New build for Activation center (ACEN) has been released.

What's new:

[+] Security options extended

New brute force protection options:

'Log event' - if enabled, brute force protection events will be logged.

'Notify admin' - if enabled, notification email about temporarily banned host will be delivered to selected admin user.

Brute force protection is currently implemented for the following segments of ACEN web site:

- standard login page authentication (login errors are tracked)

- new client account page (invalid serial number errors are tracked)

- web service authentication (credentials failures are tracked)

- all web licensing methods which do not require any authentication (method errors are tracked).

DDos protection options added.

'Period' - Ddos tracking period in seconds. Host tracking data is reset after this period of time.

'Min wait time' - Minimum period of time between requests in seconds.

'Max requests' - Maximum allowed number of requests per defined tracking period.

Notifications

Use Recipient option to select administrator user which will receive security notifications in case 'Notify admin' option is enabled for brute force or ddos protection.

[+] Permanent bans page added

This page is used for managing permanently banned hosts. Hosts can be automatically temporarily banned by brute force protection or automatically permanently banned by ddos protection or manually banned by administrator user.

Banned host will not be able to use login page, new client account page and all web service methods.

Bans page can be accessed from main admin dashboard (Audit: Bans).

Ban single host

Enter valid host ip address and click on + button to add host address to the list of permanently banned hosts.

Unban single host

Enter valid host ip address and click on - button or click on blue trash can (table row) icon to delete host directly from the list.

Check if host is permanently banned

Enter valid host ip address and click on search button.

Delete all banned hosts

Click on red trash can button to delete all hosts.

Show all banned hosts

Click on 'Show all' button to display all currently permanently banned hosts.

[+] New web service method: ValidateSerialNumber

This method will validate serial number.

Return values

In case serial number is valid Result.Status will return STATUS_SUCCESS.

In case of error this method will always return STATUS_SERIAL_NUMBER_INVALID error code.

Notes

Detailed information about serial number validation error will not be provided for security reasons since no authorization is required for this method. Validation error may be result of invalid ProgramID value, invalid SerialNumber value or in case serial number is valid but is blacklisted.

If serial number is valid Result.Description will not include information about serial number id and features.

By default, brute force protection is enabled for all web service methods. This method includes additional wait time protection and wait time is increased each time invalid serial number is provided to this method.

[+] View program button added to Order panel.

It is now possible to easily access Program data from Order panel.

[*] MID code added to licenses filter control.

Licenses can now be additionally filtered by site code, mid code and license note.

[+] Licenses filter control added to web licenses grid.

[*] Multiple other optimizations and fixes.

[>] UPGRADING NOTES:

If you are upgrading from previous (05.00.20) version be sure to run included database upgrade script (5.00.20-5.00.30.sql).

Existing bans (if any) will be automatically moved to new table.

General upgrading procedure is available here.

New PC Guard Software Protection System update has been released. This update is highly recommended for all PC Guard users.

What's new:

[+] Languages settings panel added to Customization settings.

Language editor is used for managing languages and messages which are shared among all projects on computer where PC Guard is installed.

Languages settings panel is used for managing languages setting which are valid per project.

Default project language.

In previous releases, default language was the one selected in Language editor which was somehow confusing so we decided to move this option from Language editor to separate project settings.

Default project language will be used as primary user interface language for protected application.

If required, default language can also be changed from command line for protected application by using -PCG_CL_LANGUAGE option.

Optional languages to be included in protected application.

Default language is always enabled. Other languages are optional. Since messages for each language take space in resulting protected application, turning off languages which are not required will also decrease final size of protected application.

More info...

[+] New languages (translations for UI messages) added to default language file which is distributed with PC Guard.

New languages are: Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

New languages are now included in default language file (pcguard.lng) which is distributed with PC Guard.

Note: When upgrading existing installation of PC Guard new languages will not be automatically visible in language editor. This is because PC Guard will use existing  language file on that computer which may already include some custom languages you've setup before.

More info..

[+] Command line interface for protected application improvement.

Command line interface for protected application is still by default turned ON but can now be turned OFF with single option.

Save button is no longer available. Option name and enabled status are now automatically updated when changed which makes process of enabling, disabling and changing of parameter name much easier and faster.

More info...

[*] Protection wizard improvements.

Existing dialogs are reordered and the following new pages are added to protection wizard: Password protection, IP filtering, Command line settings and Language settings.

[*] License transfer feature is no longer automatically enabled if TransferLicense protection interface function is detected in application and in case license transfer feature is enabled. Instead, information about detected function will be displayed with a prompt for continuing protection process.

[*] Reset (local) license button moved from General setting to Project menu.

Instead of going to General settings and clicking on License reset button local license data can now be deleted by using "Reset local license status" option from Project menu.

[*] Project settings and languages saving process has been optimized.

[!] If language is renamed in language editor custom buttons language will also be automatically renamed.

[!] Multiple other minor fixes and optimizations.

[>] Interface dll has been updated. Please be sure to update existing version with latest one.

With challenging 2020 just around the corner, we want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very healthy and happy festive season!

We appreciate your business and we want to thank you for your continued confidence in our products and services and especially for your feedback to help us find ways to improve our service for you.

New PC Guard Software Protection System update has been released. This update is highly recommended for all PC Guard users.

What's new:

[+] ACEN web licensing: "On license removal" action added to settings.

Use this option to select action after license is removed by end user via activation dialog. 

Available actions:

"show removal code & exit" - protected application will show dialog with removal code so that user can save it if required and then exit.

"exit" - protected application will just close without showing removal code.

Note: End user will be able to remove license only if license removal feature is enabled and limited license feature is disabled.

More info...

[+] New command line option for protected application:

-PCG_CL_LANGUAGE [Language name]

Use this option to set default user interface language from command line.

Language name is the name of language as set in language editor.

Example: protected.exe -PCG_CL_LANGUAGE German

[+] ACEN web licensing: web licensing modules version check added.

[!] Multiple minor fixes and optimizations.

[>] Web licensing modules have been updated. 

[>] Interface dll has been updated. Please be sure to update existing version with latest one.

New PC Guard Software Protection System update has been released. This update is highly recommended for all PC Guard users.

What's new:

[#] ACEN web licensing settings have been reorganized.

Main ACEN web licensing tab includes ACEN server settings, ACEN program ID and information about installed web licensing modules.

Settings tab include "If activation fails" and "If license is reset or expired" actions and settings which manage displaying of exceptions and standard errors.

Tasks tab include "License alive report" and "License validation" post activation tasks settings.

[*] ACEN Web licensing: "Check if license is removed" task is now "License validation" task.

Instead of only checking if license is removed from ACEN, license validation task will now also update local license in case license in ACEN is updated.

ACEN administrator users can change expiration dates for existing web licenses. License validation task will detect these changes and update originally issued license with new expiration date.

NOTE: This feature requires latest version of ACEN (05.00.20)

[+] ACEN Web licensing: "If license is changed" action added to license validation task.

Available actions:

"update license & show message" - protected application will update local license and show "License successfully updated." message. This message (License_Updated) can be changed in language editor.

"update license" - protected application will update local license without showing notification message.

[+] ACEN Web licensing: "If activation fails" action and custom exit code options added.

Available "If activation fails" actions:

"show error and exit" - protected application will display error message and exit.

"exit" - protected application will just exit without showing any error message.

If custom exit code for activation failure is left to default value (0) protected application will return status code returned by ACEN. 

Otherwise, protected application will return custom exit code value.

[+] ACEN Web licensing: "If license is reset or expired" action and custom exit code options added to post activation settings.

Available "If license is reset or expired" actions:

"show error and exit" - protected application will display error message and exit.

"exit" - protected application will just exit without showing any error message.

"show error and reactivate license" - protected application will display error message and then automatically try to reactivate license.

"reactivate license" - protected application will automatically try to reactivate license.

Error messages are:

"Machine locking error" (Remote_Error)

This message is displayed in case of machine locking error as defined by machine locking policy.

"License expired!" (License_Expired)

This message is displayed in case license expires or in case system clock is turned backward and "Reset license in case of invalid system time" option is enabled. Use "Allow system time adjustments of up to x minutes" option to set allowed system time adjustments.

[#] ACEN web licensing: new standard error messages:

- Invalid_Activation_Code ("Invalid Activation code!")

- RPUI_SN_Invalid ("Serial number is invalid!")

[#] ACEN web licensing: license alive and license validation task are now enabled by default.

[#] Protection interface: RemoveLicense function will remove local license even if license removal feature was not enabled in project settings.

In case of application protected with ACEN web licensing enabled this function will remove local license only. ACEN web license will not be removed.

[#] Multiple post activation tasks options have been renamed:

“Make license alive (active) report to ACEN server” -> “License alive (active) report”

“Check if license is removed from ACEN server” -> “License validation”

“If check fails” -> “If validation fails”

“If removed” -> “If license is removed”

[!] Final step of protection wizard was not enabling view report and test buttons after successful protection process.

[>] Interface dll has been updated. Please be sure to update existing version with latest one.