Sued by Altium - Don't Do What I Did!

[JohnG]

IANAL, but I don't think the 'you didn't sue me for X time therefore you can never sue me ever' argument holds any legal weight. I certainly know that a lot of licensing agreements I've seen have a specific clause saying something to the effect that failure to take action against any particular violation of the agreement is not a waiver of the right to take action against that or any other violation at any future point in time. 

This is not what has been said. You can just about always sue anyone for anything, or close. It's whether you win or lose the suit. And, it is a tough thing to win on, to be sure. But, it is not impossible, just unlikely and expensive, so highly risky to pursue as a legal remedy.

It's also risky to buy a license from someone overseas in Bitcoin, at least it would appear so to me.

Gotta say, though, it does not make me think of Altium as a company to do business with unless you don't have a better choice. Unfortunately, that's the reality for some.

[nctnico]

One theory about this type of behavior is they want to hook newbies and others on the SW.  Big companies know that few on this category can or will pay big bucks for the software.  But given the large investment in learning the UI will pay up when they "go pro".

Eh, maybe, but the simpler explanation is just prioritization of legal resources.  Somebody designing hobby PCBs at home for fun using a pirated version is a) less likely to have the resources to buy a license in the first place, let alone be able to pay license fees + penalties if legal action is taken b) less likely to be *profiting* from the pirated software and c) part of a very large number of people in similar circumstances.  Since a larger company is more likely to have money to put towards legit licenses as well as penalties (and may have multiple pirated licenses), be risk averse enough to want to be resolve the issue quickly (if only to cover their own asses), be profiting from the use of the pirated software the return on the expenditure of resources is much better for going after them.

I disagree. How much does it cost to send a letter or an email to somebody? It doesn't even have to be a threatening letter; it just has to say 'according to us you are using a non-registerd copy of Altium. Please check your license with your local Altium dealer'. There are likely a whole bunch of people out there that got scammed who would like to use an official Altium license.

Also there is no agreement in effect because the OP didn't buy an official Altium license. So anything that is beyond copyright in the license agreement has no value where it comes to users of pirated copies. You can not keep somebody to an agreement that was never made.

[Jester]

I have purchased numerous legitimate copies of Altium over the past 30 years starting way back when it was called Tango and then Protel.

If you have a private license server, and if you have selected the don’t phone home (Altium) option. Does Altium actually respect that and not phone home?

How does one go about verifying that Altium does not have a port open to the mother ship?

[HighVoltage]

How does one go about verifying that Altium does not have a port open to the mother ship?

Install a good firewall.

Choose a setup that notifies you when anything want to connect to the network.
Actually when you do, you will be surprised of all the software that wants to call home.

As I said earlier, I got in trouble once with a corporate customer and since then I am using a firewall on all my visits to a client.

[Jester]

How does one go about verifying that Altium does not have a port open to the mother ship?

Install a good firewall.

Choose a setup that notifies you when anything want to connect to the network.
Actually when you do, you will be surprised of all the software that wants to call home.

As I said earlier, I got in trouble once with a corporate customer and since then I am using a firewall on all my visits to a client.

I'm looking for some guidance regarding Altium and firewall settings. I no longer have a support contract with Altium and I do have a legitimate private license server. I do not want Altium communicating with their servers, I don't see why it should be if I no longer have support.

Windows10FirewallControl is notifying me that both dxpSecurityService.exe as well as dxp.exe are attempting to make a connection. The option for No, I wish to remain disconnected from Altium is selected.

From my understanding Altium does need to get permission from the private license server, however my understanding is that should not require an outboard connection.

The correct settings for Windows Firewall control are not obvious to me:
Beyond the Enable and Disable all settings, there is a Apply permissions Zone, and the recommended setting for dxp.exe is Peer2PeerZone

Should I simply disable all or will that prevent the license server from validating Altium or should I enable Peer2Peer?

[HighVoltage]

For a software like Altium, you for sure select "Disable All" at first.
Later you can open some ports / connections, depending if needed.

I my experience for most CAD applications, I have them on "Disable All" all the time.

[voltsandjolts]

Is there a good firewall manager program for folks who don't (want) to know anything about networking firewalls?
(asking for a friend )

[HighVoltage]

Is there a good firewall manager program for folks who don't (want) to know anything about networking firewalls?
(asking for a friend )

Choose the free or basic version
https://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html

[Jester]

For a software like Altium, you for sure select "Disable All" at first.
Later you can open some ports / connections, depending if needed.

I my experience for most CAD applications, I have them on "Disable All" all the time.

With Disable all, the private license server does not validate Altium.

dxpsecurityservice.exe wants to communicate on TCP: 21001 as well as UDP: 20002

 I'm pretty sure the private license server is on port 21001

If I enable port 21001, does that just allow communication between the private license server and the Altium program, or does it allow Altium to communicate with Altium servers over the internet?

[thm_w]

Is the private license server running on another PC? If its on the same PC kinda surprised if it doesn't work.

If another local PC you can allow IP ranges in windows firewall:
Once you've added the application "ex.exe" whatever, open it in windows firewall list and click on the Scope tab.

Depending on if you are using Allow or Block. If I use Allow, then I can choose allow all local IPs. Although might still want to put in a range just in case, 192.168.0.2 to 255 or whatever.

[Jester]

Is the private license server running on another PC? If its on the same PC kinda surprised if it doesn't work.

If another local PC you can allow IP ranges in windows firewall:
Once you've added the application "ex.exe" whatever, open it in windows firewall list and click on the Scope tab.

Depending on if you are using Allow or Block. If I use Allow, then I can choose allow all local IPs. Although might still want to put in a range just in case, 192.168.0.2 to 255 or whatever.

The private license server is on the same PC. The firewall I’m using has about a dozen options for zone that I can select for that port. One of the options is LAN, it’s just not clear to me if that option actually means local as in no communication to the outside world?

[thm_w]

LAN would imply no connection to the outside world yes.
WAN is outside.

Didn't realize, apparently some firewalls will block within the same PC, some will not by default: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11302705/will-a-firewall-block-local-tcp-communication-between-processes