An apparatus and method are provided for determining whether diaphragmatic radiation has been employed to obtain an autoradiograph of an object using a radiographic device having a diaphragmatic radiation function. According to the method, a merchant may begin processing credit card transactions over the Internet or in a conventional bricks-and-mortar setting substantially immediately upon applying for a new merchant account which may be accessed when a merchant applies for a new account or obtains identification numbers in real time. When non-native code is executed on the host system, a counter is used to track the number of instructions executed and to interrupt when that target quantity is reached.