Simple online manual program activation

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I'm working on a simple windows application using WinForms [C#] and SQL Compact database. I think of providing a manual serial activation method [Online] through :
- Name
- Hardware ID (PC id or whatever it's called)

So the mechanism goes as follow :
- I (personally or any other official) will link the Name+Hardware ID with the serial number and add it to another database online \ excel sheet \ or even text file
- The potential customer use his name + serial number provided to him
- The application fetches hardwareID and connect + search the activation source online
- If the application finds a record (with name+id linked together), then it saves the activation code (serial) as HKEY in registry

What I need to know :
- How to add an equation in the application itself to generate serials (I would use the same equation to add serials in the activation method)
- How to fetch Hardware ID through the program and type it in a text (so the person can send them to me)
- How to save serial as HKEY and how to recall it each time the application opens

Notes :
** I'm completely aware that this way of protection is very easy to be reverse-engineered , but this application won't gain the attention of these bad people (I hope).
**Actually I don't have any funds (at least at the moment) , so if you'd like to suggest me a 3rd party tool then it'd be better to be free one.
**In the future I might as some professionals to recode my simple application and protect it , but that less likely at this early stage.

Please ! provide me with sample codes or ideas where I can start with :) though theoretical ideas are welcomed too

Posted 8-Apr-15 7:14am

Sherif Kamel

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CHill60 8-Apr-15 18:48pm

You do realise this is a Quick Answers forum? So you are way way off topic here. Have you actually tried any research through the normal channels?

Sherif Kamel 10-Apr-15 5:33am

Well I admit I didn't knew that , but anyway I organized the question into sub-questions so anyone could help even with a tiny piece of answer :D
and regarding normal channels , I used google + stackoverflow + codeproject . Do you recommend me any other channels ?

Richard MacCutchan 9-Apr-15 2:43am

Google is the ultimate free tool.

Sherif Kamel 10-Apr-15 5:34am

Google has too many general topics with no guides or how-to-make :( that's why I couldn't reach a starting point.

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Richard MacCutchan · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-10T01:24:00

1. How to add an equation
This is just code, you decide what calculation you need to use and add it to your program. Where? Only you will know the answer to that. Do you actually need a calculation or would a GUID do the job?

2. How to fetch Hardware ID
Look at these links from Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=c%23%20wmi[^]

3. How to save serial as HKEY
See the Registry class[^]

All of which I found via Google.