IPUpdate, Version 1.0, January, 2003

Designed and written by Bob Day (bobday.nh@verizon.net)

Copyright (C) January, 2003 by Bob Day.  All rights reserved.



DESCRIPTION
-----------
When a customer registers his or her software, that software
must communicate with the seller's host computer on which 
MakeCertificate is running in order for the software to be
registered and for the customer to receive a certificate.  
But often the host computer does not have a fixed, unchanging
IP address.  With Cable modems, DSL lines and dialup lines, a
different IP address may be assigned whenever the computer 
connects to the Internet.  PirateStop solves this problem by 
requiring that the registration software on customers' 
computers obtain the IP address of the seller's host computer 
from the seller's referral site.  The referral site is a 
permanent website on which the current IP address of the 
seller's host computer is kept.  When a customer registers
his or her software, the referral site directs the software 
to the host computer.  The referral site must be accessible 
by FTP.


IPUpdate's job is to keep the referral site up to date.  It
runs on the seller's host computer, the same computer on 
which MakeCertificate is running.  While IPUpdate is running, 
it checks every 10 seconds to see whether the IP address of 
the host computer has changed, and if so, it sends the new IP 
address to the referral site.  IPUpdate should run 
continuously on the host computer.


REQUIREMENTS
------------
IPUpdate runs under Windows XP.  It may also run under
Windows 98, 2000 and NT, but that hasn't been checked out.
IPUpdate also requires an FTP accessible website to send
updates to.


NOTES
-----
IPUpdate was designed to be run continuously, but if the host 
computer has a fixed IP address, continuous running is not 
needed -- IPUpdate may be run for ten seconds to send the 
host's IP address to the referral site once.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the file on your referral website that 
contains the IP address of your PirateStop registration 
server is where you think it is!  Make sure you can download 
it by entering into your internet browser the same URL string 
you placed in gBstrVendorRefURL.


DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CONTROLS
----------------------------

"Internet IP Address Found"
---------------------------
This is a non-editable field that displays the internet 
address of the computer on which IPUpdate is running (the
"host" computer).  Before running IPUpdate, you should 
connect the computer to the Internet.

"IP Address:"
-------------
Enter the IP address of the referral site into this field.
The address may be either in numeric "dotted" format (for
example, 211.91.167.11) or in "readable name" format (for
example, ftp.mycompany.com).

"Folder:"
---------
Enter the subdirectory on the referral site that will contain
the IP address of the host computer, for example, 
public_ftp/incoming.

"Username:"
-----------
Your username on the referral site.

"Password:"
-----------
Your password on the referral site.

"Filename:"
-----------
The name of the file on the referral site that is to contain
the IP address of the host computer, for example, hospip.txt.

"Start" Button
--------------
Click on the Start button to minimize the IPUpdate dialog
box and cause IPUpdate to begin its update scans at 10 
second intervals.  Update scans only take place while the
dialog box is minimized.
