Software is digital through and through, and yet there's one unavoidable aspect of software installation that remains thoroughly analog: entering the registration key.
Software is digital through and through, and yet there's one unavoidable aspect of software installation that remains thoroughly analog: entering the registration key. The aggravation is intentional. Unique registration keys exist only to prevent piracy. Like all piracy solutions- short of completely server hosted applications and games, where. Start the letter by including all the necessary information about your business. These include the name of your business and its address. A letterhead can be used in exchange of these details which should be on the top most area of the letter. Write the date when you have written the letter.
The aggravation is intentional. Unique registration keys exist only to prevent piracy. Like all piracy solutions-- short of completely server hosted applications and games, where piracy means you'd have to host your own rogue server-- it's an incomplete client-side solution. How effective is it? One vendor implemented code to detect false registration keys and phone home with some basic information such as the IP address when these false keys are entered. Here's what they found:
| Software Connectivity | Ratio of pirated to legitimate keys |
| no internet connection required | 45 : 1 |
| occasional internet connection necessary | 60 : 1 |
| internet must be 'always on' | 110 : 1 |
The letter should be written in a formal language since it is a formal business document after all. The resolution decided during the board meeting should be separated by paragraphs and should start with the word “whereas”. For every paragraph, a decision should be clearly stated. First, there is no category for all the serial keys, so you must know clearly which serial key you need. Second, it does not provide download links, neither for the official packages or cracked copies, but just serial keys. Smart Serials – Threat-Free Serial Keys Site. Smart Serials is another serial number collection website. Ten Key Elements to Writing an Effective Business Letter Oct 15, 2011 in Writing The formalities of the business letter are a topic fraught with contention and could easily fill a whole book.
I have no idea how reliable this data is. The vendor is never named, and given that the title of the URL is sharewarejustice.com/software-piracy.htm, I'd expect it to be biased. But it is data, and without the registration key concept (and pervasive internet connectivity), we'd have no data whatsoever to quantify how much piracy actually exists. The BSA estimated 35% of all software was pirated in 2006, but it is just that-- an estimate. I'll choose biased data over no data whatsoever, every time.
I don't have a problem with registration keys. You could, in fact, argue that registration key validation actually works. Microsoft recently stated that the piracy rate of Vista is half that of XP, largely due to improvements in their Windows Genuine Advantage program-- Microsoft's global registration key validation service.
As a software developer, I can empathize with Microsoft to a degree. Unless you oppose the very concept of commercial software, there has to be some kind of enforcement in place. The digital nature of software makes it both easy and impersonal for people to avoid paying (note that I did not say 'steal'), which is an irresistible combination for many. Unless you provide some disincentives, that's exactly what people will do-- they'll pay nothing for your software.
Microsoft's history with piracy goes way, way back-- all the way back to the original microcomputers. Witness Bill Gates' Open Letter To Hobbyists, written in 1976.
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are apparent, however, 1) Most of these 'users' never bought BASIC (less than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) The amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is theft.
Although computers have changed radically in the last thirty years, human behavior hasn't. (Alternately, you could argue that the economics of computing and the emergence of an ad-supported software ecosystem have fundamentally changed the rules of the game since 1976. But that's a topic for another blog post.)
I accept that software registration keys are a necessary evil for commercial software, and I resign myself to manually keeping track of them, and keying them in. But why do they have to be so painful? You do realize a human being has to type this stuff in, right? Here are some things that I've seen vendors get wrong with their registration key process:
- Using commonly mistaken characters in the key
Quick! Is that an 'O' or an '0'? A '6' or a 'G'? An 'I' or an 'l'? A 'B' or an '8'? At least have the courtesy to scour your registration key character set of those characters that are commonly mistaken for other characters. And please print the key in a font that minimizes the chances of confusion.
- Excessively long keys
The most rudimentary grasp of mathematics tells us that a conservative 10 character alphanumeric registration key is good for 197 trillion unique users. Even factoring in the pigeonhole principle, we can estimate about 14 million random registration key combinations before we have a 50 percent risk of a collision. So why, then, do software developers insist on 20+ character registration keys? It's ridiculous. Are they planning to sell licenses to every grain of sand on every beach?
- Not separating the key into blocks
Rather than smashing your key into one long string, make it a group of small 4 to 5 characters, separated by a delimiter. It's the same reason phone numbers are listed as 404-555-1212 and not 4045551212: People have an easier time handling and remembering small chunks of information.
- Making it difficult to enter the key
Short of providing every customer a handy USB barcode scanner, at least make the registration key entry form as user friendly as possible:
- Let the user enter the key in any format. With dashes, without dashes, using spaces, whatever. Be flexible. Accept a variety of formats.
- Do not provide five input boxes that require us to tab through each one to enter the key. It's death by a thousand tiny textboxes.
- Tell me as soon as I've entered a bad value in the key. Why should I have to go back and pore over my entry to figure out which letter or number I've screwed up? You're the computer, remember? This is what you're good at.
- Accept pasting from the clipboard. Once we've installed the software, we'll probably install it again, and nobody likes keying these annoying resgistration keys in more than once. I've seen some clever software that proactively checks the clipboard and enters the key automatically if it finds it there. (Kudos to you, Beyond Compare.)
- Don't passively-aggressively inform me that 'the key you entered appears to be valid.' Is it? Or isn't it? What's the point of unique registration keys if you can't be sure? I guess paying customers can't be trusted.
- Where's the %*@# key?
The key is important. Without it we can't install or use the software. So why is it buried in the back of the manual, or on an easy-to-overlook interior edge of the package? Make it easy to find-- and difficult to lose. Provide multiple copies of the key in different locations, maybe even as a peelable sticker we can place somewhere useful. And if the software was delivered digitally, please keep track of our key for us. We're forgetful.
Software registration keys are a disconcerting analog hoop we force users to jump through when using commercial software. Furthermore, registration keys are often the user's first experience with our software-- and first impressions matter. If you're delivering software that relies on registration keys, give that part of the experience some consideration. Any negative feelings generated by an unnecessarily onerous registration key entry process will tend to color users' perception of your software.
If you are urgently looking for the serial key of a paid software, then here might be the last stop before you give up. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to handle any task in work or study without the help of software, such as image processing, document editor, and speech-to-text. However, most of those programs only allow paid users to access advanced or even basic features. What if you’re a student or suffering the down and out? Don’t worry. We have tested dozens of websites and now present you the top 6 free serial keys sites for all kinds of software.
Warning: There are potential risks to install cracked software on computer or mobile phone. It is impossible for the website owners or anyone else to rule out every threat. You’re suggested to try your luck on giveaway sites to download free. full version software first.
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Top 1. Serials.ws – Free Serial Keys Site for Most Software
If the only standard to rate free serial keys websites is the frequency of updating, then Serials.ws is definitely the best one, which claims to update daily. It might not be true currently, because there is no much profit driving after all, but Serials.ws is still the most frequently updated option.
In addition to the update frequency, Serials.ws also features with a precise yet informative web interface. Update date and user rating are two important factors that help users judge whether the free serial keys would work or just a waste of time. Based on the over 120,000 serials in the database, Serials.ws is the most possible sites to find free serial keys that you need.
If we have to pick out some flaws, then there two on this site. First, there is no category for all the serial keys, so you must know clearly which serial key you need. Second, it does not provide download links, neither for the official packages or cracked copies, but just serial keys.
Top 2. Smart Serials – Threat-Free Serial Keys Site
Smart Serials is another serial number collection website. Though this site provides serials keys and crack files, it is compliant with Digital Millennium Act. If the legal developer of the official software asks, they would possible remove related entries from this site. Basing on the fact that they value copyright, we should rest assured for the safety issue while browsing this website.
To get down to business, Smart Serials really does good job collecting working serial keys of a lot of useful software, and they continue adding items. You need to search for wanted serial keys by brand names or keywords, or click any of the alphabet to explore more surprise.
The better part of this free serial keys site is that you’ll get both crack file (signup needed for downloads on third-party site) and serial numbers. It is always better with more options. Moreover, in case you fail to find the serial key of a desired software, you can even submit a request on its forums.
Top 3. SerialReactor – Source for the Newest Serials
SerialReactor doesn’t perform as a comprehensive serial keys site during our test, but a few hand-picked apps are listed on its home page with the latest serial keys, most of which are working and safe. However, manual research often gets back blank result. It should be noted that the Best Results, which will appear on every search result, are not completely trustful. The links will direct you to a third-party download site.
SerialReactor is not so popular among the users because it is not capable of fetching the serial keys of major premium software like Windows 10, Adobe Photoshop premium, MS Office 2018 etc. You can find the serial keys of small applications which requires very less subscription fees to access the premium access.
It is anyway a choice to give SerialReactor a try if you are unable to find the crack keys of desired applications. Sometimes it will work and there is a probability that you will be able to find the genuine software’s crack keys.
Top 4. Keygens Pro – Full List of Serial Keys for Any Software
The home page of Keygens Pro looks like a product from the last century, but it did surprise us after browsing around this website. You can find almost the cracks and serial numbers of any kind of software. The search results sometimes link users to another website which seems suspicious, but there might have some reason of trick. Anyway, it is safe and fruitful to find serial keys by clicking the links on the home page and the top alphabet list.
As the name of this website suggests, Keygens Pro works as a website where you can find the crack keys of premium paid applications. This site doesn’t update regularly, but you may suddenly find the latest version of Office tools on the site. At the worst, Keygens Pro will show you a long list of earlier version serial keys for your consideration.
Top 5. KeyGenNinja – Serial Keys and Keygens for Old Software
In case you really can’t find the serial key to activate the newest version of an urgently-needed program, then you may take a look at KeyGenNinja for previous version equivalents. This free serial key site has been running for over 10 years. Though the update is slowing down, there are a huge database of earlier programs, which are still useful for today’s work.
KeyGenNinja, originally known as KeyGenGuru, is probably one of the first site providing genuine crack keys of the major Windows applications to the users. You can find the crack keys of the most secured applications, like Adobe Photoshop, Camscanner, some antivirus software, etc. The official version of these apps requires users to pay subscription fees to access the whole new premium features.
Top 6. Serialbay – Cracks and Serial Numbers for Old Games
It is a hard work which earn little reputation to run a website and provide free serial keys or keygens. That’s why sites like Serialbay has stopped updating for years. Nevertheless, the top serial keys on Serialbay are still working for specific programs. If you have sense of nostalgia and want to play an old game, then give it a try and see if you will be surprised.
This serial key providing website was known for providing the crack keys of major popular video games, like Call of Duty. Many small and big gamers use this software tool to get the crack keys for free. Serial keys of many premium applications are also available on this website too.
Anyway, don’t forget Serialbay in case you can’t find the serial key you are looking for at all of the above sites. Just type the name and wait for the result.
Conclusion
In this article, we have introduced 6 best sites to find serial keys for any software. The list might be shortened as time goes by, so enjoy the paid apps for free now or never. You should not trust cracked software from unknown sources to avoid virus attack. If you have to, make sure to install one of the best free antivirus software to protect your computer which are the basic versions of the famous security software. It would be best to buy a license and support the developer when you can afford it. After all, if nobody pays, then no one can play. Feel free to share your experience or opinions with us in the comment.