A method for installing a protected software product using an unprotected installation image, comprising: loading a master installation image encoded on and loaded locally from a computer-readable medium to initiate an installation process on a client computer system to effectinstallation of the protected software product, the master installation image including (i) a master installation executable, (ii) the unprotected installation image comprising a damaged version of a software executable and (iii) a protected version of the software executable; in response to initiating the installation process, installing thedamagedsoftware executable into the client computer system, the damaged software executable being in an irreversibly corrupted state so that it will not run and cannot be decompiled, the damaged Software executable produced through: i) selecting a non-zero number of bits in a file and flipping those bits, setting those bits to zero or setting those bits to one to prevent a binary code of the file from operating; ii) applying a damage algorithm to randomly select and flip bit values within a target software executable to corrupt the target software executable or otherwise to render the target software executable inoperable and impossible to decompile; or iii) applying an algorithm to randomly select and flips bits in a complex pattern in the target software executable; deleting the damaged unprotected software executable from the client computer system after installing the unprotected software and before terminating the installation process; and writing the protected version of the software executable to a memory of the client computer in place of the unprotected software executable that is deleted from the client computer system to complete installation of the protected software product. loading a master installation image encoded on and loaded locally from a computer-readable medium to initiate an installation process on a client computer system to effectinstallation of the protected software product, the master installation image including (i) a master installation executable, (ii) the unprotected installation image comprising a damaged version of a software executable and (iii) a protected version of the software executable; in response to initiating the installation process, installing thedamagedsoftware executable into the client computer system, the damaged software executable being in an irreversibly corrupted state so that it will not run and cannot be decompiled, the damaged Software executable produced through: i) selecting a non-zero number of bits in a file and flipping those bits, setting those bits to zero or setting those bits to one to prevent a binary code of the file from operating; ii) applying a damage algorithm to randomly select and flip bit values within a target software executable to corrupt the target software executable or otherwise to render the target software executable inoperable and impossible to decompile; or iii) applying an algorithm to randomly select and flips bits in a complex pattern in the target software executable; i) selecting a non-zero number of bits in a file and flipping those bits, setting those bits to zero or setting those bits to one to prevent a binary code of the file from operating; ii) applying a damage algorithm to randomly select and flip bit values within a target software executable to corrupt the target software executable or otherwise to render the target software executable inoperable and impossible to decompile; or iii) applying an algorithm to randomly select and flips bits in a complex pattern in the target software executable; deleting the damaged unprotected software executable from the client computer system after installing the unprotected software and before terminating the installation process; and writing the protected version of the software executable to a memory of the client computer in place of the unprotected software executable that is deleted from the client computer system to complete installation of the protected software product.