Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 15:09:44 10/15/98
Go up one level in this thread
On October 15, 1998 at 15:00:21, José de Jesús García Ruvalcaba wrote: >On October 15, 1998 at 14:05:48, John Coffey wrote: > >>On October 15, 1998 at 10:09:45, Robert Hyatt wrote: >> >>>On October 14, 1998 at 02:52:46, Georg Langrath wrote: >>> >>>>There is a lot of programs which can be used only a couple of days, like >>>>downloaded Rebel 10. As you often can´t reuse them after reinstalling there must >>>>be hidden information on harddisk. Is it right to hide information on my >>>>harddisk that will be left there for ever? Can I be sure that it doesn´t harm >>>>other programs in any way? >>>> >>>>Of course you can choose not to use them, but that wasn´t the question. >>>> >>>>Georg >>> >>>I would hope that *no* program/programmer would be so obnoxious as to >>>write oddball files into oddball directories, to make them difficult to >>>find. IE if you create a directory "XX" and install something there, >>>creating hidden files would be fine, *in* directory XX or any sub-directory >>>under it. But putting a hidden file in say the \windows or \windows\system >>>directory ought to be a hanging offense everywhere in the world... >> >> >>Well many programs write stuff to the system registery, and those entries >>stay around forever, and maybe windows is suppose to work that way. >> >>I am wanting to write a shareware program (with a low registration fee) with >>the idea that the user can run it 100 times before the rating of the thing >>would start to become very limited. So how do I keep people from just >>re-installing the software and running it 100 new times? I need to be able >>to put information someplace that isn't going to go away if the user deletes >>the software. (Have a 100 run limit isn't going to be much use if the user >>can easily defeat the mechanism.) >> >>I can put information in the system registery, but a clever user can use >>regedit to delete that information. So I need a backup someplace. My >>intentions were to do exactly what you have suggested should be a hanging >>offense. I was going to put files in \windows and \windows\system. I could >>make the files hidden. >> >>The net harm in this is nothing. The extra files might cost 8K. (Hard disk >>space is about 3 cents a meg.) >> >>My plans are to write both a chess playing program and a database. I already >>have the database written, but I need a windows interface, which I am going to >>start working on soon. >> >>John Coffey > >Hi John, > I think, if you go shareware, you should trust the people who download your >program. Personally I would honor any agreement made by downloading and >installing a shareware program. > If you ever port your program to Solaris, let me know! >José. I'd like to add (I am not taking a pot-shot at John, only at the idea we are talking about) that the concept of sticking files in oddball places to hide them from the user is very similar to the concept of throwing trash out your window while driving down the road. "It's only one piece of trash, right, so it can't really hurt the environment..." Of course if *everybody* takes that approach, the world becomes a giant litter-box. Ditto for programs. If everything I install stuff files into odd places, my disk gets cluttered needlessly... But it's only one file... or one piece of trash... right?
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