Run program only from USB / copy protection
I've skimmed through a few articles both on this site and the general greater Internet on this topic but haven't found a definitive, yet layman's answer.
Is it possible to have a program run on a dedicated USB thumb drive, disallowing the file from being moved, altered or copied? I know anything is possible with a computer file, but I'm looking at the average computer user for this one. I was thinking of releasing a program this way but want to protect it at a base level without drawn out online verifications. If the average user can't figure out how to duplicates it, I'm sated.
So far, I think windows permissions may be my best bet. Those get wonky, though, and may limit which versions of windows will actually work with them.
Any help, as always, is appreciated.
Run program only from USB / copy protection
Yeah, i know all the protective stuff is annoying as hell. It does lend an image of legitimacy to a product, however. This product has a super specific use and I need it to be portable, meaning the user can take it with them to use on any computer, but not necessarily leave it every computer they use. I saw a similar product that exists on a USB drive. I'm curious what method of protection they use. Perhaps that's just the method of release and it still goes online for the serial.
I'm not really worried about a mass-pirate, I'm trying to prevent the average half-literate computer user from duplicating the product everywhere they take it.
I have a kludgy workaround if there's no file protection options. Since its a small market, I just manually put in a boot screen with the buyers general info and a "serial number". Any cracker could get around that but the average computer user might be too scared to leak a program with their name on it.
Again, this is a very small-scale program.
And thanks for the input!
Run program only from USB / copy protection
Thanks for all the great responses. I checked out Nexcopy and found they only support certain file types. Exe isn't one of them. I'm going to email them and see if they have any options. http://www.nexcopy.com/usb-copy-protection/
As for the other methods mentioned, ill look into them. Ill be sure to keep you all posted once I figure a way to do this.
Run program only from USB / copy protection
I'm gonna bump this with a new idea for small-scale distribution of software. What if the software was told to only run on a device with a specific serial number. Essentially, hard-coding the MMF application not to run if it's not running from the specific serial number of a usb thumb drive. Not the volume serial, which is changed on format, but the chip-level drive serial.
Any reason this wouldn't work should it be a viable method for someone? Obviously, it wouldn't be viable on a large scale since your have to make a billion versions of your app with the various serials hard coded in.