I just got Canopus for a plugin for my PP 1.5. It will not let me use it until I get a dongle. To be honest I'm not sure what this is. I believe it is somthing that you plug into your usb port? Is this correct? Also, can I just go out and buy a dongle or do I need somthing special for this program. Any help would be great. Thanks

I know nothing about Canopus, but a dongle is a form of hardware copy protection. They generally plug into a USB port and without it the program will refuse to run (or will run with reduced capabilities depending on the software design).

I'm afraid to ask where you got this software.... if it was from a reputable company then maybe the dongle was missing from your package; contact your vendor. Otherwise, you may have fallen for some kind of scam....

Dongles have been around a while. They are a security device that restricts the softwares performance and prevents piracy. In other words, without the dongle the programme is useless. I have two cad programmes, and each require their own dongle. Any old dongle wont do. Each dongle has a registered code number, a bit like a serial number and will only work with the one specific copy of sottware it has been programmed to.

I attribute about half my grey hair to dongles. Within the last month I had to replace a motherboard because it developed a intermittant fault in not communicating with the dongle, which slowly developed over several months. It was difficult and expensive to trace, and cost me lost production.

Sounds like a pain. I will probably just do without this program. Thanks for the help.

Good call. Send them the message, "Dongle THIS!"

Uh, if you have a legit copy of the software, you WILL ALSO have the dongle. If you have the software and no dongle, well that implies...

Agree with Bill.. It comes with the software and is a small USB thumb drive with a big old serial number tag hanging off the back of it..