General question regarding trial games

[Darrenbilly]

This is a general question on trial games. If you download a trial game and say it is for an hour, how does it know,if you uninstall the game and reinstall it, that you have already played the trial? Always bogged me this has, any answer is much appreciated. Thanks

 

[SOAD]

i believe they sometimes leave an entry in the registry of the pc so that it knows, and this isn't removed with the uninstall, or other trials may inolve connecting to a server where a certain pc is 'tied' to the trial. I am unsure though, and welcome anyone who knows for sure to come forward

 

[TimeParadoX]

I believe it might be like the "Crackdown" Demo for Xbox360, It means you can play for one hour then it'll end and you can just replay the demo.

I've never heard of a actual trial game that only lets you play for a week then you have to reinstall.

Also what SOAD said, the trial game usually makes a Registry that could explain how it knows.

 

[Darrenbilly]

Thanks

I see, thanks to you both

 

[kimsland]

Trial games put a registry entry in that shows a date/time limit
But some also check your IP address, so therefore System Restore and even formatting will not work.

 

[Keyt1989]

It creates a registry file in Windows which you have to delete in order to run the trial again after uninstalling it but it's not always this easy. Sometimes the game hides all kind of files arounf your PC which prevent you from retrying the trial. Obviously they want you to buy the games