Patent ID: 7493488

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for disabling on-demand resources on a computerized apparatus, comprising: receiving a disablement code comprising encrypted data; validating the disablement code, the validating comprising: generating a first key using system information unique to the computerized apparatus; decrypting the encrypted data using a second key to produce decrypted data; encrypting a value to produce an encrypted value wherein the encrypting is done using an encryption key selected from one of (i) the decrypted data and (ii) the first key; decrypting the encrypted value to produce a decrypted value wherein the decrypting is done using (i) the first key if the value was encrypted using the decrypted data as the encryption key and (ii) the decrypted data if the value was encrypted using the first key as the encryption key; and comparing the value to the decrypted value; and disabling at least one on-demand resource if the validating is successful, thereby rendering the disabled on-demand resource unavailable for use by users of the computerized apparatus, wherein the disabled on-demand resource is a hardware resource of the computerized apparatus.