The Protect Software mass manufacturing software copy protection is today’s leading copy protection system in terms of security, reliability and features. Thousands of satisfied partners world wide and hundreds of millions of protected discs since 1996 are an impressive demonstration of this market-leading technology.

With Protect Software you can protect software on CDs and DVDs. These copy protections can be combined with demo/trial and purchase/unlock versions so that you can always work with one and the same executable independent of which way you are going to sell/distribute the software.

With Protect Software you can protect your program in multiple security levels. From a simple protection against disc copies to a fully fledged solution against drive emulators and virtual machines everything is possible. And with the SDK option you can even customize your program’s response.

Workflow

To apply the Protect software mass manufacturing protection  for software to your program you can either work directly with Protect Software and implement the protection yourself or have your disc replicator handle this for you.

Before you can protect your program you or your disc manufacturer needs to set up an account with Protect Software. This process is free and if you are interested you can apply for an account here. Once you have done this, you or your disc manufacturer can follow the steps below to secure your software:

1. Use the web interface to create a new Project (one time)

Every protected software is linked to a Project. This Project links the software and produced disc together and optionally also links from demo/trial version to the web shop where users can purchase the full software.

The Project needs to be created only once even if you want to protect multiple modules of your software and go through multiple iterations

2. Protect the executables, DLLs or PDF files of your choice

To protect the executables, DLLs or PDF files of your choice you can use our software protection web site to protect your file with your settings and you will receive an automatically modified executable within seconds. Alternatively you can download tools which you can integrate into your build process which perform the protection without the need to go to a web site.

In case you have access to the source code of the application to be protected you can also use our SDK for further customization and hardening of the protection.

In case you don’t want to be involved with the protection process, your disc replicator can handle this step for you.

3. Quality Assurance

After the executable, DLL or PDF file is protected, you can perform your final QA with the protected file, even without having the final media. You can check the copy protection itself, the demo/trial (if selected) and finally the purchase options (if selected) and pass the final file/installation to your authorized CD/DVD manufacturer.

4. Manufacturing

After receiving the final protected version from you the replicator will use the Protect Software tools to create a Protect Software secured glass master for replication, replicate these media and perform a special Protect Software Quality assurance process before delivering the protected discs to you.

Wrapper

The Protect Software copy protection is implemented in your executable, DLL or PDF files by the use of a Wrapper. This means you don’t need to have access to the source code of the executable to protect it. The Protect Software wrapper automatically wraps you security layer around your software and inserts active, polymorphic components, without changing the runtime behavior of your program.

You can select between one or more of the following options:

CD/DVD related options

Verify CD/DVD options

Force registration after successful CD/DVD check

Demo/Trial related options

Show demo/trial options if original CD/DVD could not be verified

Limit to a certain number of days from the first start
Limit to a certain number of days running the program
Limit to a certain number of starts
Limit to a certain total runtime

Update levels to enable independent trial versions of one project

Integrated applications

Integrate a third party application into the executable and run this at a certain location with certain parameters

Purchase related options

Use the Protect Software Web Platform to handle license purchases
Use the Protect Software Web Platform to handle user registration
Use the Protect Software Web Platform to handle Unlock Codes
Enable manual purchases/unlock

Quality Assurance related options

Use QA unlock feature to perform final software QA with Protect Software supplied QA discs in advance to actual production

User Interface related options

Customize texts and graphics

Advanced options

Protection security levels
Expiration after certain date
Watermarking

All of these features are accessible within an easy to use graphical user interface and can be automated into the build process to secure the whole production chain starting from QA over early watermarked beta releases to the final gold master.

Optional Software Development Kit (SDK)

If you want to extend the Wrapper options you can do this by using the Protect Software SDK. For using the SDK you need source code access to your software and can integrate a variety of functions directly into your program and react to possible security breaches in a custom way.

The Protect Software SDK is available for C and C++ platforms. More details are available for registered customers only.