VB Destroy - Information
VBDestroy strips out unnecessary string identifiers and erases some unused numeric data.
What it destroys:
- Procedure counts (useful for grouping functions into modules)
- Form names
- Control names
- Control names in the event table (eg, cmdWeb_Click which now becomes " _Click")
- Form variable names
- Internal class method names (doesn't affect exporting of COM functions/variables)
In a future upgrade, it will remove line numbers inserted for debugging purposes.
Not an Obfuscator
Note that none of the code is changed, so this is NOT an obfuscator. For one thing, encrypted data can be decrypted, and for another, obfuscating code is a dead-end, because decompilers can cope with anything given the effort. Anyway, this isn't a gung-ho do-everything mega-obfuscator costing $4000, but a simple tool to provide guaranteed protection in a small market.
The problem is that if you remove too much data, the program doesn't run. If you encrypt the data, it can be unencrypted. But if you remove a lot of identifier data, it's like decompiling C programs.
Effects on Commercial Decompilers
Detech's VBRB: Before and After
Note that the decompiler still knows which control it is by number (9), so the code would run if the controls and forms were renamed, but the names Form1 and grdExport are gone. In other words, if someone wrote a decent enough decompiler, you could re-compile your code after running VBDestroy, but if you needed to hand-alter or use it to do a rewrite, you would be totally lost.
VBReformer
Before and After using VBDestroy. It doesn't work very well, and none of the menus work.
VB Decompiler Lite 2.7:
Before and After using VBDestroy. It works fine, but the lack of any names on the functions makes it hard to understand.
(I do not show these examples to criticise these programs in any way, but this shows that VBDestroy does its job to protect your GUI data and thus your code).
Click here for a free trial. It only accepts files less than 30270 bytes in size, which is sufficient for small VB programs.
To order the full version with no filesize limit, email me at jeremy@decompiler.org to order. Payment is done via Paypal, and I will accept any charges. When payment is received, I will send you the full version.
