Software companies have many different ways of protecting their
programs from being copied, but no one way works perfectly. If
someone is hellbent on using a pirated program, they will usually
find a way to do so, but copy protection causes most people to
shrug, give up, quit the program, and move on.
The most common way of protecting a commercial program is the use of registration numbers. When one first starts the program, a dialog box will pop up asking the user for their registration code. If he or she actually bought the program, they should have no trouble providing the code, but if the software is a pirated copy, without the registration code the program is useless. To combat this, monthly files filled with serial numbers and simple program hacks constantly circulate over the Internet
Software companies also use their manuals to protect software, usually for games. In this case, when a program is opened, a dialog box or a small puzzle will appear that can only be solved with clues/answers from the manuals. To get around this, there are more small hacks that circulate as well as text-file copies of the information from the manuals necessary to bypass the copy protection. Programs that ask for manual information are not highly regarded because of the nuisance of having to have the manual handy and enter a code each time the application is launched.
These are the two most common ways for software companies to protect pirating amongst individuals. So how should business software, which rarely contains copy protection devices, be policed? The SPA's solution to that is to perform a 'raid' (also known as an 'audit') on a business suspected of illegally copying one or two licensed copies of programs onto a number of computers. If a business is raided, members of the FBI and the Secret Service will enter the business's offices and take inventory on what software is being used on what computer and whether or not it is licensed. The scare of being raided has caused the niche market for software inventory-management systems and tracking systems to blossom in the last two years or so.