brainw0rms [they/them]

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 31st, 2023

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  • When the source of a crack/patch isn’t trusted, I’d do like you said and install it in a VM, then compare the patched files with their unpatched copies using diffing software (Beyond Compare’s hex compare feature is useful for this). If there are a huge amount of changes, like completely different size and content, or it is protected with a packer (typically will be a several MB larger), I would definitely steer clear of it. If it’s just a few changed bytes (and maybe the digital signature overlay is stripped off), then it’s most likely safe and you can just copy the patched files out of the VM and overwrite your main install.

    Edit: Also, always prefer official installers directly from the developer’s site if they are available; “pre-cracked” installers are always a red flag to me.