A well-known example of a loader is a trainer used to cheat in games. A loader modifies the startup flow of a program and does not remove the protection but circumvents it. This has the advantage for a cracker to not include a large executable in a release when only a few bytes are changed. A patch is a small computer program that modifies the machine code of another program. A keygen is a handmade product serial number generator that often offers the ability to generate working serial numbers in your own name.

Some of these tools are called keygen, patch, loader, or no-disc crack. Software cracking (known as 'breaking' mostly in the 1980s ) is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software (software cracker), especially copy protection features (including protection against the manipulation of software, serial number, hardware key, date checks and disc check) or software annoyances like nag screens and adware.Ī crack refers to the means of achieving, for example a stolen serial number or a tool that performs that act of cracking.

( Learn how and when to remove this template message) JSTOR ( September 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'Software cracking' – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

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