The risks of using warez, hacks and cracks are much worse than those of using any other knockoff or illegally-downloaded product because warez is software and software can do almost anything it wants on your computer. So next time your computer turns off without warning or shows a black screen on your computer you might then be regretting the download of your free warez, hacks and cracks.
That said, the warez community could never have grown to its current size if all it put out was dangerous software, so how do you tell the difference?
The Early Days Of Warez
Before the 1970s, most software was free, similar to modern day open source software. Governments and large companies paid hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for room-sized computers and, as part of the contract, they got the operating system and other essential programs for free. When the computer operator needed a new program, he either wrote it himself or he paid a programmer to write it for him. In either case, he got the source code for the program. Nobody really thought about charging for software; most people in the computer industry knew each other—or their bosses knew each others bosses—so software was traded freely.
As computers shrunk down into minicomputers and, later, microcomputers and the cost per computer dropped, it became economical to start writing programs to sell to hundreds or thousands of customers for a small fee each. Of course, anyone who had the program could still share it with their friends, so software companies started putting various registration technologies in their software.
The early registration techniques were easy to circumvent—all you needed was one legitimate registration code and you could use the same program on multiple computers. This is how the crackz and warez communities got started—they traded copies of software along with their registration codes.
A revolution occurred in software registration with the advent of widely-available Internet access. Programmers could now force users to register their software on the Internet; the program would send details about the particular computer to the software maker and the software maker would generate a registration code for that computer only. This effectively prevented people from using the same registration code on multiple computers. The warez community was now nearly two decades old and used to getting free software, so programmers in the community mounted an attack. Instead of idly trading registration codes, they began to decompile (reverse engineer) programs, take out the registration parts (or figure out the codes), and share copies of the modified registration-free programs.
Ever since, it’s been a race between clever programmers writing registration mechanisms and clever warez hackers erasing those mechanisms. Warez hackers usually do their work for free, but some hackers saw a way to make a buck. Instead of distributing simple registration-free versions of software, they could distribute versions which bundled software which made them money, such as viruses which sent spam email. Dealing with the problem was quite hard for the warez community because the community was already doing something illegal, so they couldn’t sue the profiteering hackers; they were also a community based on secret identities, so it was hard for outsiders to tell who was legitimate and who was not.
The Modern State Of Warez
Some warez hackers still break registrations, some still add viruses and other malware to hacked software. It’s still extremely hard for someone to tell the difference without examining the actual software, but there are a few new wrinkles. The first advancement are websites with comment forms. If someone posts warez on a site, anyone who uses it can post a comment telling other users whether or not it messed up their computer. The other advancement are virtual machines. In general, a virtual machine protects its host from any virus or other malware damage. If you have a virtual machine on your computer, you can start it, install the warez or crackz software, and see what happens without risking your main computer. If the warez turns out to be dangerous, you delete the virtual machine and try some other warez. Virtual machines make using warez much less dangerous. Serious warez users begin to learn the secret identities of the registration hackers—where they post their software, what digital signatures they use, and other indicators—so that they can get warez from people they trust. But people this dedicated to warez are rather rare—most people I know who have used warez just use it occasionally to get a high-priced program they wouldn’t otherwise buy.
Summary Of The Risks
Warez can do anything to your computer that software can do. At worst, it can send all of your information to a hacker and then wipe your hard drive. It can monitor your keystrokes, record your passwords to your financial accounts, and let a hacker rob you blind. It can infect your computer with viruses, slow your computer to a crawl, and even host hidden child pornography on your computer.
Warez is very dangerous. If you use warez in a virtual machine, it can still do all of these things—but only within the virtual machine. (Unless it finds a way out; not all virtual machines are perfectly secure.) If you download warez from a site with comments, be warned that not all sites are equal. The hacker who creates virus-infected warez has an incentive to post false comments on the comment site indicating that the software is safe. On the flip side, trolls and the company which sells the software have an incentive to post false comments on the site indicating that the software is dangerous. If you’re going to depend on comments, you must attempt to assess their accuracy.
Warez Hacks and Cracks – My Recommendations
I recommend that you never use warez. It carries too many risks and this is no way to protect your computer. But if you do decide to use it or any other software from an untrustworthy source, I recommend that you run it inside a virtual machine you can easily reformat. Instead of using warez, you may want to look for legitimate clones of the program. Most expensive programs have an open source clone which provides all the essential features at no cost at all.
Downloading an open source program or freeware from its main website is much less risky than using warez and crackz. If you currently have no protection or maintenance software I highly recommend you grab a free scan with PC Matic to see what it can do for you.
