I have created many programs in VB, that many people have downloaded from
the internet. I am now starting to worry about piracy.

Is there any easy (and cheap) way that a home-grown VB programmer like me
can copyright my software?

Cheers!
Mark Osborn

Web Page:- http://www.*-*-*.com/

Mark,
   I posted this question a few months ago.  The basic gist of it is...

A) Simply display a copyright notice in a splash screen or in an
"about"    box.
B) Send a printout of your code and a copy of your setup disks to      
yourself via registered mail. It may help prove when the app was  
written.
C) There may be forms you can fill out for a nominal fee.

Perhaps there are more specific rules for the U.K., but hopefuly this
will point you in the right direction.

-Dave

Mark,

You can also copyright your software through the government for added
evidence in any potential court cases. However, most people don't do this.
For starters, it requires that you publish a fair amount of your program's
source code. In addition, it really doesn't give you much.

In the end, even if you have the resources of Microsoft, that won't stop
piracy. Microsoft's estimates of sales lost to piracy are staggering.

--
Jonathan Wood
SoftCircuits Programming
http://www.softcircuits.com

Just a comment:
see below-

This is a simple way, but it is not so easy to tamper with, because it is
"hidden" in the compiled code.
The copyright string is not prosessed before the Form_Load(), and is by this
reason not
a whole string in code.
I have done it this way some time ago..... ;-)

Regards, Asbjoern.