Microsoft KB Archive/820664

= License and support information for the Dotfuscator tool for Visual Studio 2005 or for Visual Studio .NET 2003 =

Article ID: 820664

Article Last Modified on 2/11/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Architect
 * Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise Developer
 * Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Academic Edition

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SUMMARY
This articles provides support and licensing information for the Dotfuscator Tool for Visual Studio 2005 or for Visual Studio .NET 2003.



MORE INFORMATION
The Dotfuscator Community Edition is a third-party tool that is included with Visual Studio 2005 or with Visual Studio .NET 2003. The Dotfuscator Community Edition is a version of the PreEmptive Solution application that includes fewer features that the full version of the product.

You can use this tool to obfuscate the Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) code that Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio .NET 2003 generates. The obfuscation process prevents malicious users from decompiling MSIL code to obtain the source code. Obfuscation protects the developer’s intellectual property.

The obfuscation process removes debugging information and metadata from assemblies. Therefore, the resulting assemblies are smaller.

Frequently Asked Questions
For general questions about obfuscation, compacting, and the feature differences between Dotfuscator Community Edition and Professional Edition, visit the following PreEmptive Solutions Web site:

http://www.preemptive.com/dotfuscator/DotfuscatorFAQ.html

White Papers
For more information about obfuscation and the process that PreEmptive Solutions uses, and to view PreEmptive Solutions technical white papers, visit the following PreEmptive Solutions Web site:

http://www.preemptive.com/dotfuscator/dotfuscator_whitepaper.pdf

Third-Party Web Site
PreEmptive Solutions created the Dotfuscator tool. PreEmptive Solutions specializes in code security. For more information about this third-party company, visit the following PreEmptive Solutions Web site:

http://www.preemptive.com

For more information about the Dotfuscator tool, visit the following PreEmptive Solutions Web site:

http://www.preemptive.com/dotfuscator/index.html

How to Use the Dotfuscator Tool
In Visual Studio 2005 or in Visual Studio .NET 2003, the Dotfuscator tool is available on the Tools menu. When you start the tool for the first time, you receive a prompt to accept the license agreement for the Dotfuscator Community Edition product. After you have accepted the license agreement, the Dotfuscator starts and you can use the tool.

Register the Dotfuscator
When you start the Dotfuscator, an About dialog box appears. If you have not previously registered your copy of the tool, you can do so from this dialog box. If you do not want to register the tool at startup, you can select to register it later.

To register the Dotfuscator tool at any time, click Register Product on the Help menu of the Dotfuscator.

Dotfuscator Support
The Dotfuscator for Visual Studio 2005 or for Visual Studio .NET 2003 is fully integrated in the Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio .NET 2003 family of products.

At the time that this article was written, unregistered users of the Dotfuscator Community Edition were entitled to paid support from PreEmptive Solutions. Paid support is available at a cost of $195 per incident or $345 for five incidents. Prices are subject to change. For the latest prices, visit the following PreEmptive Solutions Web site:

http://www.preemptive.com/dotfuscator/

Registered users of the Dotfuscator Community Edition are eligible for self-serve support. To obtain self-serve support, visit the following PreEmptive Solutions Web site:

http://www.preemptive.com/dotfuscator/support

Additional support is available in the form of online assistance in the Dotfuscator Forum. To participate in the Dotfuscator Forum, visit the following Yahoo! Groups Web site:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dotfuscator

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Additional query words: VS.NET 2003, dotfuscator, dotfuscating, obfuscating, support, preemptive

Keywords: kbinfo kbaddin kblicensing kbdevstudio kb3rdparty kbfaq kbvs2005applies kbvs2005swept KB820664

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