Ok, I need some insight before I go back into Torrenting. I need a piece of software from a less than reputable company (Wondershare). Now I know Keygens can be run through Sandboxie or a VM to get the key but how do Patches and Cracks work?

One of TorrentGalaxy’s most trusted uploaders & software patchers keeps the software updated and uploaded & includes in the download listing the www.virustotal.com report for the installation files which shows a clean listing; however the Patch shows a listing for multiple AV/Malware software which shows the Patch being a virus. So, how do I use the software if the Patch is “infected”. Am I missing something? Thanks!

  • Rodrigo_de_Mendoza@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    This sounds like excellent advice. I happen to have a licensed version of BeyondCompare that I can install and do Hex compare. I appreciate the guidelines to follow and I agree with you on the “pre-cracked” options. I would always install from the developer’s site first and then use the patch if I use it at all. Unfortunately, this software mush have a “phone-home” features and has a “hosts file” change as well. As with the previous response, I would appreciate your input on whether you would try it or not.

    Wondershare Uniconverter

    Thanks for your excellent advice & input!

    • brainw0rms [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      You’re welcome, happy to help. For host file modifications you can either run the .bat in your VM and observe the changes it makes to C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts or inspect the .bat and see what hosts its blocking.

      In this case, the .bat seems to do what it claims so it’s safe to run; it re-launches itself as admin, so that it can modify the hosts file. It also changes the ownership, security ACLs, and file attributes of the hosts file to what I believe should be its system defaults actually I guess the file’s owner is changed from the built in SYSTEM account to the Administrators group. Not sure why it does this since admins by default have write access to the file. Maybe their intention was to fix the file in case the user or some other software messed with these previously? Doesn’t seem malicious though.

      It’s also a good practice to block cracked software with your firewall, though not always necessary (or sometimes impossible because an internet connection necessary to function). Usually this will make hosts file changes unnecessary.