Crack?

[Whitehill]

In a thread yesterday, now mercifully closed, the alleged perp (over)used the word "crack" in a context which implied, to me, a way to break or get around licensing restrictions on software - to get something for nothing.

Was I reading that right? I haven't heard the term before. I have to admit that I had a bad headache about halfway through, caused by his fractured forum-speak.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

That's correct. When pirating commercial software, people typically do one of two things to be able to use th software illicitly:

1. Find a valid serial number
2. "Crack" the software, which allows them to use the software as if it were validly licensed, but without having to input a serial number (because of the lack of available serial numbers that work, or because the software author intelligently uses methods to validate the serial number like online activation, or because the software uses an activation/licensing scheme that doesn't involve a serial number)

Sometimes 1 and 2 are used in conjunction with each other.

Cracks vary from software to software -- it's a generic term used to mean that a piece of software has been modified to act as if it is validly licensed without having to validly and legally license it.

 

[Cheryl]

Just so everyone understands:
This is posted to understand the term and in no way are we going to elaborating on this topic since continuing this conversation would be a violation of our forum rules.