QUERY: What did TMPGEnc author mean "unless you live in the future"?

[kevingpo]

I really like TMPGEnc TMPGEnc-2.524.63.181. However the MPEG2 tools expires after 30 days.

In www.doom9.org Downloads page in section 'MPEG-1/2 Encoders' it reads:
<snip>
bbMPEG 1.24b18 - latest beta, free MPEG-1/2 encoder
HC 0.17 - free high quality .AVS to MPEG-1/2 encoder. Website
QuEnc 0.61 - free high quality .AVS to MPEG1/2 encoder based on ffmpeg
Quicktime plugin for TMPG - allows you to convert MOV to MPG/AVI in TMPG
ReMPEG2 1.5.2 - MPEG2 Transcoder
TMPGEnc - note: MPEG-2 support expires after 30 days unless you live in the future ;). Website
</snip>

What did the author mean by "unless you live in the future"? And he even gave a wink. Is he trying to say that if we set our clocks 20 years in the future, run TMPGEnc, then set our clocks back to normal, then TMPGEnc would expire in 20years & 30 days time?

I am very surprised that TMPGEnc didn't store anything to do with expiry date in the registry. Because I reverted to a 'backed' up C:\Documents and Settings\ folder, and TMPGEnc is still expired. And obviously it's not going to be in the TMPGEnc install folder either since I tried another fresh installation. It's probably in a file hidden somewhere in C:\Windows\ or somewhere else. I wonder where it could be...

[Latexxx]

It means that if you have your clock set to 2020 when you install tmpgenc, the installation will expire in 2020.

[foxyshadis]

"C:\Documents and Settings\"

You restored the wrong folder - there's no reason tmpegenc would store its expiration in HKCU, you should have restored c:\windows\system32\config, where the system registry is. By far the easiest way to do that is system restore, but the recovery console or an alternate OS would work too.

There are hundreds of ways to hide a little something on windows, but you can find most via filemon and regmon.

Are you sure that if you set your clock to 2020, and then try to run it in 2006, it won't expire instantly (detecting a date mismatch)?

[Wilbert]

rule 6: circumvent protection of commercial software
You should know better after 74 posts! Try a free mpeg-2 encoder.