The feature allows the user to make the USB dongle for network license from a normal USB flash drive, and update the network license remotely. To enable the feature, start ElecKey Integrator. Choose the Application License type as 'USB License (Dongle)', and choose the Integration Task as 'Build End-User Utilities for Network Key'.

The Key system is improved to better analyze unreliable hardware values returned from some hardware device firmware that may cause the error "Invalid Key device" without any hardware change.

The ElecKey Reference Help is updated with the end-user licensing support information that can be useful in setting a licensing policy, handling the licensing issues, and proving the claims made by the user.

The PayPal KeyGen now supports SHA-256 IPN in accordance to PayPal announcement on merchant security upgrades, which will be effective by June 17, 2016. Customers using PayPal KeyGen must update the latest version of Activation Server (V2.0.8.45) to avoid any disruption of PayPal IPN interface with the Activation Server. (More details: https://www.sciensoft.com/support/eleckey/paypal-keygen-sha256).

The KeyCheck SDK for Windows Mobile added the ability to create and detect the Key on the first storage card of the Windows Mobile device. This supports ARM CPU only.

The system uses the Internet time synchronization to correct the date stamp in the Key automatically in case of the "Invalid date" error. This error may occur in the time-based protection (e.g. evaluation, subscription) when the system clock is set backward to the date before the most recent date stamp in the Key.

The improvement helps to load the ElecKey tools (e.g. ElecKey Integrator, LicenseKey Manager,...) faster that may be an issue on some machine.

The option enables the protected application to provide the Registration ID with an extension that includes information about the current license status from the Key on the user machine.

You can enter the extended Registration ID with current license status into LicenseKey Manager, and click 'Check and get User License Status'. The user license status (e.g. license mode, limits, and enabled Module IDs) will be displayed in the Key Properties pane.

The improvement resolved the rare and random occurrence of the error "Invalid Agent!" on some user machine when starting the protected application.

The fix solved the problem that ElecKey Integrator sometimes does not create the end-user utilities as defined in the template file.

Licensed Item IDs provides a list of Item IDs (1 -224) that allows you to enable/disable for item-based licensing. For example, your application may provide a large set of items such as font types, images, languages, etc. You can assign a different Item ID to each of the items. You can also provide license upgrades to add more items through Item IDs.

The advanced Key Data allows you to use Key Data to store custom licensing properties you may define such as upgradable values or credits for your application. With support for string addition, you can also provide license upgrades through Key Data. For example, you can issue a License Key to add the new Key Data to the Key on the user machine.

You can now switch between ElecKey licenses in case you want to activate multiple licenses of the same ElecKey edition on a machine.

The improvement fixes the issue that the protected application cannot activate license on some Mac machine.

The KeyCheck Java Library includes a set of libraries for Java that allows you to integrate the software protection and licensing system into your application. The KeyCheck Java Library currently supports Windows and Mac OS X.

You can make the USB License Key as a connect-less dongle, which allows the user to install the Key on to a hard drive as Machine License for convenience as well as saving a USB slot. The user only needs to connect the USB dongle within every specified interval (e.g. 30 days).

USB LicenseKey Manager can now check the USB flash drive specifications and determine if they meet the technical standards required to make the dongle. Since some USB flash drive may not meet the technical standards (for example, it lacks the unique device ID), USB LicenseKey Manager also provides an alternative method to make the dongle. However, this method will result in the dongle with substandard security, which may be at risk of dongle duplication.

The tools packer allows you to select the ElecKey tools that you want to put together and create a cabinet (CAB) file. So you can provide a setup package that contains only the needed tools to your teams, instead of using the full ElecKey setup package.

The new License Key version LK2.0.8.24 improves security and licensing capabilities. It is the default licensing scheme used in ElecKey version 2.0.8.24 and onwards. The application using the License Key version LK2.0.0.0 (i.e. protected by ElecKey before version 2.0.8.24) is still compatible with the current ElecKey version 2.0.8.4 and higher.

Genuine license validation provides extra security to protect the application against piracy. The protected application automatically connects to the Activation Server in background process to determine if the license is activated properly. If the application does not pass genuine validation, it invalidates the license, or sets the non-genuine flag (which you can access via the API and perform the action as you want).

The SetBackgroundCheckAndValidation() function checks the license and performs license update, license validation, and genuine validation through the Activation Server in background process.

The Remake utility is improved with the automatic activation option. It can connect to the Activation Server to authenticate the Activation Key before remaking and activating the license automatically in one step. It is recommended that you provide the Remake utility with automatic activation to the user because it is more secure with authentication to the server before allowing the remake.

The product upgrade lets you upgrade license (e.g. features), activation, and subscription renewal to accounts in the Activation Server. Besides, it also supports ecommerce integration with PayPal and Share-it. The demo pages are available below.

PayPal product payment demo: https://demo.eleckey.net/paypal_order.html

PayPal upgrade payment demo: https://demo.eleckey.net/paypal_upgrade_demo_guide.html

The UpdateShield Builder tool (included in ElecKey PLUS editions) was revamped to include the management capability. It features a project list pane that you can easily create and manage projects containing properties and settings for different applications and versions.

The LicenseGen Web Service provides licensing methods in the web service platform, giving you greater flexibility to integrate the licensing system into your environment. For example, your website and databases are on a Linux server. It can interface with the licensing system through the web service.

The UpdateLimitKeyAndProcessKeyValue() function updates the Key properties and limits, together with processing the Key Value check. The function can help to increase security and protect against code tracing attempts.

The General Evaluation implementation is used to protect an application as a trial version in which the user can use it right away without needing an evaluation key. The security improvement allows the application to better track the evaluation license and protect against any attempt to reuse the trial version after it is expired.

The NetKey Manager utility and NetKey Manager .NET Component added the logging feature to access the history log on the NetKey License Server.

The USB LicenseKey Manager provides a new option to make the USB License Key as a node-locked dongle, which must be initialized and tied to a specific machine before use. The initialization saves the machine hardware signatures to the Key on the USB dongle, which will be verified when the protected application detects the Key. The node-locked dongle can provide extra security to protect against any attempt to clone the dongle.

The licensing system added the Year mode that allows you to set the period limit up to 32 years, when generating the license for the protected application.

The ManagedExpiration feature enables the Activation Server to manage and maintain the integrity of the expiration for time-based licensing such as subscription. Specifically, the Activation Server can keep track of the account activations and automatically calculates the current available MaxDayPeriod (based on the server time) when generating the License Key in response to the license activation request.

The ManagedExecution feature enables the Activation Server to manage and maintain the integrity of the execution limit for usage-based licensing. Specifically, the Activation Server can keep track of the current license status of the Key on the client machine (during license deactivation) and use it to set the current execution count when generating the License Key in response to the license activation request.

The added option allows to you execute the Updater via a command line or Windows API function e.g. ShellExecute(). It provides an alternative simple method to interface your program with the Updater for automatic software update. You can just add one line of code in your program to invoke the Updater.

The HTML Dialog Box feature was improved, and now supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows applications.

The Activation Server now supports multiple email templates. You can create a different email template to fit for each different product.

The Activation Server now allows you to add more tags (e.g. ) in the email template. You can define more tags by adding the field names from the Products and Accounts tables in the Web.Config file.

The Transfer.exe and Destroy.exe end-user utilities were improved that can deactivate (or destroy) the license automatically after uninstalling the application. This feature must be used with the Activation Server version 2.0.8.6 or higher.

ElecKey MAX is the new edition that offers cross-platform support, allowing you to protect applications for Windows and Mac OS X. It also offers an integrated license management solution under a single platform. You can use the licensing tools (including LicenseKey Manager, USB LicenseKey Manager, NetKey License Server, and Activation Server) to issue licenses for your application for Windows and Mac OS X.

ElecKey 2.0 Release 8 offers the KeyCheck API that provides cross-platform support for both Windows and Mac OS X. The API for Mac OS X provides the same set of functions and class libraries as in the Windows version, allowing you to easily reuse the same code to protect your application developed by Xcode using Objective-C or C++ languages. The KeyCheck API for Mac OS X is available in ElecKey MAX editions.

Key Inspector for Mac OS X is a development tool that allows you to inspect the Key system implemented on the Mac machine. It searches all the Keys found on the machine and displays the status of the Key, including Program ID and Key Properties. The tool can be very useful during the development phase, allowing you to track the license status and see if the protected application works as expected.

ElecKey Team Manager is the tool that allows you to manage the ElecKey license among your teams or departments. You can restrict or grant permission for different teams to use only certain tools and features of ElecKey, or for a limited time period. For example, the development team is given permission to use the protection and testing tools only, while the licensing team is given permission use to the license management tools. So the teams can collaborate without compromising the security of your software. ElecKey Team Manager is available in ElecKey Corporate license.

The Upgrade table allows you to create and manage the upgrades for your products. You can define the licensing properties for the upgrades, for example, adding modules/features, renewing subscriptions. And, from the Control page, you can easily upgrade the user account by selecting an upgrade from the list. The upgrade transactions will also be saved and displayed in the history log.

The Activation Server added a page to allow you to define program/module names. So you can easily refer to the programs by names, instead of Program IDs.