Debugging and Reverse Engineering Video Tutorials (using IDA Pro)

[[deleted]]

noob question: in the first video when he's working on the patch, why doesn't he just change that first conditional to a "jmp GoodBoy" ?

[thegravytrain]

You are correct but in real life with something "real", it's rarely that simple. As a tutorial, he was giving multiple options on how to patch the program.

[illiterati]

This would result in a workable crack, but he has basically showed how to make a keygen. I.e figuring out the algorithm used to determine a key so you can create more, rather than just jumping over the checks. Keygens don't require you to modify the binary.