Armadillo problems with version 5.6

[Wrangler]

As already posted elsewhere, Armadillo didn't work with neobook v5.6. So I played around with it, and got it to work fine.

In the first project screen, select Protection Options and tick the Standard Protection + DebugBlocker radio button.

Select Data-After-Program Options and tick Protect, Fake Data Location and Headers.

Interception options should be set to Intercept None.

Hope this helps anyone using Armadillo to protect their programs.

[Boo (Gulf Breeze)]

Hi Wrangler,

Thanks for posting this. I tried the settings you recommended, but it still does not seem to work for me. (The program runs longer before crashing than previously, but there are still problems.) It may be that my Neobook project is too large/complex. Not sure.

Cheers,

- Boo

[Wrangler]

Try knocking down the protection a notch to just standard protection. Also try securing a simple program with Armadillo. Will tell you if it's some code in the program that's causing it.

[Boo (Gulf Breeze)]

Hi Again,

Yeppers, I tried everything, but still no go. Does not work with a simple pub (at least on my PC), even when scaling down the protection to the minimal.

Incidentally, I am running Windows Vista. Not sure if Vista is the culprit...

Thanks,

- Boo

[Wrangler]

I just installed and ran it again in Vista Home, and it worked fine.

Why not try this? Download the trial version of the program I just tested here:

http://highdesertsoftware.com/ftp/birthdaysetup.exe

Try to install it on your system. If it hangs, it is a problem with your system. If it doesn't, there must be a configuration in armadillo that is wrong, or some code in your program that is causing it.

I don't know if you're aware of this trick, but you can check for a valid registration with armadillo. Use this code:

../ check if registered
SystemInfo "%USERKEY%" "[RegCode]"
If "[regcode]" "=" ""
action here.....
else
action here.....
endif

When the program is running, and the user is registered, it will fill the environment variable USERKEY. If not registered, it is empty. Look for the userkey variable in armadillo help file for more. Comes in handy for crippling just certain features in your program.

[Boo (Gulf Breeze)]

Hi Wrangler,

I attempted to download your sample program, but unfortunately, my virus software (Avast) is showing a trojan horse:

Win32:Rbot-FUB [Trj]

False read I suspect... Weird!

And yeppers, I am quite aware of the environmental variables available within Armadillo/Software Passport.

Thanks,

- Boo

[Wrangler]

I have had 2 other reports of Avast throwing out false positives. Get a decent virus scanner, or disable the piece of crap while downloading and installing.

[Boo (Gulf Breeze)]

Hi Wrangler,

Your Birthday program works fine on my machine. (Have also downloaded it in the past -- nice work.)

Whereas the Neobook beta will not work correctly with Armadillo/Software Passport (that is, at least with my compiled apps.), the current version of Neobook does, so I will probably have to stick with it for now.

Thanks for you assistance, and I will let you know if I am able to eventually fix the problem.

Cheers!

- Boo

[Wrangler]

You know, I had another thought. I don't have neobook OR armadillo installed in Vista. They are installed on XP. I only tested the birthday program in Vista. Maybe this could be causing the problem.

A desperate stab at best, but I can't otherwise explain why it works for me, but not you.

[Boo (Gulf Breeze)]

Hi Wrangler,

After some experimentation, I did find a way to make it work (albeit with less security). Here are the settings:

Set Protection Options as follows:

- Standard Protection + Debug-Blocker

- Deselect (i.e., uncheck) Enable Memory-Patching Protections (I suspect this was the culprit).

Under Data-After-Program Options, set to "Protect and fake original data location". (I think "Protect fake data location and headers" will work, too.)

Although this setup seems to work (at least for me), using Best Protection and other settings do NOT seem to do the trick. (Also, as mentioned previously, MANY combinations of settings work with the current (non-beta) version of Neobook. And as you pointed out, this may be due to the fact that I am implementing protection on my Vista PC. Your program, protected on an XP machine, runs fine on my Vista machine.)

Cheers, and thanks again!

- Boo