How Activation Works

Activation

By activating Dacris Benchmarks you unlock all of its features. To activate you need an activation key first by ordering the Dacris Benchmarks full version. Once you have that activation key there are two ways to activate.

1. You can use Tools -> Activate from the menu.
2. You can activate when Dacris Benchmarks starts by clicking Yes on the Trial Version message box.

To activate, follow these steps:

1. Type in your activation key, select either Online or Email, and press OK.

Online

If you click OK to activate online, Dacris Benchmarks will begin the online activation process. Dacris Benchmarks begins by downloading an encrypted key to access Dacris Software's activation server. If this step fails (if you do not have a connection to the Internet, or if Dacris Software's server is down) you receive the error message "Could not connect to the server! Make sure you have an active Internet connection." during the Connecting to server phase. The best thing to do in this case is try again later. If this problem continues to occur, submit a support request to Dacris Software. After this step is complete, the Authorizing phase begins. During this phase Dacris Benchmarks connects to the Dacris Software server using the encrypted key that was downloaded. If this fails, you get an error message "Could not open Internet connection to server. The process will end.". The probable cause is either an incomplete download of the key or a failure to login to the server. This could often occur if the key required to login is changed. After this phase, Dacris Benchmarks goes into the Downloading Activation Data phase. A list of valid activation keys is downloaded to the user's hard drive. After this step, the Checking Activation Key phase begins. If the list of activation keys was not downloaded correctly, an error message "Error: Cannot find online activation data!" is given. In this case it is best to try again later. If the data was downloaded correctly, Dacris Benchmarks compares the key that you typed in with the keys from the list, to see if your key is valid. If it is, Dacris Benchmarks proceeds to the Sending new activation data phase. After this step, Dacris Benchmarks prompts you if you'd like to win a thousand dollars. If you press Yes, you will be redirected to our prize page. Ha ha, just kidding. Upon entering this phase, a list of the keys that are currently active is downloaded from Dacris Software. This is different from the list of activation keys, because it contains only those keys which belong to users of Dacris Benchmarks. The list is read, and is checked to make sure that you're not trying to use the same key twice on different computers. If you use the same key on more computers than you're allowed, you will be given the error "Too many copies of this product have been activated under the same key!". NOTE: You can re-activate on the same computer as many times as you want, without necessarily deactivating, as long as the hardware configuration (i.e. RAM size, hard disks, etc.) remains the same. If no errors occur, Dacris Benchmarks proceeds and adds your activation key to the list that it downloaded. Then, the new list is uploaded to the Dacris Software server. This is the crucial part of the whole activation. If this step fails, other users of Dacris Benchmarks may be affected as well. If an error occurs during this step, an error message "Could not completely send the activation data. This is a fatal error and it could corrupt the data on Dacris Software\'s servers, affecting other Dacris Software customers!" will be given. In this case, it is best to contact Dacris Software as soon as possible, as the data might have become corrupted and may affect other users that try to activate. If this step succeeds, Dacris Benchmarks proceeds to write the activation data on the computer to confirm that Dacris Benchmarks has been activated.

By E-mail

If you do not have an Internet connection, or you have a firewall that does not allow you to activate Dacris Benchmarks via Internet, you can use E-mail activation. This is just as reliable and complete as Internet activation, except it takes longer since it's done by e-mail.

For E-mail activation:

1. After selecting Email and pressing OK, press Cancel to the next message box. This will generate a file with three values that you must submit to Dacris Software by e-mail, from a computer that has an Internet connection. You may wish to print the file generated by Dacris Benchmarks.
2. Compose an e-mail message from the computer with Internet access, with the data from the text file that was generated, and send it to contact@dacris.com .
3. After you receive a reply with the activation code from Dacris Software, activate again by following the steps below. Note: The activation code is different from the activation key in that it depends entirely on a certain system's configuration. It is a number generated from hardware information received by Dacris Benchmarks.
4. Choose Tools -> Activate from the menu or press Activate when Dacris Benchmarks starts up.
5. Type in your activation key (the key received initially after ordering), select Email activation, and press OK.
6. Press OK.
7. Type the activation code received in the e-mail reply from Dacris Software.
8. Press OK. Now, Dacris Benchmarks verifies if your computer matches the activation code.
9. If it does, Dacris Benchmarks becomes activated. If there's a problem, make sure that you activate on the correct computer (the one without Internet access).

Deactivation

You may need to deactivate if you upgrade your system substantially or before you reformat or reinstall Windows. Deactivation removes all of your activation data from Dacris Software's server, making your copy of Dacris Benchmarks a trial version again. In a very rare case, there is a slight chance that your key may be stolen by someone else (if the key is known by anyone else), after you deactivate. If it is, and after you deactivate you get an error that your key is already used, please contact us and we will restore your key.

For deactivation:

1. Connect to the Internet.
2. From the Tools menu choose Deactivate.
3. Wait until the process completes.
4. Press OK when the success message box pops up.

After deactivating, Dacris Benchmarks becomes a trial version again until you activate it.

Q&A

Q: What has changed in version 4.9?
A: In version 4.9, the activation procedure has changed slightly. The activation data has been optimized to improve activation speed.

Q: Why did you use such a complicated online system for activation? Why didn't you use a simple serial number unlocking mechanism without Internet access?
A: We are a rather small company and cannot tolerate extensive software piracy (casual copying). We would not be able to bring you such quality software if we did not have a complex and secure method of protecting it against piracy. We figured that we would lose far fewer customers by enforcing an online activation system than by leaving our software open to pirates. With this release (Version 4.0 of Dacris Software Activation), we have made the process easier than ever, and we will continue to try to meet our customers' demands for this new technology.

Q: Microsoft has an activation system very similar to yours in Windows XP and Office XP. Did you make an activation system because Microsoft did?
A: No, as a matter of fact, our online activation system started in November of 2000, when Windows XP and Office XP did not have any sort of activation, and the concept of activation did not even exist. We believe that all software companies should enforce this new type of software registration since it can increase their profits and reduce worldwide software piracy.

Q: What would be the point of this activation system if it can easily be hacked?
A: All software is hackable. We did not mention that our activation system is unhackable. However, this system will help in the prevention of casual copying. Casual copying has been done by almost all users of software. It involves copying a certain application and providing the serial number for it to family or friends. These casual copiers do not have the knowledge or the patience to hack the activation system. Therefore, our activation system is still very successful in preventing casual copying.

Q: I have a firewall running and Dacris Benchmarks locks up during the activation process.
A: Try to disable the firewall before you activate. If you cannot disable the firewall, use the E-mail activation feature as described earlier in this article.

Q: Can I activate Dacris Benchmarks on two different operating systems on the same computer?
A: Sure! Dacris Software Activation supports this feature since June, 2001, with build 4088 of Dacris Benchmarks.

Do you have a question about the Dacris Benchmarks activation process? Click here to send it along.

Copyright © 2002 Dacris Software. Last Updated February 2, 2002.