View Single Post
  #3  
Old 09-09-2004, 08:34
JMI JMI is offline
Leader
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,627
Rept. Given: 5
Rept. Rcvd 199 Times in 99 Posts
Thanks Given: 0
Thanks Rcvd at 98 Times in 96 Posts
JMI Reputation: 100-199 JMI Reputation: 100-199
As thewhiz has stated, you have not provided enough information for anyone to give you an informative response, except to suggest basic principles. You state the program will run for 30 days and is a "demo" version. This creates a number of possibilities from a reversing prospect.

1. The program is complete and has some form of protection which keeps track of the passage of time to know when the 30 days have passed and then disables itself in some way. This would be your "best case" version of the software. Then you would need to learn how programs keep track of the fact that they have been installed, where such information might be hidden, and then how to locate such information and remove it and disable the programs attempts to call this "time keeping" routine, so that you can use it as long as you want, without this limitation. If you succeed at this quest, you will have a fully functional program without limitation.

2. The program is not complete because some of the functions of the code are not included and it has a method of keeping track of the passage of time or operation of the program and disables itself when the "limit" is reached. If this is the case, then even if you figure out how to disable the checks that the program makes to determine that it has been installed and run for the "limit" time, you still don't have a fully functioning program. In this case, you can still figure out how the program keeps track of its checks of time or operation and disable them, but you will never have a fully functioning program.

Many programs use software made by others, generally called "protection software" to provide their efforts to prevent 'crackers" from getting the full program without the limitations. Others write their own. Some rely only on software protection for this prupose, and some rely on mechanical devices, such as dongles which have to be installed on your machine to make the program operate properly.

There are some pre-existing software which attempts to defeat certain protection programs. They work with more or less effectiveness. There are tools, both software and mechanical, which are used to attempt to defeat these protection measures.

Barring the use of "ready made" solutions, one needs to know substantial information about the disassembly of software programs, how to use the tools which accomplish this task, what the code they view with these tools is doing and how the code might be altered to, instead, do what one wants, rather than what the original programmer wanted it to do.

In short, no matter what your program does and/or how it does it, if YOU are intending to accomplish the task of "reversing" the protection system, YOU have a long journey ahead of you and it is one where, just like life, you have to learn how walk before you can run and you have to study before you can comfortably believe you know what the heck you are doing.

So. Where do you want to begin?

Regards,
__________________
JMI
Reply With Quote