Ok, I have the Viking Ruby, and I installed the 5D Pro onto my laptop but to be able to use the software to create, etc I have to have the dongle plugged into my USB port. This tells the computer what version of software I have and what additional modules I have bought to go with it. It doesn't connect to my machine only the USB port on my pc. Without this dongle I can do nothing with my software. I can install my software onto another pc but if I don't have the dongle plugged in I can' use it. I hope this helps you understand what mine is.