Forum Thread: How Would You Go About Cracking a Program?

This is called "reverse engineering". It's a very big topic, but for some basic concepts you can start reading my article about IDA Pro and Hopper here on Null Byte.

Also wait for advices from people with more knowledge than me (EDIT: they came, scroll down the page!).

EDIT: I've just seen the article you are talking about. As you can see, a requirement is the software IDA, which I explain the mechanics in my post.

EDIT: you can find it here:https://null-byte.wonderhowto.com/how-to/binary-patching-brute-force-reverse-engineering-with-ida-and-hopper-and-hex-editor-0157194/

That's a pretty generic question with a lot of ways to answer it, mostly because it depends on the type of program you're wanting to reverse engineer (crack).

For example, to RE newer .NET apps require tools like .NET Reflector; older programs coded in more traditional languages like C++/Delphi for example you can use regular debuggers like OllyDbg (I used to use SoftICE but it's dead now), Classic VB (VB5/6, etc.) had tools like SmartCheck, Android apps have their own set of tools and so on. IDA is often useful in most of the types in one way or another to see the disassembled listing of the code.

It's a long road of learning and rolling up your sleeves and just digging in and watching as things happen in the program while you play with making your own changes in it and seeing how it affects the app. The tools are the most important thing to making life easier for you along the way, of which there are MANY.

Excellent and thoughtful response, Stardogg.

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