Abstract: A method for indicating the integrity of the use-information of a program, comprising: providing a mechanism based on the state of a marker file (being one or more files dedicated especially for this purpose) for generating upon request an asymmetric (i.e. can be read by a user but cannot be altered by him) and unique or pseudo-unique value; instructing the mechanism to generate a value; sealing the use-information with the generated value; and indicating the integrity of the sealed data by the correspondence of the stored value with the current value returned by the mechanism. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the information is stored in a secure manner (e.g. encrypted, digitally signed, and so forth). The invention may be implemented in any licensing model in which the use-information is important, like a Try before you Buy model, renting a program, and so forth.

Abstract: A method for hiding information on a computer, comprising: storing said information in one or more storage entries (e.g. file, registry entry), having a name that is derived in a secret manner from the identity (e.g. serial number) of one or more computer components. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, deriving a name in a secret manner from the identity of one or more computer components is carried out by: generating a pseudo-random sequence, the seed of said sequence derived from the identity of said one or more computer components; and deriving a name from one or more value of said pseudo-random sequence. The computer components may be hardware and/or software modules, e.g. CPU, a computer chip, a computer program, the BIOS, a file (the name of a file, the ID of a file, the physical location of a file), the volume name of a disk, etc.

Abstract: A method for indicating the integrity of the use-information of a program, comprising: providing a mechanism based on the state of a marker file (being one or more files dedicated especially for this purpose) for generating upon request an asymmetric (i.e. can be read by a user but cannot be altered by him) and unique or pseudo-unique value; instructing the mechanism to generate a value; sealing the use-information with the generated value; and indicating the integrity of the sealed data by the correspondence of the stored value with the current value returned by the mechanism. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the information is stored in a secure manner (e.g. encrypted, digitally signed, and so forth). The invention may be implemented in any licensing model in which the use-information is important, like a Try before you Buy model, renting a program, and so forth.