Smile2Me
2nd January 2002 17:20 UTC

New RegCode
Hi all,

a few days ago, I posted RegCode, source code to ask for a registration code.

I found that there is a little mistake in the source code:
after finishing installation the alternative .onVerifyInstDir was triggered again. In the new RegCode, posted in this renewed thread, I solved this problem.

Please feel free to respond to this post with your opinion about RegCode, maybe there are other possibilities to do this thing or to extend the possibilities of RegCode.

Good luck, greetz, Hendri.

crish
2nd January 2002 18:48 UTC

looks nice ,
will try this

but how secure is it ?

almost any installer is cracked (before)
the release is out

mostly because of the check
or a crack which changes a bit in the exe

Smile2Me
2nd January 2002 21:53 UTC

well Crish,

you're completely right...
I already mentioned this in the other thread about RegCode, take a look at:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....threadid=68582

But this is the best thing to do (i think) with the NSIS installer right now... By the way, every installer gets hacked once in a while and the protection of your program also depends (besides the installer) on the protection of the files that arise from the installer. It might be possible (when not protected properly) that people just copy some files to a CD or to another web-site to offer your program for free...

So, maybe Justin knows a way of dealing with this, or just to make it a bit harder for hackers :(

I mean, it might be possible to use PGP or some other algorithm to code the files in an installer... But this should be added to NSIS source... (by the way, PGP is free...)

Well, everyone, good luck with RegCode, ideas (about protection or RegCoding or...), questions,
please post them here...

Crish thx for the great response!!!

Greetz, Hendri.

Smile2Me
3rd January 2002 09:38 UTC

just to be complete...
Maybe I didn't mention, but just to be complete:

the page numbers used in .onNextPage and .onPrevPage are such that in a one-component installation, the question for RegCode appears just after the license agreement and the alternative .onVerifyInstDir is triggered just after clicking install (of course...:)). You should change these page numbers if you don't have a lisence agreement or more components...

Good luck, greetz,
Hendri.

crish
3rd January 2002 10:12 UTC

yeah !

pgp maybe this will work there is a free version with sources out there
maybe its possible to include this in an installer ???

justin maybe can include something.
but first he has to do other things i think


but at the time its so enough for me

DuaneJeffers
3rd January 2002 11:23 UTC

The problem with PGP is that it is key based. Meaning if you want to retrive data, you had to give the developer your key to send you the file. The regcode idea is a good one, but with items like the NSIS browser from pjw, you can bipass that. The only thing is that if you program the original program to look for Registry Keys/INI files with the code.

Good Idea, but sorry :)
-Duane

Smile2Me
3rd January 2002 15:51 UTC

Duane,

indeed, PGP cannot be used here properly, but I wanted to trigger some discussion on the best coder for this purpose...
So if anyone knows some free coder utility, please post it and maybe Justin will build it into NSIS 2.0 (or something...)

About the NSIS browser by PJW (???): Tell me about it, where can I find it?
I know some NSIS extractor:
http://www.incomplete.co.uk/nsis.htm

but that's only compatible to NSIS 1.5x or older...

Thx, greetz, Hendri.

pjw62
3rd January 2002 19:05 UTC

I shouldn't worry about decompiling or whatever.. any one who really wants to crack your program will take SoftICE to it. I dont want to sound patronising, but nearly anything that can be run reliably on a processor can be cracked in some way.

I shouldn't worry about my decompiler or file extractor.. I stopped being bothered to update it a while ago. I only sent the decompiler to a few beta testers.. it was never released properly because of a few teething problems that required user intervention to recreate recompilable scripts.. and function names are not recreated properly. THey are just "function_%u" etc..

crish
4th January 2002 08:42 UTC

some of the crypting algorithms that pgp uses are completly free and maybe these can be included directly in nsis 2.0 ?

so then u can use a crypt or encrypt function directly in nsi files

i 've seen c++ code of such algos in the linux version of pgp
maybe the code (only for crypting) is portable - without the key system

???

DuaneJeffers
4th January 2002 08:57 UTC

But encoding would take forever if you are going to compress AND encode an installer that would go over 6MB. It is a good idea in some aspects, but then you have to worry about the US encryption laws and other encryption laws around the world. It is a good idea, but there are many laws that would restrict this.

-Duane