Groups > comp.lang.basic.visual.misc > #915

Re: How do I start/stop a system service

From	"MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.basic.visual.misc, microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion
Subject	Re: How do I start/stop a system service
Date	2012-03-10 22:57 -0500
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<jjh7qr$npt$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(2 earlier) <jje0pr$n5o$1@dont-email.me> <jjfhbb$gho$1@dont-email.me> <jjg5q6$7a6$1@dont-email.me> <jjgm94$4vl$1@dont-email.me> <jjh1fi$u9n$1@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Gonna cut out a lot of the previous quotes because it's getting a tad 
lengthy.

>
> I display a notification at runtime about any missing dependencies, so 
> it's always fresh info. The app won't run otherwise, and so it puts it on 
> the end user to make sure WMI is running OR don't use my app!

Well that's not really a good approach IMO. It's kind of arrogant, actually. 
What you're really kind of saying is "I'm gonna collect information specific 
to your computer and if you don't like, you can't use my program."

And really?  Your app is not going to run if WMI isn't available? That's 
just not right.

>> And even if they did read it at one time, they could forget. Second 
>> assumption is that WMI is not disabled for whatever reason (which you 
>> mentioned). It boils down to this:  don't make your program dependent on 
>> things that you can't necessarily control. Now I don't know what hardware 
>> information you're trying to get, but I'd bet there's other ways besides 
>> using WMI to get it. Maybe there are API functions or perhaps you can 
>> even just get it from the Registry.
>
> If this was doable I'd probably go that route, though access to the 
> necessary keys may be restricted.

Almost everything in the Registry is readable. It's write permissions that 
are restricted.

>>
>> I just think what you're doing is not really "clean" and could be 
>> considered a little bit devious. I'm not saying there are bad or ill 
>> intentions behind what you're doing. If *I* were evaluating your program, 
>> I might very well choose not to use it.
>
> I'm just collecting machine-applicable hardware info for locking a license 
> to a specific machine. It may also be a USB thumbdrive if the users 
> ellects to create a 'portable' version for use on any machine running 
> Windows. I don't mind if users elect to not use my apps<g>!

To me, that's the wrong attitude. I take it your apps are shareware or 
something along the same lines? I used to be in that so I'm familiar with 
trying to protect your software. And that's fine. It's something that, 
sadly, you have to do. I don't think you're going about it the right way, 
though. I thought you were wanting to get hardware information for 
troubleshooting purposes and had users' consent to collect such information, 
not for copy protection. There are better ways to protect your software.

Mike

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Thread

How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-09 14:36 -0500
  Re: How do I start/stop a system service "MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu> - 2012-03-09 15:45 -0500
    Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-09 17:38 -0500
      Re: How do I start/stop a system service "MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu> - 2012-03-10 07:27 -0500
        Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-10 13:16 -0500
          Re: How do I start/stop a system service "MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu> - 2012-03-10 17:57 -0500
            Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-10 21:08 -0500
              Re: How do I start/stop a system service "MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu> - 2012-03-10 22:57 -0500
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-10 23:58 -0500
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service Jason Keats <jkeats@melbpcDeleteThis.org.au> - 2012-03-11 20:22 +1100
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-11 15:54 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service Jason Keats <jkeats@melbpcDeleteThis.org.au> - 2012-03-12 15:19 +1100
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-12 01:14 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Mike Williams" <Mike@WhiskyAndCoke.com> - 2012-03-11 09:20 +0000
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service "MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu> - 2012-03-11 19:11 -0400
              Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Mike Williams" <Mike@WhiskyAndCoke.com> - 2012-03-11 09:13 +0000
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-11 16:19 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service "MikeD" <nobody@nowhere.edu> - 2012-03-11 19:23 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> - 2012-03-11 20:54 -0500
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-11 22:12 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> - 2012-03-12 09:57 -0500
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-12 13:24 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-12 13:59 -0400
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Henning" <computer_hero@coldmail.com> - 2012-03-12 22:46 +0100
                Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-12 18:59 -0400
  Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Farnsworth" <nospam@nospam.com> - 2012-03-09 16:01 -0500
    Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-09 17:36 -0500
      Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Farnsworth" <nospam@nospam.com> - 2012-03-09 18:55 -0500
        Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-09 21:30 -0500
          Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Farnsworth" <nospam@nospam.com> - 2012-03-11 11:14 -0500
  Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Jeff Johnson" <I.get@enough.spam> - 2012-03-09 17:41 -0500
    Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-09 18:23 -0500
      Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> - 2012-03-10 09:24 -0500
        Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-10 13:06 -0500
          Re: How do I start/stop a system service "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> - 2012-03-10 14:11 -0500
            Re: How do I start/stop a system service GS <gs@somewhere.net> - 2012-03-10 15:25 -0500

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