Guys thanks alot for putting some pieces of the puzzle together. The picture is getting clearer now and starting to make sense.

I'm now trying to find which .exe or dll (most probably will be a dll) is querying the Hasplms.exe to see what it's expecting (if it's possible) as I'm hoping to figure this out without having a valid dongle.

The problem is always TIME, as my holiday's over and I'm currently back to work. It seems almost impossible to balance between work, family, and a hobby like this (20 years ago it was possible, and even fun!).
Will keep posting, just a bit slower THANKS!!