topic Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs in .NET Forum

Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:45:12 GMT

Wondering if somebody has found a way how I can protect my VB.NET exe?

I have migrated to VB.NET because Autodesk I heard has made it a very capable tool so that most capabilities of ObjectARX are within its reach.

Recently however I've read in an article how easy it is to decompile a VB.NET executable .. its about 100x easier to decompile than a VB6 executable and the output looks exactly like the original ... this makes me really sad... then I started to be concerned ... right now I am depressed and sometimes I ask myself why Microsoft did this to me and millions like myself worldwide.

But at the back of my mind Im sure there has got to be a solution to this and yet I am failing to find it currently despite my best efforts..

I really appreciate all the help you could give.

Thanks,
Matt

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:39:16 GMT

The only way to protect your code is to never give it to anyone... You can get a tool to obfuscate your code but if someone wants
it - they will get it... I'd be more worried about learning to write code someone would want to spend the time to decompile and
worry about it then... ~)

wrote in message news:6032930@discussion.autodesk.com...
Wondering if somebody has found a way how I can protect my VB.NET exe?

I have migrated to VB.NET because Autodesk I heard has made it a very capable tool so that most capabilities of ObjectARX are within
its reach.

Recently however I've read in an article how easy it is to decompile a VB.NET executable .. its about 100x easier to decompile than
a VB6 executable and the output looks exactly like the original ... this makes me really sad... then I started to be concerned ...
right now I am depressed and sometimes I ask myself why Microsoft did this to me and millions like myself worldwide.

But at the back of my mind Im sure there has got to be a solution to this and yet I am failing to find it currently despite my best
efforts..

I really appreciate all the help you could give.

Thanks,
Matt

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:35:39 GMT

VB.NET ( or C#, for that matter) EXE type application has little to do with
ObjectARX .NET API, at least for now. ObjectARX .NET API code can only be
DLL and can only run inside AutoCAD. So, it is a bit too early to worry the
security of your power code on EXE and ObjectARX .NET API.

However, your concern is common in many programmers when they consider
their work as top secrete. Yes, if you regard your code as very important
commercial secret, you need to do something, or even choose other paltform
other than .NET. IMO, most code, especially custom developed for specific
institution is not worth the effort (yes, there is effort needed to
read/understand "decompiled" .NET code. No, it is far from the original
well-written/well-commented code) to decompile other's code. As a
programmer, in most cases, as long as I see how an app runs, I can re-do it
on my own (of course, if the app does the business that I know, for example,
Acad customization).

If millions of developers like you were scared to death or depressed because
of this, .NET probably would have died already or have never been used in
such wide scope, and Autodesk would have not invested into .NET API more and
more.

"matt_1ca" wrote in message news:6032930@discussion.autodesk.com...
Wondering if somebody has found a way how I can protect my VB.NET exe?

I have migrated to VB.NET because Autodesk I heard has made it a very
capable tool so that most capabilities of ObjectARX are within its reach.

Recently however I've read in an article how easy it is to decompile a
VB.NET executable .. its about 100x easier to decompile than a VB6
executable and the output looks exactly like the original ... this makes me
really sad... then I started to be concerned ... right now I am depressed
and sometimes I ask myself why Microsoft did this to me and millions like
myself worldwide.

But at the back of my mind Im sure there has got to be a solution to this
and yet I am failing to find it currently despite my best efforts..

I really appreciate all the help you could give.

Thanks,
Matt

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:45:18 GMT

I found something called Intellilock that I believe is going to do
exactly what you want it for protecting your code as well as allowing
you to license your application or create trial versions,etc... Do a
quick search and see what you think.

matt_1ca wrote:
matt_1ca wrote:
> Wondering if somebody has found a way how I can protect my VB.NET exe?
>
> I have migrated to VB.NET because Autodesk I heard has made it a very capable tool so that most capabilities of ObjectARX are within its reach.
>
> Recently however I've read in an article how easy it is to decompile a VB.NET executable .. its about 100x easier to decompile than a VB6 executable and the output looks exactly like the original ... this makes me really sad... then I started to be concerned ... right now I am depressed and sometimes I ask myself why Microsoft did this to me and millions like myself worldwide.
>
> But at the back of my mind Im sure there has got to be a solution to this and yet I am failing to find it currently despite my best efforts..
>
> I really appreciate all the help you could give.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt

> Wondering if somebody has found a way how I can protect my VB.NET exe?
>
> I have migrated to VB.NET because Autodesk I heard has made it a very capable tool so that most capabilities of ObjectARX are within its reach.
>
> Recently however I've read in an article how easy it is to decompile a VB.NET executable .. its about 100x easier to decompile than a VB6 executable and the output looks exactly like the original ... this makes me really sad.... then I started to be concerned ... right now I am depressed and sometimes I ask myself why Microsoft did this to me and millions like myself worldwide.
>
> But at the back of my mind Im sure there has got to be a solution to this and yet I am failing to find it currently despite my best efforts..
>
> I really appreciate all the help you could give.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

chiefbraincloud — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:03:11 GMT

I have not checked out the Intellilock suggested by Tim J, but I checked out some others, varying quite widely in price and functionality. For my purposes, a program called '.NET Reactor' has proven to be effective, and only runs about $275 US. I think that was for more than one developer, I think about $200 US for a single license. .NET Reactor also contains a means of workstation licensing, and trial/demo licensing.

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

chiefbraincloud — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:03:11 GMT

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

chiefbraincloud — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:09:31 GMT

It just so happens I was checking out the website for the program I found called .NET Reactor, when I discovered that Intellilock is by the same people. And it is the same price. Have you used it long enough to form an opinion of it? The .NET Reactor seems to do a good job of protecting the assembly(ies), and at least the microsoft disassembler will not decompile it. Maybe some other disassembler will, but I don't know. The licensing in .NET reactor won't let me do a floating license model on a license server, so it is not really what we need. Do you know if Intellilock has network licensing?

Re: Does anyone know how I can protect my VB.NET programs

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 02:19:19 GMT

You do need to obfuscate .Net software if you do not want competitors and crackers to see/modify your code. Take a look at Crypto Obfuscator for obfuscating your vb.net assemblies.