Starforce Technologies, in close cooperation with leading publishers and replicators, has enriched its portfolio of software protection solutions by providing a new disk-based activation technology. Previous StarForce versions required an "external" Disk Key to be extracted from the final replicated disk. This Disk Key had to be distributed to the end-user, by having it printed at the last minute on a sticker or on the artwork which ships with the packaged product.

Now, with "StarForce Keyless" the Disk Key is generated before making the final master. Therefore, it is possible to store the Disk Key as digitized data on the replicated disk itself.

For the end-user StarForce Keyless makes the protection - nearly - invisible. The disk-embedded key will be read and checked directly from the disk, automatically, when starting the application. The end-user does not have to deal with searching for and entering the key manually. This makes StarForce Keyless the best option for children's software and for users who expect to run the application quickly and with ease.

For software publishers StarForce Keyless means a savings of costs and turn-around time. As there is no visible key code to be printed and distributed, the publisher reduces costs by avoiding last minute changes to the artwork or printing and applying labels or stickers. The publisher saves time and additional cost as - after creating the final master with the embedded disk code - the replication and distribution process need not be interrupted by test pressings and by waiting for a key extraction.

Starforce Keyless Technology requires the cooperation of a StarForce-Keyless qualified replication / mastering plant. Today StarForce Keyless has been implemented at a number of StarForce replication partners and is available as a part of their Starforce copy protection services. For a replication plant, the implementation of StarForce Keyless support is very easy, free of charge, and does not require any investments in dedicated hardware and software. It requires producing just one or two "dummy glass masters" with one specified Laserbeam Recorder (LBR) and replicate a few test pressings, one time only. By using the StarForce toolkit the replication plant will be allowed to create a unique "Plant LBR Master Conversion Key" allocated to the plant, a specified LBR and specified LBR settings. - This Plant LBR Master Conversion Key will allow the plant to create product/publisher specific Keyless release keys through use of StarForce encryption account data, provided by the publisher of the product.

StarForce Keyless disk-binding software activation is available with both StarForce-Basic and StarForce-Professional encryption and licensing, and can be easily combined with other StarForce technologies.