A system and method for allowing access to software to end users on a pay per use basis. The invention may be employed advantageously in a variety of scenarios, especially where there exists a need to provide end users with a method of accessing and executing large computationally intensive application software programs at low cost, on an as needed basis, in a secure manner, without the burden of excessive transmission times or large centralized vendor computer facilities. The invention is applicable to any pay per use method of distributing software and may be especially desirable where there are large data files, sensitive data, and/or computationally intensive applications.