Atma Software

1Way FAQ

A quick and professional way to create time-limited shareware

General

Can a user get another trial by uninstalling and reinstalling?

No. Uninstalling and reinstalling will not affect the registration status or the trial period.

What if a user changes the system date? Will this affect the trial period?

1Way keeps track of changes in the System Date. If the date is set back to an earlier date, the application's status will become Expired. All expiry periods are stored in terms of dates, not days left.

If someone realizes that I am using 1Way and downloads it, can they register my application?

No. Only someone who has the AppID can change the status of an application or register it. The AppID is a string of any length chosen by you. As long as you keep this secure nobody else can use 1Way to register your application, because the AppID is used as an encryption key to encrypt and decrypt the data and the serial.

How secure is 1Way data?

The data is stored in several carefully concealed and encrypted files and Registry entries.

All data is encrypted using AES (Rijndael) 256-bit strong encryption and SHA-256 hashes.
Data is protected by checksums, duplicate entries, and cross-checks.
All entries are generated using a HardwareID which is unique to the machine. This means that any files (if discovered) will not work on another machine.
If some entries are removed or tampered with, the application's status will become Expired.

For a full discussion of security see the Security Overview in the Help file included with 1Way.

Registration

Can I integrate serial generation with my online payment system?

There are basically three ways to integrate 1Way with an automated online payment system.

1. Write a custom program using the 1Way Serial ActiveX control, which will generate serials as you require.

2. Use the command-line (console) serial generator which is provided with 1Way. This can easily be called by another program.

3. Many shareware registration sites support uploading a list of serials which will be given out to purchasers one by one, as they purchase the product. 1Way supports this model, since user information is not usually used to generate the serials.

I have various special registration options for my program. Can 1Way handle this?

1Way provides custom registration statuses which can be used for any purpose, e.g. Lite or Pro versions.

The serial has custom SerialActions which can be used in any way you choose, and in addition, 2 bytes of custom information can be included in a serial and used as you like, e.g. to convey different registration options.

Registrations can be permanent, or set to expire at a certain date.

Temporary serials can also be created, which stop working after a few days.

I want users to pay a monthly or yearly subscription and purchase a new license each time. Can this be done with 1Way?

Yes, you can set a registration to expire (as opposed to a trial period). So you can sell a registration for a month or a year, or any other period. At the end of the period the user will need a new serial to continue using the registered version of the program.

Can I extend a trial period, or change a registration after sending a user a serial?

Yes. You can change any aspect of the trial / registration status by simply sending the user another serial.

Can I cancel a serial after giving it out to a user?

Yes. If you are using the online database, the procedure for cancelling further use of a serial is decribed in the Help file included with 1Way.

If you are not using the online system, you can still create serials which will only work for a limited time. After a time period which you specify, the serial will become invalid.

Can I change the number of computers that are allowed to use a particular registration?

Yes.
You can increase the number by sending the user another serial.
You can decrease the number by editing the online text database.

Can I make a registration which will only work on one computer?

If you are using the online verification system provided by 1Way, then you can simply set MaxComputers to 1 when generating a serial.

If you are not using the online system, you can still generate a serial which will only work on one computer. The method is described in the Help file provided with 1Way.

Online verification system

I don't know anything about PHP or online databases. How hard is it to set up and use the online verification system?

It is extremely easy. The online system provided with 1Way requires,

No complicated setup
No SQL databases
No subscription or connection to any 3rd party site
No knowledge needed of PHP scripting

You can set it up on your own website, completely under your own control, simply by uploading the PHP script file to any location on your website.

How secure is the online system?

Very secure. For a full discussion see the Security Overview in the Help file provided with 1Way. Basically,

no sensitive information is ever uploaded
no registration can be modified or removed by the PHP script
having a copy of the PHP script doesn't help anyone
nobody can gain a registration without having a valid serial (and validity is checked offline by your application)

The online system has been very carefully designed for security, but it is also clear, simple and straightforward.

What information can I store in the online database?

1Way provides a way of uploading any additional information you choose when a user verifies his registration online.

You can, for example, ask the user to enter his name and email address at the same time that he enters the serial into your application to register. This information can then be stored online and downloaded by you later in csv format. You can store any data you like in your online database.

Can I use 1Way without an online database?

Yes. The online verification system is optional.

However, it has the great advantage of letting you specify how many computers are allowed to use a particular serial.

The online system is very easy to set up and use on your own website, entirely under your own control.

What if I use the online system and a user has firewall problems accessing it?

1Way uses only wininet.dll for Internet access — the same function library which is used by Windows Internet Explorer — and it requires only normal http access. This means that there should be no problems with firewalls.

If for some reason a user can't access your website, then simple procedures for handling this are described in the 1Way Help file.

The online validation functions are written so that you can send the user a serial which will skip the online validation, and you can set the the serial itself to stop working after a short time.

If you have any other questions, please send an email to
support@atma-software.com

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