I didn't find any reference to this h__p://www.metaforic.com/content/, it may be interesting though (h__p://www.developmag.com/tutorials).

Oxymoron.

Git

haven't spoke up in awhile, but i'll put in my 2 cents re: toughies

execryptor: i've actually written full on inline patches (internal loader ;) ) for this, but it is a bit of a nuisance.

Themida is a great (albeit intrusive on the user side which i don't like). but, again, i've inlined that one as well

obsidium, again great to take on head-on, but still can be inline patched.

protectors like arma have their place (i guess) altho i don't like (for the user side) the extra overhead of a monitoring debugger that controls the app. silly and uses more resources than necessary. oh, and did i forget can also be easily inlined

asprotect: sleek, simple, highly dumpable/crackable except if USED PROPERLY! with it's crypted function blocks that are simply unaccessible unless you have a proper key. easily inlined and dumped, but quick as hell, so better for the end-user. also, easily dumped if you have a real key... but then again, aren't they all (included dongle protections) if you have a source with a valid key to dump vital protected code, then game over.


oh yeah, let's not forget upx... they recently changed their static final jump spot from 61E9 to a different jump config sig ;)

themida seems to become more popular than ever. native instruments is using it on all of his products and the results are quite impressive. no more keygens and only sporadic cracks...:eek:

really? guess will have to make it so there are keygens and more stable cracks. thanks for the note.

If I were to sell my product(s) I'd use two demo and retail versions with watermarking the retail setup, and would use a 1024bit+ RSA keyfile for registration. and at last added LOTs of hidden CRC checks for patching.
but I'm lazy, and prefer to use commercial VMers like VMProtect and Themida.

in general favor:
VMProtect, WinLicense, TTProtect

my own favor:
RAR password


btw: Don't ever trust your customers, there are plenty people that would buy it and crack it or send it to someone that will, even if you make custom builds.

Safecast 2.8

It's a news from previous week:

From what I can understand, Steinberd bought Syncrosoft :eek:

http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/lang/en/id/7245/

This isn't really from experience, but rather just from looking around a bit - right now, I see lots and lots of articles on Themida/Winlicense and Armadillo, and that kinda agrees with what other people have posted here.

So far, its VM and dongle protections that have the lead right now... you can't really rank these things, specially since it varies from person to person...

NoobyProtect : seems to be top of the food-chain right now.
Enigma Protector : is still very solid.
Winlicense/Themdia : is still very solid.
Asprotect/SKE : I don't see much anymore, that may just be a fluke.
Armadillo : Chad & Nick need to come up with some new tricks, outside of their ECDSA level 10 keys, Armadillo is pretty much rapped at will anymore.
SVKP : I believe is no longer being developed.
Obsidium : I haven't seen nor heard about it lately, though according to their website they support Windows 7. So I can only assume it is still alive.
Activemark : Still alive and kicking, though ARTeam seems to have their number ;)
SafeDisc : Now owned by Trymedia (Maker of Activemark) is also still alive and kicking.
ExeCryptor : Hasn't been updated in awhile...(Dead?)

Thats all I can think of...

Any protector is very good if you USE it properly. Most software devs just want something quick and easy, and to keep out the general population.

Armadillo is almost impossible if you use secured sections with many certifactes and ECDSA level 10 keys, custom environment variables, and all other protections enabled. You simply will not crack it without a valid code, and if you put in the proper checks on it, you are in for some serious headache patching even if you do dump it properly (which most people don't).

Themida/Winlicense/VMprotect is still quite formidable if you again, implement it properly. Using code wrap/encrypt in your source code and using proper checks.

Properly removing safedisc/safecast/activemark/securom is also quite the challenge. Dumped VM's suck, k thanks!

=]

Again I'd go with most people and say Themida/Winlicense (especially if properly configured) and execryptor

I cant even run the demo on my pc... it drains 50% of my CPU and die (without being debugged of course). Cant say anything.

Are you joking?

I have never come accross this protector for my purposes and i am sure that i cant unpack it. However i saw many tutes around and so many people focusing on this.

Asprotect with crypted functions is still very difficult to crack. I can only remember a bday attack to the decryption-based-on-keys from unpack.cn in 2006.

Never tried Obsidium too.

I like arma, at the beginning it went out with new ideas in the re field (nanos & child/father). I still love it and i hope that authors will implement something new. Unpacking this protection has no secrets nowadays (but could be a little difficult sometimes), keygenning it is still a challenge.

I dont know about execryptor but it must be a dead project

And finally... who resumed this old topic? :D