When a demo expires....anyway to reset it? This is an honest situation..not stealing

Fellow Geeks,
This is a registry question, I'm sure. But first let me explain.
A year ago I bought a dictation program (Wav to Text 2.3) It was a download with no physical disk. I usually like to have a CD on the shelf so I can reinstall if I need to reformat, or a virus wipes me out, whatever.But the price was only $40 and I paid an extra $10 for "download insurance" which supposedly insured that if I ever need to reinstall the program, I would be gauranteed another download of what I already paid for.
Anyway, about 6 months ago a virus must have gotten through and none of my virus defs worked on this one, so I had to reformat my 5 hdds (2 IDE, 3 SCSI).
I sent away to re-download this dictation program and got the run around for months. Finally the author himself sent me a CD in the mail, but even that was a hassle because it lacked the "unlock code" (my old one didn't work on this version he sent). After a month he finally sent the unlock code, which worked for a day or two, and I wasn't sure if I needed to re-register this thing or not, so put it off for a few days. Anyway, I guess the demo mode of the CD ran out (after 30 days) and now the unlock code won't work.
I tried to remove and reload the program to start the demo over, to give me time to re-register it (which I guess would give me yet another code to make it permanent), but it still always says "demo has expired".
I'm totally fed up with dealing with this company that made the program (most likely just the guys basement) . His website is no longer online. So I'd like to find a way of resetting this so the demo starts over, then I can use the unlock code and just keep using it...which I'm legally intitled to since I bought it.
Can anyone describe how to get into the registry to COMPLETELY remove any trace of the demo ever having been installed, which would set the 30 day clock back to zero every time.
I'm an honest geek with no warez on any of my PCs and pay for every program I have. I have no intention of using this knowledge to illegally download and reset 30 day demos. I have a small recording studio and record my own originals. I'm slow at typing and need dictation software (this one I'm referring to actually works pretty good, especially for $40) to type out the lyrics to songs. Money is scarce and I can't afford the $100 to $200 for a better dication program and feel that the $40 (plus $10 insurance) is money I can't afford to just throw away.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Doug

 

It may not just be in your registry. Some programs leave hidden files somewhere on your computer,, maybe in a system folder, etc. It can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

 

I think that only works if the timebomb is registry based. If a file was actually modified to show the expiration, that wouldnt work.

 

and some of them are actually counters and NOT date differentials..

 

Well.. you almost got it right... but sorry... MA's right. It doesn't matter if it's registry based or not... if the protection scheme is a time / date type of protection, you can set the date back and vio-la. Provided that it probes your system for the date to begin with... which all demo's with that kind of protection scheme usually do.

 

I have a program called Ontrack Fix-It that is great for cleaning out files that you don't want anymore. I use it regularly and when I do it resests the trail limit on programs. I don't know what I do and how it does it, but it works. It has other great features too.

 

Yet, another great software that is excellent for completely cleaning out the registry is called system mechanic.
Can I get a witness....

 

YES!!! System Mechanic is awesome! I'm witness! I use it every DAY! Does more than just clean the registry, BTW. HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.

 

A Jehovah's Witness?

 

knock knock!

 

Who's there?

 

Wow, thanks guys for all the great adice
-Halo, thanks for the link..I'll try it out. I've actually been emailing someone from the comany (or they ARE the company) and they have at least been attempting to help (a month between emails, but better then nothing). Maybe he's just flooded with requests for support. I hate to accuse him (or them) of wrong doing, maybe he's trying but is just overloaded.
-Colonel, I too have Fix it by Ontrack and love it. I didn't think to use it. I'll give it a try
- Everyone else, thanks...I'll try the suggestions.
This forum has always been a great resource. Great people here. Thanks again.....DCO

 

I'm not 100% sure that Fix-It is responsable, but I use it often and the programs that should expire never do.

I can't think of any other reason why they don't expire.

 

I know that for me, Paint Shop Pro would never expire
it would always say 'This is a 30-day trial. After 60-days the program will fail to function. you are on day 252 of your 30-day trial.' but it still worked for a long long time

 

System restore also works sometimes...

 

>..that's where a search of hidden folders using all possible terms related to the program you can think of comes in handy

If the protection/time-out marker is buried in the registry or in a hiden file, a way to smoke it out is to used regmon and filemon, available (freeware) from sysinternals.com
They show, in a seperate window, all registry and file accesses that a program does. You can check the output for any unusual accesses.

BTW, sysinternals.com is a GREAT site, almost as great as MG ;-). Lotsa goodies there.