Alt-N Technologies Product Activation System

• What is product activation?
• Product activation is an anti-piracy technology designed to make sure that only licensed users are allowed to operate Alt-N Technologies software products.
• Who has to activate?
• All registered users are required to activate their Alt-N products.
• Why did Alt-N add product activation to their software?
• One reason is to stop piracy. Piracy results in lost revenue to Alt-N. If people freely use our software without paying for it this hurts customers by tending to inflate prices needlessly over time. Secondly, and most importantly, activation allows us to verify to our customers that the key they purchased is legitimate. There is a very large illegal market for Alt-N products world-wide and customers do not always know whether the key they purchased or which they inherited is legitimate. Finally, activation allows us to make sure that all the keys sold to all Alt-N customers are in our database. This is essential for us to protect our technical support resources - an asset which is essential to legitimate customers.
• What Alt-N Technologies products require activation?
• MDaemon 7.0 is the only product which will require activation at this time.
• Will Alt-N Technologies add activation to other products?
• It is conceivable that Alt-N will add product activation to our entire line of products in the future. However, no plans are currently in the works for this.
• How does activation work?
• Activation works like this: When the Alt-N product starts up and discovers that it has not yet been activated the Alt-N Product Activation Wizard will launch. This wizard guides the user through the activation process. Activation involves the transmission of the customer's registration key, an ID code which identifies the hardware that the Alt-N product is running on, the product version, and language. This information is hashed together to produce an activation code which is transmitted back and in turn activates the product. The transmission of this data is handled by the wizard using the HTTP protocol and standard web server port (80) and no personal information about you is involved.
• What hardware does activation use? What happens when I change out my Network Interface Card?
• Activation uses the details of your Network Interface Card (NIC card) as part of the activation code computation. Changing the properties of your Network Interface Card or changing out your Network Interface Card completely will require reactivation.
• I have multiple Network Interface Cards. Is this a problem?
• Activation will pick one of your Network Interface Cards and use that during the activation process. After that, all Network Interface Cards are used when the activation code is verified. Multiple NIC cards will not pose a problem.
• How many times can I activate?
• Alt-N Technologies will allow multiple activations of the same license key subject to the terms of the EULA. Alt-N intends to be very flexible to protect the interests of legitimate customers who sometimes change hardware or move Alt-N products to other computers.
• How long is the grace period for activation?
• Activation must take place within the first 30 days of use, or within 30 days after the change of your Network Interface Card. Failure to activate will cause the software to cease to function.
• What happens to me in the event of a disaster recovery?
• Activation is carefully designed to not prevent disaster recovery. When activated software is reinstalled or restored from backup the activation process in many cases will persist meaning that no reactivation is even required. In every other case activation will have a 30 day window. There is no danger of a 2 a.m. disaster recovery resulting in a non-functional product.
• What happens to me when I install my Alt-N product on a new computer?
• After installing the product you will need to reactivate. Alt-N Technologies intends to allow multiple activations but customers are still bound by the terms of the EULA which came with the product.
• What happens if the product is discontinued?
• In the event of product discontinuation Alt-N will completely honour the terms of the EULA. In addition, Alt-N with either release a patch which removes the activation requirement or will ensure that all activation requests are allowed to succeed.
• Will I have to activate each time I upgrade to new versions of my Alt-N product?
• Activation may be required each time a major new version of a product is released but this is not anticipated for minor releases.
• Does activation mean that my Alt-N product is constantly communicating with Alt-N?
• Activation is a one time transmission. It does not continually send information to Alt-N.
• My computer has multiple failover Network Interface Cards. What happens when the one used during activation dies?
• Alt-N products do not continually check if the Network Interface Card is functioning or not. But, in the event of a failure of the NIC card, the product will require activation the next time it is rebooted.
• The computer running my Alt-N product has no Internet access. How can I activate?
• Internet access from some computer is required. So, first launch the Alt-N Product Activation Wizard from within the software and select the manual activation option. A screen will appear which provides the URL of the manual activation web site as well as all the information that the site will need. Write this information down and leave the wizard running. Find a computer with internet access. Visit the manual activation web site and enter the information into the form. Click 'Submit' and write down the resulting activation code. Finally, go back to the computer running the Alt-N product and enter the code into the activation wizard.
• I don't want to risk transmitting anything to Alt-N and would prefer to activate manually. Is this possible?
• An option to manually activate is available from within the Alt-N Product Activation Wizard. Manual activation involves clicking a link within the wizard which sends you to the manual activation web site. This site contains a form which the wizard will pre-populate. In this way you can see what would have been transmitted by the automatic activation method had you decided to use it. The web page has a 'Submit' button which generates an activation code for you. You can then cut this activation code to the Windows clipboard and the wizard will automatically detect it and activate your product. Instructions are provided on the manual activation web site.
• What happens to me if my license key has already been activated by a pirate?
• We intend to allow multiple activations so your software will likely still be activated. Alt-N Technologies will investigate the cause of pirated keys.
• My computer does not have a Network Interface Card. What happens to me?
• Activation requires a Network Interface Card. You will have to install one to continue to use the product.
• I am using a trial or special beta version key. Do I need to activate?
• Activation is only required of registered license keys. Trial and special beta keys do not require activation.
• How does registration affect our current license key and upgrade protection?
• Activation is a separate and required action. It does not affect your current license key or your upgrade protection time at all.
• Will I have to reactivate when I upgrade my license size or purchase more upgrade protection?
• Upgrading license size or purchasing more upgrade protection generates a brand new license key for your MDaemon. This key will need to be activated.
• Some sample screen shots of the activation process

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