Very new to this...

In fact, I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself and I definately agree with you on the fact that

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

It's just that I'm so excited about learning all this, that I want to get everything lined-up and ready to start learning! I do appreciate you taking the time to explain some of these important points. I have been reading a lot of info on some outdated tutorials that I found on the web (1999,2000) but I'm sure if I keep at it, I'll find what I need and eventually will get started.

There are many apps which are download able from www, and they are protected by dongles so beware
Look into help of this app, topic registration or etc if author says that they will give u a link or send by emaill full installation of this app after u buy it must be demo but if this demo have only 30 days trial it can be cracked

As a matter of fact I did some exploring on this target, and found out that in fact, that you have to call them and then they will give you a password to upgrade thru their website. so I guess I'll try another one.

Also, I'm trying to see If I can find some good targets I can reverse with Ollydbg instead of SoftIce, being that it sounds more complicated. I'll Keep you guys in touch.

[Michel]

Hi ur next,

Maybe it would be easier for you to begin working with IDA on "dead listing" :
If your file isn't packed, you have a good chance to see some messages like " Enter serial number", "Invalid serial number, please try again ", " days left"... and so you can go up, find the calls, the conditional jumps etc.

Trying to determine what the prog is doing "on the paper" will be a very good exercise for your intuition and asm knowledje...

"Dead listing" methode go naturally to patching the prog : you can for sample bypass the test verifying a date or a serial, but if you want to find THE working serial, this methode is often very hard : it is more usefull to work with a debugger like Ollydbg.