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- HOW TO UNPROTECT VERSION 2.2 of VOLKSWRITER DELUXE
-
- Volkswriter Deluxe, version 2.2, has a serial number embedded in
- the code which is tested during program initialization. If the
- serial number is found to be "corrupted", VX will not start, and
- advises you to "INSTALL before running". Here is how to "corrupt"
- the serial number of Volkswriter Deluxe in such a way that VX
- will still operate:
-
- 1. COPY the program onto a fresh diskette. NEVER attempt to
- modify your original!
-
- 2. Install the copy as you wish using the CONFIGUR program.
-
- 3. Using a disk utility such as Norton Utilities, or with DEBUG,
- find the serial number near the beginning of VX.EXE and modify it
- to suit your own desires. NOTE: if you use DEBUG, you will need
- to RENAME VX.EXE to VX.XEX before this operation so that DEBUG
- will let you write the modified program to disk after you're
- done. Then you can rename the VX.XEX file back to VX.EXE.
-
- 4. Using a disk utility such as Norton Utilities, search the file
- VX.EXE for the hexadecimal bytes which follow:
- 2A E4 29 06 82 2B
-
- NOTE: THIS STRING OF BYTES OCCURS TWICE! WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE
- SECOND OCCURRENCE, NOT THE FIRST!!!
-
- These bytes correspond to the following assembly instructions:
-
- SUB AH,AH
- SUB [2B82],AX
-
- Using your disk zap utility, alter the above bytes to:
-
- B8 00 00 A3 82 2B
-
- These bytes correspond to the following assembly instructions:
-
- MOV AX,0
- MOV [2B82],AX
-
- If you have been careful to select the SECOND occurrence of the
- original byte string, VX.EXE no longer cares what serial number
- is installed in it.
-
- If you have access to some other trace/debug utility, you can of
- course search directly for the code above instead of using a disk
- zap. However, when I tried this with DEBUG, the required bytes
- were not found because they lie in a distant segment from the
- beginning of the program and DEBUG's search terminated before
- finding the bytes.
-
- LET THERE BE SOFTWARE -- YO HO!
-