What is PE ? and why should it be protected ?

OK , let's take a look from wikipedia :

The Portable Executable (PE) format is a file format for executables, object code and DLLs, used in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems. The term "portable" refers to the format's versatility in numerous environments of operating system software architecture. The PE format is a data structure that encapsulates the information necessary for the Windows OS loader to manage the wrapped executable code. This includes dynamic library references for linking, API export and import tables, resource management data and thread-local storage (TLS) data. On NT operating systems, the PE format is used for EXE, DLL, OBJ, SYS (device driver), and other file types. The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) specification states that PE is the standard executable format in EFI environments.

PE is a modified version of the Unix COFF file format. PE/COFF is an alternative term in Windows development.

On Windows NT operating systems, PE currently supports the IA-32, IA-64, and x86-64 (AMD64/Intel64) instruction set architectures (ISAs). Prior to Windows 2000, Windows NT (and thus PE) supported the MIPS, Alpha, and PowerPC ISAs. Because PE is used on Windows CE, it continues to support several variants of the MIPS, ARM (including Thumb), and SuperH ISAs.

I hope you understand :-D

In short , PE is the format of the executable binary in Windows Operating System ( .exe , .dll ) . Let's make it clear , it's "BINARY" , not source code . Ya , why should i protect it ? answer : because it can be decompiled (google it) and people who decompile it can learn the logic of the code (in assembly language). Imagine that you are the Windows based software developer and sell your software . In order to make it usable by people , you have to protect it so only who has purchased it can use the software. Usually the software developer use Serial Number for the protection of their software. But , is that secure enough ? not really .. i can say that because you still can decompile and crack it ( patch or generating the serials ) . For more about "cracking" things or "RCE ( Reverse Code Engineering) " just google it , there are so many information out there.

Now , what is it about with my blog post ? Gie Protector v 0.2 ?

OK , long time ago in a galaxy far .. far away , i made a PE Protector to protect the PE from being cracked by the cracker . But few months after it was released , it was cracked :-p wanna try my PE Protector ?? download it here >> http://nebeng-di.awardspace.com

This is what it looks like :

And the Video above is the way to crack (unpack) my protector with OllyDbg . Happy watching :-D