I am running tech support for a software company with a particular program that uses an Internet connection to register itself and must be registered to run.

I have recently encountered a problem with a number of different users who are unable to register their copy of our software, as the program does not sense Internet connectivity.

- I know that all this program does to determine Internet connectivity is to ping www.google.com.
- I know that the users are connected to the Internet and can successfully browse around the web, whether the program is open or not.
- The program has been added to the safe list of their anti-virus and firewall protection, permitting it full access to the Internet.
- The Windows Firewall (found in XP SP2) has also been disabled.
- They are each using a home computer, with no firewall that I know of running on their routers.
- They are not running through any standard proxy server that I know of (though it is always possible that their ISPs are running proxy caches).


Despite all these things, the program is unable to find an Internet connection when trying to ping www.google.com

After running the Microsoft Network Diagnostics and scanning the network, they FAIL on any number (1 or 2) of various network processes (e.g. Satellite USB Device, DefaultIPGateway, DNSServerSearchOrder, etc) - please remember they are still able to access the internet though any basic browser (firefox, IE, netscape).

Could this be indicative of why the program is unable to register itself through their Internet connection? If so, how so, and how do I help rectify the problem?

Basic question: How do I register this product (legally), given the information listed above?


Thanks,

JayZ

What sort of results do your users achieve if they try to ping www.google .com from the command line?

Every attempt to ping www.google.com from the command line has been successful.