










One of the most popular methods of course is the password check where they ask
you for a word from page x, line y, and word z, but this is pitifully simple to
remove unless you throw some checksums into the main part of your program, and
some self-rewriting code to confuse some people.  Also, make sure that your
program can not be run out a debugger.

Another method of course is to not even make bad sectors on the original disk,
just write a certain key to a certain unallocated sector.   To help you here,
you also must do the code protection schemes mentioned in the first paragraph.
Make sure you also fill the rest of the unallocated parts of the disk with
garbage as well, or they (wanna be crackers) can just look for the junk in
some random sector.

Like you mentioned, there are the laser holed disks and hardware keys, but they
are both expensive and a pain in the butt for the end-user, which you is the
opposite of what you want.

Another configuration that can be used is to save the configuration of the
machine that it is being installed to in the most undecipherable format you can
think of.  If the program does not find that this is the same system, it
requests being installed by the original disk again.  The original disk should
be encrypted, compacted, have many sectors that should be checked, and anything
else you can think of to make sure that the original cannot be copied.  Once
again, you MUST put code-encryption, self-rewriting code, and multiple CRC
checks in the program to make sure that it does not get changed.  Among other
things, this also protects your program from virii.  If the program detects a
change in its code, tell the user that a virus has been detected in the
program.  Tell them the program is "VIRUS SECURE", and remember, you have
helped the world kill some pirating and kill some viruses.  Feel good.

I hope that I have helped.  Have fun.  Knock some cracking out (well, you can't
do it, everything that can be written can be cracked, but you'll piss'em off in
the process!). Goodbye.

What is the program that will be sold?
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George Gruschow                                Death do you gronk.
ag625@yfn.ysu.edu                              ggruscho@nyx.cs.du.edu