Posted 13 July 2002

While the data is the most important thing on your computers, that data is useless unless you have the software to read it. Not so long ago software was almost an afterthought. Today, it is the most expensive
individual item of a new computer.

All software comes with a licence. This is an agreement that allows you to use the software subject to certain conditions. This licence is what you have actually bought, not the software itself.

To protect against piracy most software also comes with a registration code and often a confirmation code that requires you to confirm with the software company that you are the licenced user. Some software even comes with a dongle, a piece of hardware that plugs into the computer, without which the software won't run. Should you want to reinstall your software you will need all these bits-and-pieces.

One of the few things more frustrating than a missing software registration key is opening the software box and finding no software. This is amazingly common, most offices don't secure their software and find it missing when they need it. If you lose your software not only will it need to be replaced, a copy of MS Office currently retails for around a thousand dollars, you may have to upgrade your computers to run the latest version.

You must keep your software, the original licences and a copy of the receipts under lock and key. These are valuable assets and if you lose them can cause a lot of business disruption. Not to mention the risk of being caught out by a software audit.

Without software, your computer is useless: Too light to be a boat anchor and too big to be a doorstop. Make sure your software and all the associated paperwork is secure. It's too important and costly to lose.