OT: How to 'hack' a binary?

T

Terry Pinnell

Guest
Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

I'm a registered user of a program called MemoriesOnTV. When I bought
it a few months ago, the version was 2.1.8, but I was recommended soon
after by the developers (now called CodeJam, a tiny Singapore-based
outfit) to switch to the improved 2.2.1 beta. Despite some quirks I
was successfully using this to make a few DVDs from family photos,
until last Monday. Then, on loading, I got a message that it had
expired and that I should instal the latest version, 2.2. I duly did
that, but it doesn't work.

CodeJam have proved singularly unhelpful. Apart from the familiar
"reinstall everything again..." stuff, I've had no practical help. And
they've not met my request to make the working beta I was using
available to me, with its 'deadline' removed, so that I could continue
to use that until they fix 2.2. Having a dialogue with them is
handicapped by their policy of dealing with emails for only a few
minutes each day, and the 6/7 hour time zone gap exacerbates that.

I'm no programmer, but do the experts here think I could I use a hex
editor program to edit the original setup program I have for this
beta, motv22b1.exe (6.9MB), so that the expiry limitation of 1st June
was removed? Is that feasible, or totally impractical? If it's a
possibility, what approach would I take to achieving it please?

--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
 
What on earth does this have to do with electronics ?????

And yes, everything can be cracked, but that requires skills and time.
 
"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> schreef in bericht
news:2l9la1dhbqpcqql51npa8h1c4b7kqh8jtc@4ax.com...
Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

I'm a registered user of a program called MemoriesOnTV. When I bought
it a few months ago, the version was 2.1.8, but I was recommended soon
after by the developers (now called CodeJam, a tiny Singapore-based
outfit) to switch to the improved 2.2.1 beta. Despite some quirks I
was successfully using this to make a few DVDs from family photos,
until last Monday. Then, on loading, I got a message that it had
expired and that I should instal the latest version, 2.2. I duly did
that, but it doesn't work.

CodeJam have proved singularly unhelpful. Apart from the familiar
"reinstall everything again..." stuff, I've had no practical help. And
they've not met my request to make the working beta I was using
available to me, with its 'deadline' removed, so that I could continue
to use that until they fix 2.2. Having a dialogue with them is
handicapped by their policy of dealing with emails for only a few
minutes each day, and the 6/7 hour time zone gap exacerbates that.

I'm no programmer, but do the experts here think I could I use a hex
editor program to edit the original setup program I have for this
beta, motv22b1.exe (6.9MB), so that the expiry limitation of 1st June
was removed? Is that feasible, or totally impractical? If it's a
possibility, what approach would I take to achieving it please?

--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
Click to expand...
Terry,

Everything can hacked but you may not live long enough to go through it. The
best thing I can think of is getting on older machine, then set the BIOS
time well within the period the software was supposed to work well and
install a suitable OS followed by the first version of the software. By
manipulating the date and inststalling the update (if necessary) you should
be able to retrieve the data.

petrus bitbyter
 
"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:2l9la1dhbqpcqql51npa8h1c4b7kqh8jtc@4ax.com...
Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?
Click to expand...
First you should try to remove the data that's blocking a new instalation.
The best way to do that is to monitor the instalation with a registry/file
monitor software running, like regmon, filemon by sysinternals (free) or
cleansweep and remove all the registry entries from your machine.
If you really want to alter the program you need to get w32dasm and hope
that the text resources are not hidden or on a separate file, if they aren't
you can quickly find the part of the program that calls the "evaluation
expired" window and replace the jump with a nop or a jc with jnc. My
knowledge stops here. If you are really into it you can spend plenty of time
on the net learning, google for: hacking tutorials, +orc, perhaps you can
find the "academy"...

Best Regards
--
Steve Sousa
 
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:05:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
<terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

[snip]
Click to expand...

I can't remember now what program it was, might have been HSpice, but
MANY years ago my oldest son wrote a utility which changed the system
date back to when the program was valid, ran the program, but on
closing, reset the system date AND... here's the cute part...
corrected the dates of the created files to current system date ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
 
Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:05:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

[snip]

I can't remember now what program it was, might have been HSpice, but
MANY years ago my oldest son wrote a utility which changed the system
date back to when the program was valid, ran the program, but on
closing, reset the system date AND... here's the cute part...
corrected the dates of the created files to current system date ;-)

...Jim Thompson
Click to expand...
That sounds handy! But presumably no chance it still exists and is
downloadable?

I had thought about temporarily setting date back, but that cure could
end up worse than the problem.

--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
 
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 18:45:13 +0100, Terry Pinnell
<terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:05:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

[snip]

I can't remember now what program it was, might have been HSpice, but
MANY years ago my oldest son wrote a utility which changed the system
date back to when the program was valid, ran the program, but on
closing, reset the system date AND... here's the cute part...
corrected the dates of the created files to current system date ;-)

...Jim Thompson

That sounds handy! But presumably no chance it still exists and is
downloadable?
Click to expand...
Nope, can't find it. It was about 16 years ago, when he was at U of
A.

I had thought about temporarily setting date back, but that cure could
end up worse than the problem.
Click to expand...
Why is that? Use a batch file, or use "Touch" to fix file dates after
you run the program.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
 
Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> writes:
Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com> wrote:
....
I can't remember now what program it was, might have been HSpice, but
MANY years ago my oldest son wrote a utility which changed the system
date back to when the program was valid, ran the program, but on
closing, reset the system date AND... here's the cute part...
corrected the dates of the created files to current system date ;-)
....
I had thought about temporarily setting date back, but that cure could
end up worse than the problem.
Click to expand...
Something to watch for, late at night, the night before one of the
time-bomb viruses was about to go off, and I found that for some
unknown reason a group of the machines in the office hadn't been
scanned for this virus. All the antivirus services were overwhelmed
with the number of people trying to get the latest update for this.

I thought what I would do was just set the system date on everything
back by one day, go home, get some sleep, come back in the next
afternoon and deal with this then. Early the next morning my phone
rang. The office was in chaos, a variety of different things were
failing in bizzare ways.

It turned out that more applications than I could imagine hadn't
been tested to behave gracefully if clocks had been set back. Even
parts of the OS didn't like this happening.

So you might be cautious about doing this.

Strictly as a toy experiment, I've wondered about the feasibility
of a system where the clock would run normally, or perhaps even
extremely slowly, while being used and the clock would stop completely
when it wasn't being used. So you use your spice for three hours
a day and the "30 days" takes eight months to elapse, or perhaps
even more. But I've never tried that.
 
.... that sounds like a good idea...

I would look for a "date cracker"... this software/utility will "show"
the program in question the time it needs to run without resetting the
computers clock...

.... be careful where you download it from and still run a virus scanner
on it...

Warmest regards,
John

"petrus bitbyter" <pieterkraltlaatditweg@enditookhccnet.nl> wrote in
message news:42aac8eb$0$150$3a628fcd@reader2.nntp.hccnet.nl...
"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> schreef in
bericht news:2l9la1dhbqpcqql51npa8h1c4b7kqh8jtc@4ax.com...
Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that
its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

I'm a registered user of a program called MemoriesOnTV. When I bought
it a few months ago, the version was 2.1.8, but I was recommended
soon
after by the developers (now called CodeJam, a tiny Singapore-based
outfit) to switch to the improved 2.2.1 beta. Despite some quirks I
was successfully using this to make a few DVDs from family photos,
until last Monday. Then, on loading, I got a message that it had
expired and that I should instal the latest version, 2.2. I duly did
that, but it doesn't work.

CodeJam have proved singularly unhelpful. Apart from the familiar
"reinstall everything again..." stuff, I've had no practical help.
And
they've not met my request to make the working beta I was using
available to me, with its 'deadline' removed, so that I could
continue
to use that until they fix 2.2. Having a dialogue with them is
handicapped by their policy of dealing with emails for only a few
minutes each day, and the 6/7 hour time zone gap exacerbates that.

I'm no programmer, but do the experts here think I could I use a hex
editor program to edit the original setup program I have for this
beta, motv22b1.exe (6.9MB), so that the expiry limitation of 1st June
was removed? Is that feasible, or totally impractical? If it's a
possibility, what approach would I take to achieving it please?

--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK


Terry,

Everything can hacked but you may not live long enough to go through
it. The best thing I can think of is getting on older machine, then
set the BIOS time well within the period the software was supposed to
work well and install a suitable OS followed by the first version of
the software. By manipulating the date and inststalling the update (if
necessary) you should be able to retrieve the data.

petrus bitbyter
Click to expand...
 
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:05:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
<terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?
Click to expand...
I'm not much of a programmer, but I tend to doubt it. As far as I
know, .exe's have a compresion scheme applied. You'd likely have
better luck in the registry (assuming a Windows OS), and that isd also
unlikely, as they make these things unfindable usually. I'm no expert
on this.

Tom

I'm a registered user of a program called MemoriesOnTV. When I bought
it a few months ago, the version was 2.1.8, but I was recommended soon
after by the developers (now called CodeJam, a tiny Singapore-based
outfit) to switch to the improved 2.2.1 beta. Despite some quirks I
was successfully using this to make a few DVDs from family photos,
until last Monday. Then, on loading, I got a message that it had
expired and that I should instal the latest version, 2.2. I duly did
that, but it doesn't work.

CodeJam have proved singularly unhelpful. Apart from the familiar
"reinstall everything again..." stuff, I've had no practical help. And
they've not met my request to make the working beta I was using
available to me, with its 'deadline' removed, so that I could continue
to use that until they fix 2.2. Having a dialogue with them is
handicapped by their policy of dealing with emails for only a few
minutes each day, and the 6/7 hour time zone gap exacerbates that.

I'm no programmer, but do the experts here think I could I use a hex
editor program to edit the original setup program I have for this
beta, motv22b1.exe (6.9MB), so that the expiry limitation of 1st June
was removed? Is that feasible, or totally impractical? If it's a
possibility, what approach would I take to achieving it please?
Click to expand...
 
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:32:51 +0200, OBones
<obones_gfd_@_gds_altern.org> wrote:

What on earth does this have to do with electronics ?????

And yes, everything can be cracked, but that requires skills and time.
Click to expand...
Computers are electronic...do you know what "OT" means? :)

Tom
 
Tom MacIntyre wrote:

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:32:51 +0200, OBones
obones_gfd_@_gds_altern.org> wrote:


What on earth does this have to do with electronics ?????

And yes, everything can be cracked, but that requires skills and time.


Computers are electronic...do you know what "OT" means? :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, but still, there are better groups for this kind of things ;-)
 
"John Smith" <assemblywizard@gmail.com> wrote:

... that sounds like a good idea...

I would look for a "date cracker"... this software/utility will "show"
the program in question the time it needs to run without resetting the
computers clock...

... be careful where you download it from and still run a virus scanner
on it...

Warmest regards,
John
Click to expand...
Many thanks, that's a new line I'll explore.

--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
 
Don Taylor <dont@agora.rdrop.com> wrote:

Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> writes:
Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com> wrote:
...
I can't remember now what program it was, might have been HSpice, but
MANY years ago my oldest son wrote a utility which changed the system
date back to when the program was valid, ran the program, but on
closing, reset the system date AND... here's the cute part...
corrected the dates of the created files to current system date ;-)
...
I had thought about temporarily setting date back, but that cure could
end up worse than the problem.

Something to watch for, late at night, the night before one of the
time-bomb viruses was about to go off, and I found that for some
unknown reason a group of the machines in the office hadn't been
scanned for this virus. All the antivirus services were overwhelmed
with the number of people trying to get the latest update for this.

I thought what I would do was just set the system date on everything
back by one day, go home, get some sleep, come back in the next
afternoon and deal with this then. Early the next morning my phone
rang. The office was in chaos, a variety of different things were
failing in bizzare ways.

It turned out that more applications than I could imagine hadn't
been tested to behave gracefully if clocks had been set back. Even
parts of the OS didn't like this happening.

So you might be cautious about doing this.
Click to expand...
Yep, that's the sort of thing I meant.

Strictly as a toy experiment, I've wondered about the feasibility
of a system where the clock would run normally, or perhaps even
extremely slowly, while being used and the clock would stop completely
when it wasn't being used. So you use your spice for three hours
a day and the "30 days" takes eight months to elapse, or perhaps
even more. But I've never tried that.
Click to expand...
--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
 
Tom MacIntyre <tom__macintyre@hotmail.com> wrote:

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:05:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

Any of the programmers here able to advise me on the following, or
point me to the most appropriate newsgroup please?

Could I use a program like Hex Edit, Hex Workshop, Resource Hacker or
similar to edit a setup program for a beta I've been using so that its
expiry limitation of 1st June was removed?

I'm not much of a programmer, but I tend to doubt it. As far as I
know, .exe's have a compresion scheme applied. You'd likely have
better luck in the registry (assuming a Windows OS), and that isd also
unlikely, as they make these things unfindable usually. I'm no expert
on this.

Tom
Click to expand...
From my attempts so far, I think you're right. Mind you, so far I
worked only with the setup exe. Maybe I'll reinstall the beta, into a
different subfolder of \Program Files while I continue trying to
diagnose the new 2.2 release, although I don't really want to clutter
the registry with duplicate versions. And my searches for 'relevant'
code were largely blind; looking for text like 'expire', '1st Jun',
'deadline', '1/6/05', '6/1/2005', etc.

That was a good suggestion about searching the registry. At
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-4065617495-2690133624-1694720459-1005\Software\PictureToTV\MemoriesOnTV\Tip
I found this potentially relevant entry. Any idea of its purpose, and
how to interpret it please?
TimeStamp REG_SZ 1060795240

BTW, a few responses I had to my similar enquiry in other newsgroups
were focused on the illegality of this intention. I don't see it. I'm
no lawyer, but it seems plain daft that a paid up user shouldn't be
able to continue using a beta until its replacement is fixed! Or for
ever, if he chooses, come to that.

--
Terry Pinnell
Hobbyist, West Sussex, UK
 
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