Monday, May 3, 2021 - 17:00

Activation center (ACEN) 05.00.40 is out!

New build for Activation center (ACEN) has been released.

What's new:

 Client interface updates.

- New activation panel for new license, license removal, license transfer and license removal.

- New orders and licenses grid controls.

- Licenses filter control added to licenses grid.

- Help page has been updated with above changes.

 Published option added to News. 

All existing news will be automatically marked as published. News article will now be displayed only in case published option is selected.

 New checkbox control design.

Multiple other optimizations and fixes.

Activation center: Client interface: Orders page
Activation center: Client interface: Help page

 

Activation center: Options: Client interface (Activation)

 License management options for client interface added.

Use these options to enable, disable and limit license management features for clients.

The following license management features are available:

- License reactivation
- License removal
- License transfer

Appropriate daily and monthly limits can be defined for each license management feature.

License reactivation and transfer limits are valid per license and license removal limit is valid per order.

License tracking for these limits is implemented in this release so all counters for limits will not include license management actions which were made by clients before this release.

These options are now located in Client interface options (Activation).

Existing flexible locking policy setting have been moved to activation options.

Old flexible locking options control has been removed from options page.

 

Upgrading notes:

If you are upgrading from previous (05.00.30) version be sure to run included database upgrade script (5.00.30-5.00.40.sql).

General upgrading procedure is available here.

New PC Guard Software Protection System update has been released. This update is highly recommended for all PC Guard users.

PC Guard Software Protection System

What's new:

[+] New sample projects:

- altpcgi_wpf_csharp

C# .NET Framework WPF application using alternate protection interface, custom activation dialog and license removal feature.

- altpcgi_netcore_csharp_sample

C# .NET Core (.NET 5) console application using alternate protection interface.

[+] New system settings options:

- "Enable project file statistics (PRJSTATS)" option (Default: ON)

Use this option to enable/disable saving of last open and save times to PRJSTATS section in project file each time project file is loaded or saved.

- "Default backup extension" option (Default: "_OLD")

Use this option to change default backup extension to custom value.

- ".NET Core warnings" option (Default: ON)

If enabled, warnings related to .NET Core and .NET 5 applications will be displayed during protection process.

- "C++ redistributables notification" option added. (Default: ON)

Select to enable notification about required C++ redistributable files for applications protected with ACEN web licensing feature.

[*] Improved detection of .NET Core / .NET 5 bootstrap applications.

[*] Detection of .NET Core / .NET 5 AnyCpu applications added.

Error message with suggestion that application should be compiled for x86 or x64 platform instead is displayed if .NET Core / .NET 5 AnyCpu application is detected.

[!] Fixed problem with different output filename extension check.

[!] Multiple other minor fixes and optimizations.

[>] Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable files which are required for ACEN web licensing are no longer included in distribution package.

Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable files (x86/x64) for Visual Studio 2019 can be downloaded from https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/

New PC Guard Software Protection System update has been released. This update is highly recommended for all PC Guard users.

PC Guard Software Protection System

What's new:

[>] .NET 5 support notes.

Supported output type:

- Windows application
- Windows console application

Supported platforms:

- x86 (PC Guard for .NET)
- x64 (PC Guard for .NET64)

Supported target runtime:

- win-x86 (PC Guard for .NET)
- win-x64 (PC Guard for .NET64)

NOTES:

Protected x86 .NET 5 Windows applications can be run by bootstrap application (net5app.exe) only and can not be run with "dotnet net5app.dll". Bootstrap application can also be encrypted.

This is not mandatory for x64 .NET 5 applications. Protected module will work just fine if run from command line with "dotnet net5app.dll".

AnyCpu .NET 5 applications are not supported. Application should be compiled as x64 or x86 and then can be protected with PC Guard for .NET64 and PC Guard for .NET respectively.

[*] General settings: 'Fix OS version information' option extended.

It is now possible to target specific OS with this option:

Windows 95/NT (4.0)
Windows 98 (4.1)
Windows 2000 (5.0)
Windows XP (5.1)
Windows Vista/Windows Server 2008 (6.0)
Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 (6.1)
Windows 8/Windows Server 2012 (6.2)

[*] Output filename extension validation added.

Protection process will be canceled in case output filename is missing extension.

Warning message will be displayed in case output filename extension is different from original filename extension.

[#] PC Guard installer application now requires at least Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 and can not be installed on older operating systems.

Monday, February 1, 2021 - 10:10

Activation center (ACEN) 05.00.30 is out!

New build for Activation center (ACEN) has been released.

What's new:

activation center screenshot

[+] Security options extended

New brute force protection options:

'Log event' - if enabled, brute force protection events will be logged.

'Notify admin' - if enabled, notification email about temporarily banned host will be delivered to selected admin user.

Brute force protection is currently implemented for the following segments of ACEN web site:

- standard login page authentication (login errors are tracked)

- new client account page (invalid serial number errors are tracked)

- web service authentication (credentials failures are tracked)

- all web licensing methods which do not require any authentication (method errors are tracked).

DDos protection options added.

'Period' - Ddos tracking period in seconds. Host tracking data is reset after this period of time.

'Min wait time' - Minimum period of time between requests in seconds.

'Max requests' - Maximum allowed number of requests per defined tracking period.

Notifications

Use Recipient option to select administrator user which will receive security notifications in case 'Notify admin' option is enabled for brute force or ddos protection.

[+] Permanent bans page added

This page is used for managing permanently banned hosts. Hosts can be automatically temporarily banned by brute force protection or automatically permanently banned by ddos protection or manually banned by administrator user.

Banned host will not be able to use login page, new client account page and all web service methods.

Bans page can be accessed from main admin dashboard (Audit: Bans).

Ban single host

Enter valid host ip address and click on + button to add host address to the list of permanently banned hosts.

Unban single host

Enter valid host ip address and click on - button or click on blue trash can (table row) icon to delete host directly from the list.

Check if host is permanently banned

Enter valid host ip address and click on search button.

Delete all banned hosts

Click on red trash can button to delete all hosts.

Show all banned hosts

Click on 'Show all' button to display all currently permanently banned hosts.

[+] New web service method: ValidateSerialNumber

This method will validate serial number.

Return values

In case serial number is valid Result.Status will return STATUS_SUCCESS.

In case of error this method will always return STATUS_SERIAL_NUMBER_INVALID error code.

Notes

Detailed information about serial number validation error will not be provided for security reasons since no authorization is required for this method. Validation error may be result of invalid ProgramID value, invalid SerialNumber value or in case serial number is valid but is blacklisted.

If serial number is valid Result.Description will not include information about serial number id and features.

By default, brute force protection is enabled for all web service methods. This method includes additional wait time protection and wait time is increased each time invalid serial number is provided to this method.

[+] View program button added to Order panel.

It is now possible to easily access Program data from Order panel.

[*] MID code added to licenses filter control.

Licenses can now be additionally filtered by site code, mid code and license note.

[+] Licenses filter control added to web licenses grid.

[*] Multiple other optimizations and fixes.

[>] UPGRADING NOTES:

If you are upgrading from previous (05.00.20) version be sure to run included database upgrade script (5.00.20-5.00.30.sql).

Existing bans (if any) will be automatically moved to new table.

General upgrading procedure is available here.

New PC Guard Software Protection System update has been released. This update is highly recommended for all PC Guard users.

PC Guard Software Protection System

What's new:

[+] Languages settings panel added to Customization settings.

Language editor is used for managing languages and messages which are shared among all projects on computer where PC Guard is installed.

Languages settings panel is used for managing languages setting which are valid per project.

Default project language.

In previous releases, default language was the one selected in Language editor which was somehow confusing so we decided to move this option from Language editor to separate project settings.

Default project language will be used as primary user interface language for protected application.

If required, default language can also be changed from command line for protected application by using -PCG_CL_LANGUAGE option.

Optional languages to be included in protected application.

Default language is always enabled. Other languages are optional. Since messages for each language take space in resulting protected application, turning off languages which are not required will also decrease final size of protected application.

More info...

[+] New languages (translations for UI messages) added to default language file which is distributed with PC Guard.

New languages are: Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

New languages are now included in default language file (pcguard.lng) which is distributed with PC Guard.

Note: When upgrading existing installation of PC Guard new languages will not be automatically visible in language editor. This is because PC Guard will use existing  language file on that computer which may already include some custom languages you've setup before.

More info..

[+] Command line interface for protected application improvement.

Command line interface for protected application is still by default turned ON but can now be turned OFF with single option.

Save button is no longer available. Option name and enabled status are now automatically updated when changed which makes process of enabling, disabling and changing of parameter name much easier and faster.

More info...

[*] Protection wizard improvements.

Existing dialogs are reordered and the following new pages are added to protection wizard: Password protection, IP filtering, Command line settings and Language settings.

[*] License transfer feature is no longer automatically enabled if TransferLicense protection interface function is detected in application and in case license transfer feature is enabled. Instead, information about detected function will be displayed with a prompt for continuing protection process.

[*] Reset (local) license button moved from General setting to Project menu.

Instead of going to General settings and clicking on License reset button local license data can now be deleted by using "Reset local license status" option from Project menu.

[*] Project settings and languages saving process has been optimized.

[!] If language is renamed in language editor custom buttons language will also be automatically renamed.

[!] Multiple other minor fixes and optimizations.

[>] Interface dll has been updated. Please be sure to update existing version with latest one.