How do I stop torrents?

Chris Ruiz10 said:Hey everyone,

I think I might have a pretty massive problem on my hands and I could really use some help here.

I've poured tens of thousands of dollars and years upon years of hard work into this one thing. Now, I’m looking to actually commercialize it and make a living from it.

But honestly, I'm terrified it'll just end up on some random torrent site and all those years of grinding will just... vanish. Like, gone.

Does anyone have advice on how to stop that? 🤷

What would you guys do if you were in my shoes? How do you protect your work when your livelihood depends on it and you can't exactly afford to give everything away for free forever?

Look, look at it from this perspective—how many actual hackers are there in the US?
Maybe like three or four wannabes. And they definitely aren't gonna spend their time trying to crack your software just to upload it somewhere.
As for those big-time global hackers who crack major software? None of them are gonna bother themselves with your "niche" little project.
Like, you think a group like Anonymous or some elite crew is gonna waste their precious time on your product? Please.
Just set up some basic protection—maybe a serial number system or some kind of online activation.
Don't sweat it too much; I mean, if the product is actually good, people will find a way to pay for it.
Just don't leave it totally wide open for every random person to grab, but don't go blowing a fortune on high-end security either. It's kind of pointless, really—everything gets cracked eventually anyway.

Jonathan Morris40 said:You’d need to find some absolute madman capable of building encryption so tight even the NSA couldn't touch it. My advice? Start hunting for a top-tier hacker immediately.

Ignoring the torrents works better.

If you sink money into security, you’re essentially hiking up your product price just to cover those overheads—plus, let's be real, every protection eventually fails. This way, you squeeze revenue from the "legit" customers while still getting all the free marketing.
Maybe toss in a basic registration process with license keys, just so downloading the torrent isn't such a walk in the park.

Chris Ruiz10 said:it’s impossible to set up any kind of protection.

Personally, I don't touch torrents and I definitely don't watch movies on my PC. I hit up the movie theater, visit a rental shop, and if a film really sticks with me, I just go out and buy it.

It’s honestly pretty wild how some people will spend more energy trying to "protect" themselves while stealing stuff than they would actually spend just earning the cash to buy the real thing.

Drew Reed4, do you seriously think the courts are powerless here? What happens if someone gets caught with a hard drive absolutely loaded with pirated movies? I don't get it. Are we pretending the law doesn't apply just because everything is digital now?

But let's be real, who even buys original copies these days?

The days of hitting up the local video rental store and grabbing a movie for a couple of bucks are long gone. Nowadays, for that same amount of change, you can grab a pack of eight blank DVDs and burn about forty movies you found online onto them. 🙂

There's this one company in my town that employs over a thousand people; they do business with the EU, yet they're running pirated Windows all the same.

casualskipper8 said:Who actually pays full price for originals these days?

The days of going to a local video rental shop and paying a few bucks to rent a movie are long gone. Nowadays, for that same amount of change, you can grab a pack of eight blank DVDs and load them up with dozens of movies you grabbed online. 🙂

There is this one company in my town that employs over a thousand people; they do work for the EU and they use pirated Windows software.

It's true, even my high school uses pirated Windows, as do I and all my friends.
like every single tech firm in my city too
you go there and for $33 you get Windows, antivirus, firewalls, and all the other basic programs

And that’s why Microsoft is such a pathetic excuse for a company—failing miserably because of all the piracy, right? 😁

Or musicians. Suddenly everyone’s playing the poverty card—I mean, look at Metallica playing weddings now. 😁

Just follow the playbook used by most software companies out there: release a stripped-down version on a torrent site or your own landing page for free to get ahead of the curve 😍, then charge a premium for the full-featured version packed with all the bells and whistles. Sure, the paid version will probably end up being pirated eventually, but if you offer a free tier, the piracy rate won't be nearly as devastating as if you tried to gatekeep everything behind a paywall.

I don't have the specifics on what this project actually entails, but if we're talking about developing software, a strategy along those lines is worth considering. 🤷

Drew Reed4 said:It's true. My school uses pirated Windows versions, and honestly, me and basically everyone I know too.
it's even the case for all those tech firms in my city.
you go there for $33 and you get Windows, antivirus, firewalls, and all the other basic software included.

Are you actually being serious right now??? As far as I know, schools are supposed to have legitimate Windows licenses, and as for those companies... man, I really hope they pray to God an auditor doesn't just show up at their door one day. Because if they do, they're going to be looking at some massive fines...

Listen up, everyone: YOU CANNOT INSTALL HARDWARE PROTECTION (it's not software)

Whatever, I guess it's just interesting to see how people think. I'm sticking to quality, and I'm hoping that if someone actually adds that feature, most people will still buy the product anyway.

And one last thing: just because some people steal or use pirated versions doesn't mean I'm okay or right if I do the same thing. Stealing is stealing. Imagine some thief in court arguing, "Well, everyone else is stealing, so why am I being punished and thrown in jail?!" Go catch all the other thieves first before you come after me for what I took. 🤣

placidgull21 said:Are you actually being serious right now??? From what I gather, schools usually have legitimate Windows licenses, and as for those companies... man, I just hope to God they don't get hit with an audit, because if the authorities show up at their door, they're gonna be looking at some seriously massive fines...

Honestly, even at my local school district, they're running totally pirated Windows...

There’s really nothing you can do about piracy. The theory goes that if you’ve ever downloaded a single song or movie from the web, you’ve technically committed theft. If we actually followed that logic, half the population would be considered criminals—honestly, go into any house or apartment in the US and I guarantee you won't find a single thing that wasn't at some point acquired through a pirate site. If the law were strictly enforced, more than half the world would be behind bars. Society would just collapse because there wouldn't be anyone left to actually run things. You can't stop piracy; if anything, it’s only going to get more widespread, and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it. Those occasional high-profile arrests? That’s just theater—enough to make it look like the authorities are actually doing something. On a global scale, this is an impossible problem to solve.

rustydriver23 said:Even at my old school, they were running totally pirated versions of Windows....

As far as I know, the Department of Education is supposed to provide the software... or at least the funding for it. Even back in the day, maybe ten years ago when I was still in elementary school, we actually got those Pentium machines pre-loaded with legitimate Windows (man, I remember NT 4.0 🙂 ). We didn't even deal with anything illegal in high school, though those old Pentiums were mostly just collecting dust—though I'm pretty sure they had genuine Windows on them while we were stuck working on ancient 286s. And don't even get me started on college... I think they even hand out those cracked versions of Windows 😁
to the students.

Chris Ruiz10 said:Hi everyone,

I’ve run into a potentially massive issue and could use some guidance.

I have poured tens of thousands of dollars and years of my life into a specific project. Now, I am looking to commercialize it and actually turn a profit.

My main concern, however, is that the whole thing ends up on a torrent site, rendering all that hard work and lost time completely worthless.

Does anyone have advice on how to prevent this? 🤷

What would you do if you were in my shoes? How do you protect your intellectual property when your livelihood depends on it and you can't afford to give your work away for free?

Try implementing some heavy-duty DRM or high-level security protocols...

Chris Ruiz10 said:listen up, folks, read this carefully: YOU CANNOT JUST ADD PROTECTION (it’s not just some software thing)

Whatever. Honestly, it's kind of funny watching how people wrap their heads around this stuff. I'm sticking to my guns on quality—I'm hoping if someone actually goes through the trouble of adding protection, most people will still be decent enough to actually buy the product.

And one last thing: just because some people are out there stealing or running cracked versions doesn't mean I'm suddenly right or okay if I do the same. Stealing is stealing. Imagine some thief standing in front of a judge in New York or something, trying to argue: "Hey, everyone else is shoplifting too, so why am I the one getting thrown in jail?! Go catch all those other crooks first before you come after me for what I took." 🤣

http://www.oreans.com/winlicense.php

Check this out—either grab this program or find it on some random forum; usually, it works like that. There's basically zero chance anyone's gonna use this as piracy. You'd need to be some high-level hacker to even dream of cracking this protection, I guarantee it. 😍

Haha, let's be real—no security system is truly bulletproof. Especially nowadays, when you've got endless crowds of hackers dedicated entirely to cracking code and finding exploits. And as for torrenting? There’s no stopping that wave, and there's certainly no way one single person can shut it down.👎
I mean, come on—is there anyone out there who hasn't downloaded something via torrent at some point?☕

So, I was thinking—is it actually possible to build a piece of software that just... refuses to touch the internet? Like, zero connectivity, no online registration, nothing.
In that scenario, you’d basically be mailing physical copies to your customers, and they’d just pay you via check or something.
It just popped into my head! Maybe someone out there could actually turn that idea into a real product.

rapidowl7 said:Is it even possible to design software that can't be sent over the web or connect to the internet at all for things like registration?
In that scenario, you'd just mail it via USPS to customers and they could pay you directly...
Just an idea that popped into my head! Maybe someone out there will get inspired to build something like that...

You can send just about anything over the internet. Even bananas...🤣

rapidowl7 said:Is it even possible to build software that can't be sent over the internet or connect to the web at all, just to prevent registration or whatever?
In that case, you'd just mail the software to your customers and they could pay you via cash on delivery or something.
Just a random thought! Maybe someone out there gets inspired to build that kind of thing.

Yeah, that’s doable. Like, say I buy a piece of software $667 and hand it to a buddy. If he enters my serial number, the client side shows two identical codes, meaning two different machines are using the same license. You could pull that off using a hardware ID too.
Check out this screenshot of the software I'm building—it tracks duplicates to see who's actually running it. If anyone thinks total protection is possible, they're dreaming. But if you make the security so intense that nobody can actually use the damn thing, what's the point? Say someone's using it without paying; just push a 10-day trial through the client and call it a day. It's all just a matter of programming enough logic... you just have to put in the hours. You could set it up so an update runs every couple of days to check the hardware ID, the license key, and the registered name. If it detects two identical serials, it automatically kicks the software back into trial mode...

Image 1 (my client dashboard showing active users)

http://img404.imageshack.us/i/72385867.jpg/

And here's WinLicence for anyone interested. DM me for the link since posting it directly is against the rules.🙂

WinLicence
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/id2d.jpg/
http://img38.imageshack.us/i/id3d.jpg/
http://img12.imageshack.us/i/id4.jpg/
http://img206.imageshack.us/i/id5.jpg/

restlessnomad16 said:It’s definitely doable. For instance, I could just go ahead and buy the software... $667 I tell my buddy that if he enters his serial number on my machine, the client shows two identical codes... which basically means the license is being used on two different computers. You could also handle it using the hardware ID...

So, how exactly are you planning to run those checks if the computer you're installing the software on doesn't even have an internet connection?...

restlessnomad16 said:Suppose someone’s using the software without actually buying it... you just push a 10-day trial through the client and call it a day. It's all about the programming. It takes a lot of work upfront... Then, you could set up an update every two days to verify the hardware ID, the license key, and the registered user. If the system detects two identical serial numbers, it automatically forces the software back into trial mode...

That's the kind of protection Windows offers... but you're still running a pirated copy at home anyway... ☕

Chris Ruiz10 said:Listen up, folks—read this carefully: YOU CAN'T PROTECT IT (it’s not software)

Whatever, man. It's actually kind of cool seeing how people's heads work, though. I'm sticking to quality... hoping if someone does decide to put a lock on it, most people will just bite and buy the real thing anyway.

And one last thing: just because some people are out there pirating stuff doesn't mean I'm right or "okay" if I do the same. Stealing is stealing. Imagine some thief in an American courtroom arguing, "Hey, everyone else is stealing too, so why am I the one going to jail?!" Catch all the other thieves first before you come after me for what I took. 🤣

but seriously....why are you so paranoid about torrents if it isn't software? You scared someone's gonna download your mattress from a torrent site? Unless you've got private photos or design files sitting there...