Any free way to create unreadable exe file yet?

[Guest]

I have not looked into this for a year or so, but I'm interested again in
such a tool so I'm wondering if anyone knows of somethign out there that
exists..

Basically I want to be able to create an exe out of my C# project like
traditional c++ where the file is simply unreadable. Almost any exe I have
made from .NET I can pop into a simple decompiler and read the source in it's
entirety.

There was some expensive software by RemoteSoft called .NET Protector which
seemed to do what I would like...

Anything like that now but free/open source?

 

[Winista]

Community edition of Dotfuscator gets installed with VS. That can be a
starting point. Otherwise your best would be to get the commercial versions
of this dotfuscator or something like Wise Owl's obfuscator.

http://www.netomatix.com

 

[Guest]

The products that you mention are obfuscators and do not do what MrNobody
refers to. The Protector product he refers to actually compiles the .NET
assembly to the equivalent of machine code, therebly rendering decompilers
completely useless. I haven't seen any non-commercial implementations
however.
Peter

--
Co-founder, Eggheadcafe.com developer portal:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com
UnBlog:
http://petesbloggerama.blogspot.com

 

[SP]

I have not looked into this for a year or so, but I'm interested again in
such a tool so I'm wondering if anyone knows of somethign out there that
exists..

So what have you been doing in the interim?

Basically I want to be able to create an exe out of my C# project like
traditional c++ where the file is simply unreadable. Almost any exe I have
made from .NET I can pop into a simple decompiler and read the source in
it's
entirety.

There was some expensive software by RemoteSoft called .NET Protector
which
seemed to do what I would like...

Are there specific parts of your software that you feel will be copied by
other people? Expensive is a relative term when you consider your investment
of time and money. If this is the product you really want then I would
contact RemoteSoft and see if you can work out the $$$ (especially if it is
a non commercial project). Otherwise look at obfuscation to see if it will
give you the level of protection you feel is required.

Anything like that now but free/open source?

SP

 

[bart_deboeck]

Hi,

Does NGen solve your problem ? An overview of NGen :
http://www.codeguru.com/Csharp/.NET/net_general/toolsand3rdparty/article.php/c4651/

Regards,
Bart

http://www.xenopz.com/blog/bartdeboeck/

 

[SP]

Hi,

Does NGen solve your problem ? An overview of NGen :
http://www.codeguru.com/Csharp/.NET/net_general/toolsand3rdparty/article.php/c4651/

Quoting the article
"No Intellectual Property Protection. Many people believe that it might be
possible to ship NGend files without shipping the files containing the
original IL code thereby keeping their intellectual property a secret.
Unfortunately, this is not possible. At runtime, the CLR requires access to
the assemblys metadata and the NGend files do not contain the metadata."

SP

 

[bart_deboeck]

Hi SP,

Indeed, you are right, the CLR needs all metadata
(http://www.preemptive.com/products/dotfuscator/FAQ.html#ngen : the
..NET Runtime still requires that *the complete metadata and IL* be
included in an assembly before it is allowed to execute). I didn't
realize that "access to the assembly's metadata" implied having access
to all IL.

Thanks!
Bart

 

[bart_deboeck]

http://www.xenocode.com/