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Protect! EXE/COM v6.0
Executable Encryption Package
(C) 1993-1996 Jeremy Lilley,
All Rights Reserved
August, 1996
Program Documentation
=====================
Contents:
---------
What's Protect! v6.0 ? ......................... 1
Requirements ................................... 2
How To Use Protect! EXE/COM .................... 3
The ProtExCm.INI File........................... 3
Which Files Can't Be Protected ................. 4
Legal Terms / Disclaimer ....................... 5
License ........................................ 6
Philosophy behind Protect! ..................... 6
Comments on Hacking Protect! ................... 7
Technical Notes ................................ 7
Compression Notes .............................. 8
What's The Mutation Engine? .................... 8
Closing ........................................10
Address ........................................10
What is Protect! EXE/COM v6.0 ?
-------------------------------
Protect! EXE/COM is an encryption and compression utility that
has been preventing modification, hacking, and reverse-engineering
in programs for the last three years. While the changes made to the
files are invisible to the end-user, Protect adds some powerful
features for program authors:
* Modification Check -- prevents a corrupted or hacked copy
of the file from running, giving your customized message to
the end user. View the modification message with ModMsg.EXE!
* File Serialization and Source Tracking - would you like to
know which copies pirated or hacked programs are coming from ?
With the SERIALIZE option, you can automatically embed an
encrypted number or string, to be displayed with the
modification message and viewed with ModMsg.EXE.
Page 2
* Anti-debugging Traps and a Custom Mutation Engine - make it
difficult to trace through Protected files or to for hackers
to write "auto-crack" files to target your programs.
* Differentiation in the Registered Code: The files produced
by the registered version are different from the unregistered
version to improve security of the registered version.
* Customizability - Now a number of options are available in
the ProtExCm.INI file to tune Protect better to your needs.
* Passwords - You can now optionally add a password to files
for extra security, and registered users can change the text
of the prompt.
* Executable Compression - Protect automatically attempts to
compress your files (unless disabled), but it also works great
with compressor programs such as PKLite (R) and LZEXE.
* Speed and Compatibility - Protect is written in heavily
optimized assembly language and has been tried and tested for
the last three years. Protect is tested from 8088 to Pentium,
under DOS, Windows (3.1, 95, NT), and OS/2.
The customizability options are the most new in Protect,
allowing various security features to be turned on and off.
Optional passwords and file serialization and tracking are also new
with this version, in addition to some security updates and minor
bug fixes.
Requirements
------------
Protect will run on just about any PC available today.
Protected files require about 1.8k more memory than their
unProtected counterparts, but, besides this, they should run the
same as normal, under DOS, Windows (3.1, 95, NT), and OS/2.
Page 3
How To Use Protect! EXE/COM
---------------------------
Much of the control for Protect! has been delegated to the
ProtExCm.INI file, but the command-line syntax for ProtExCm.INI is:
ProtExCm MyProg[.EXE/COM] Protexcm.INI
The filename must be a DOS EXE or COM file.
The ProtExCm.INI file (or the MyProg.INI, etc. file) holds
some setup information for Protect, with which you can use the
password, serialization, registered modification message, and
other features. If no INI file is specified, PROTEXCM.INI is used,
or if there is an INI file with the same file name as the EXE or
COM file, it will be used.
The capabilities previously available instead of the INI
file, which were turning off compression, and, for registered users,
customizing the modification message, have both been placed in the
ProtExCm.INI file (as "No Compress" and "CRC Message File").
Here is an example:
ProtExCm MyProg
(To Protect MyProg.EXE or MyProg.COM, using MyProg.INI
or ProtExCm.INI as the configuration file)
It is possible to apply Protect to a file multiple times, but
after too many layers, there will be noticeable loading delays and
perhaps errors.
For obvious reasons, no "unProtect" program is provided with
the Protect! package. A backup file with the ".OLD" extension will
be produced, however.
The ProtExCm.INI File (a.k.a. MyProg.INI or MyFile.INI...)
---------------------
This file, which must be in the current directory, lets you
specify defaults for Protect's behavior. The default, which
includes everything commented out, will work well in most cases,
but you may want to "tweak" things for your files.
If the file you are Protecting has a corresponding INI file,
Page 4
that file will be used in place of ProtExCm.INI. For example, when
Protecting MyProg.EXE, a MyProg.INI will be looked for, and so on.
The options are listed below:
No Compress : Protect normally attempts to compress files
before encrypting them. Use this you would like to
disable compression, especially if you are already using
PKLite or LZEXE.
No UnAV : Since Protect is written to prevent disassembly,
sometimes anti-virus scanners confuse Protected programs
as being infected with a virus. Normally, Protect adds
code to minimize this. Use No UnAV to disable this.
Password : To require the user to enter a password to decrypt
and run the program, add a line saying "Password" to this
file and below this line, add the name of a file with the
text of the password. Only the first 50 bytes are read.
Serialize : To add a number or string of up to 50 characters
to be displayed when the file is modified, use this
option. Add "serialize" to ProtExCm.INI and the name of a
file containing the serial number below it (Protect will
create this file if necessary).
If the text in the serial number file is numeric, Protect
will increment that and use that number. You can view the
serial number with the ModMsg.EXE utility.
Registered-only options:
CRC Message File : You can customize the generic modification
message outputted when your file is modified using
this switch. Just put the name of a file (only 4k is
read) under this line to use.
No UnIntruder : There is a generic Borland C/Pascal hacking
program known as Intruder that Protect adds code to
specifically combat in the registered version. To disable
this unIntruder code, use this line.
Password Message : If you're using the password option above
and you want something different than "Password? " to
greet the user, use this line and put the name of a file
containing the prompt below it. Maximum 500 bytes.
No Jmute : USE THIS SPARINGLY. It disables Protect's custom
mutation engine as well as options like unIntruder and
unAV code.
Which Files Can't Be Protected
------------