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 Overview > Activation MethodsSoftwareShield Activation Methods | The SoftwareShield DRM Kit provides you and your team with a wide variety of options of how you can control and manipulate the licenses on your client machines. Controlling your user’s license is performed via a process generally referred to as "Activation". Activation normally involves a "code exchange". In a code exchange, various codes are sent and received, either automatically or manually, to and from the client and your server-side logic or your staff. Using SoftwareShield, you do not have to create special builds for different geographic locations (requiring separate localization). SoftwareShield allows you to have a single build of your product for multiple simultaneous locales, meaning you do not have to create different builds for distribution through retail (off-the-shelf) versus electronic software delivery. Click on the diagram to the right to see a few of the Activation Method possibilities you can achieve. | 
| Activation Methods - Activating your Software Online Fully-Automatically with CheckPoint License Server
Activating your software online automatically is achieved by using SoftwareShield in your application to connect to and communicate with SoftwareShield’s CheckPoint License Server. While no human intervention is required, an Internet connection is. You can only perform fully-automated activations when using the CheckPoint License Server included in the SoftwareShield DRM Kit. CheckPoint is included with the Server and IronWrap editions of SoftwareShield. - Activating your Software Manually (online with CheckPoint License Server)
Activating your software manually (online with CheckPoint License Server) is achieved by using SoftwareShield’s ClientProtector in your application to receive manual input from the user and your staff using the SoftwareShield Manual-Activator to connect to and communicate with the SoftwareShield CheckPoint License Server. While no internet connection is required at the user’s location, your staff must have an Internet connection to the CheckPoint License Server and physically operate the software. CheckPoint is included with SoftwareShield’s Server and IronWrap editions. - Activating Your Software Manually (Off-line)
Activating your software manually (off-line) is achieved by using the SoftwareShield ClientProtector in your application to receive manual input from the user and your staff using the Manual-Activator to generate Activation Codes directly from the license. No Internet connection is required at either location. Your staff must physically operate the software. You can perform manual off-line activation using any edition of SoftwareShield. - Build Your Own Activator (with COM-Activator)
If your business process includes a mechanism for authenticating users who have the right to activate your software and you have your own in-house tools and development team for providing customer relationship management (CRM) functionality, you may wish to consider building your own Activator with SoftwareShield's COM-Activator. The COM-Activator is a simple COM component that can be created and accessed from virtually any environment that supports COM. This is every high-level language in use and even includes server-side scripting languages that could allow you to integrate it into a web-application. The COM-Activator provides equivalent programmatic functionality to the Manual-Activator’s off-line features. The COM-Activator comes with all editions of the SoftwareShield, except the Professional Edition.
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