A technique to prevent illicit copying of a copy-protected CD-ROM into a computer-readable storage drive is presented. In accordance with the present invention, when an authentic copy-protected CD-ROM is inserted into a CD drive and the content of the copy-protected CD-ROM is installed onto a hard disk drive that is linked to the CD drive, the Central Processor Unit (CPU) executes the installer instructions residing in the CD-ROM to create a license file in the hard disk drive. For security reasons, the content of the CD-ROM (e.g., the executable file of the application) is encrypted. When the content of the CD-ROM is copied into the hard disk drive, it remains encrypted. The license file essentially acts as a timer to monitor a predetermined time interval that has been programmed into the license file. If a user attempts to launch the encrypted copied application residing in the hard drive at any time prior to the expiration of the predetermined time interval, the license file readily supplies the key code to enable a filter to decode the encrypted installed application thereby allowing the application to launch. At the expiration of the predetermined time interval, the license file withholds the key code therefore not allowing the installed application to be decrypted and successfully launched. The predetermined time interval can be reset by reinserting the copy-protected CD-ROM into the CD drive to reset the time interval.