Code protection in compiled EXE

WZSun · #1 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 03:11 PM

Hi,
It would be great to have the contents of compiled EXE compressed or embedded in some way. Currently, some portions of text scripting can still be seen if you 'peep' at the contents of compiled EXE.

For example, I used standard WordPad and load a compiled EXE to it. I can see important data clearly and the most obvious one is if I use Case statements where the data can simply be copy/paste.

It'd be great if v5 has some internal compression so that what common/layman user see is garbage...

Rgds
WZSun

sloopa · #2 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 07:02 PM

There is a programm called upx (for ppc) - with this program you can compress exe-file which will be executable again.

http://mobile-sg.com/software/?p=UPX4PPC&platform=ppc

WZSun · #3 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 03:13 AM

Hi,
Thanks for the info on UPX. Will definitely try it out. Thanks for the suggestion.

Rgds
WZSun

WZSun · #4 (**permalink**) 05-10-2007, 02:59 PM

Hi,
I tried UPX.. it doesn't compress a simple, sample project that I did for testing. The file size remains the same.. and in fact, the date was not even changed... indicating that the Basic4PPC-compiled EXE was not compressed at all.

I tried using different methods.. including maximum compression.. no difference at all. I'm familiar with UPX.. having used it for my PC apps.

Anyone have any positive results.. and have successfully compressed a B4P-compiled EXE?

BTW, I tried compressing a competitors product - from abt 350K.. it compressed to 80K.. but when I tried to run.. it hangs!

So.. not all apps can be compressed with UPX. Furthermore, an app compressed with UPX can be decompress back.. so it defeat the purpose of my initial suggestion - code compress at compiled level.

Rgds
WZSun