Settings: Sign-in rules
Who may sign in, from where and how often they must prove it is them. Every change saves by itself and applies to the next sign-in.
Open it now:Settings, Sign-in rules
Hardware lock
Lock on first use ties each license and each account to the first machine that signs in with it. Any other machine is refused with the hardware-mismatch message until you reset it. Resetting (Reset hardware only or Reset everything on the row) lets the key bind to the next machine. Off lets any machine use any key, which suits licenses that are meant to float between PCs.
Leave this on unless your product needs to move between computers. It is what stops one bought key from being shared.
IP lock
Lock on first use remembers the IP address of each sign-in and refuses a license that next signs in from a different one, with the IP-mismatch message, until you use Reset network only.
Anti-VPN
When on, Atlas refuses sign-ins from addresses it knows belong to a VPN, a proxy or a hosting provider, before your license check runs. Most automated cracking comes from hosting addresses. A customer on a legitimate VPN is refused too: they must disconnect it, or you turn this off. If the address lookup services are unavailable, the check is skipped rather than refusing everyone.
Session timeout
A hard cap on how long one session may last: off, 15 minutes, 1, 4, 12 or 24 hours, 3 or 7 days. It is measured from when the session began, not from the last activity. When a session reaches it, Atlas ends it, the program's next heartbeat fails and the program closes, and the customer must sign in again. Use it against a login handed to friends who leave it running day and night.
Geofencing
Atlas finds the country of each sign-in from its IP address. Allowed is a list of countries: when it has any, only those may sign in; empty allows every country. Blocked lists countries refused outright. A refused customer gets the geofence or country-blocked message.
Account policy
These settings apply only to the account sign-in path. A program that uses license keys only can leave them alone.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Verification policy | When Atlas emails an 8-digit code the customer must enter before the sign-in completes. A verified machine is trusted per account and skips the code until the policy asks again. |
| Require an email at registration | Refuses a new account without an email address. |
| Require a license key at registration | Refuses a new account unless it redeems a valid key in the same request, so only buyers can register. |
| Renewal warning email | Emails an account this many days before its access ends. 0 turns it off; the most is 365. |
| Verification policy | Sends a code |
|---|---|
| Never | Never. Username and password are enough. |
| First login only | The first time the account signs in. The machine is trusted afterwards. |
| Every N logins | On every Nth successful sign-in on a machine, N from 1 to 100. |
| Once per H hours | At most once every H hours per machine, H from 1 to 8760. The default is 24. |
| Only on a new device | When the machine has not been seen for this account before. |
| New device or IP | On a new machine, or when a trusted machine signs in from a new address. |
| Every single login | Every sign-in. |
New applications start with Every single login, an email and a key required, and a 7-day renewal warning. Your program handles the code step with Account::SubmitVerification; see Account sign-in rules for the flow in code. A machine's trust can be revoked from the account's panel in Manage an account.
What a refused customer sees
Each refusal has its own message that you can reword: hardware mismatch, IP mismatch, VPN detected, geofence violation and country blocked all live in Messages. A refused row in Logs explains the cause and links to the setting.