3 ms·

For the longest time, cracking Photoshop was a 1 byte change. In effect, there was a conditional JMP. You patch the address of the good JMP to the bad condition

For the longest time, cracking Photoshop was a 1 byte change. In effect, there was a conditional JMP. You patch the address of the good JMP to the bad conditional side. Voila: enter a good or bad serial, and it works. A bunch of us under +Fravia came to an agreement that this simplicity was intentional. I think we all can come to the conclusion to why that is... As to your supposition that no amount of 'junk' would stop pirates, I do beg to differ. Back around '98-2000, there was a CD burning program that was notorious to crack. I don't remember the name offhand. There were over a thousand verify checks built into the program at crazy locations. Many would also attempt to write corrupt CDs and ISOs. And the "best part": if you were using a 'naughty' code, it would silently take it and slowly corrupt everything that program touches. Most pirates ignored it and went with NERO to crack/distribute. A few of the hardcore crackers took on that program. I knew of 2 successes.

hannibalhorn 14y ago
The CD burning product must have been CDRWIN, I remember the frustration of searching for a working crack for that one (as a poor student, of course!)
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- meritt 14y ago
  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.cd-rom/IPpvC20j2cM/ybp7-5O4Ku4J https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.cd-rom/IPpvC20j2cM... CDRWIN's author's rant and viewpoints against piracy, from March 1998 When all software distribution moves to the Internet (which it will when high-speed fiberoptic connections because commonplace in the future), the big developers like Microsoft and Sony are going to come down hard on the pirates and WAREZ. These big companies are not going to allow the Internet to become a "candy store" where software can be stolen with the push of a button from the comfort of your home. If you think that all of these "bits" are free, then try developing a really good software product yourself and see how much money and time you have to invest in it.
  - TeMPOraL 14y ago
    I wonder how "how much money and time you have to invest in" putting in so many arcane anti-crack measures into your software as GGP[0] described. [0] - Great Grandparent Poster? :D.
niyazpk 14y ago
I was under the [naive] impression that _every_ security check finally boils down to one JMP statement. Can you please explain what makes other programs more difficult to crack than flipping the one JMP location?
- Strom 14y ago
  Instead of a JMP, imagine that the serial key is used to calculate some variable in the program. The code runs with both a valid and an invalid serial, but some core algorithm of the program uses this variable, that was derived from the serial. If the serial was invalid, the core algorithm would not produce the desired result.
- TheAmazingIdiot 14y ago
  Just read this: http://71.6.196.237/fravia/progcor.htm http://71.6.196.237/fravia/progcor.htm It's down in the rabbit hole for you :P

hannibalhorn 14y ago

The CD burning product must have been CDRWIN, I remember the frustration of searching for a working crack for that one (as a poor student, of course!)

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
meritt 14y ago
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.cd-rom/IPpvC20j2cM/ybp7-5O4Ku4J https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.cd-rom/IPpvC20j2cM... CDRWIN's author's rant and viewpoints against piracy, from March 1998 When all software distribution moves to the Internet (which it will when high-speed fiberoptic connections because commonplace in the future), the big developers like Microsoft and Sony are going to come down hard on the pirates and WAREZ. These big companies are not going to allow the Internet to become a "candy store" where software can be stolen with the push of a button from the comfort of your home. If you think that all of these "bits" are free, then try developing a really good software product yourself and see how much money and time you have to invest in it.
- TeMPOraL 14y ago
  I wonder how "how much money and time you have to invest in" putting in so many arcane anti-crack measures into your software as GGP[0] described. [0] - Great Grandparent Poster? :D.

niyazpk 14y ago

I was under the [naive] impression that _every_ security check finally boils down to one JMP statement. Can you please explain what makes other programs more difficult to crack than flipping the one JMP location?

Strom 14y ago
Instead of a JMP, imagine that the serial key is used to calculate some variable in the program. The code runs with both a valid and an invalid serial, but some core algorithm of the program uses this variable, that was derived from the serial. If the serial was invalid, the core algorithm would not produce the desired result.
TheAmazingIdiot 14y ago
Just read this: http://71.6.196.237/fravia/progcor.htm http://71.6.196.237/fravia/progcor.htm It's down in the rabbit hole for you :P