Hi Terry:

You should probably be asking Javier since he is actually using Armadillo and I'm only getting ready to buy something. In any event, both Armadillo and SoftwareKEY encrypt and compress the original EXE, DLLs, OCXs, etc. and put them inside an executable wrapper. At run time the wrapper decrypts and decompresses the code on the fly.

Generally speaking this makes it difficult, but not impossible, to hack. From what I have read (take a look at www.woodmann.com/crackz/Packers.htm) the code can still be cracked while in memory and executing. The authors try to prevent this by detecting the presence of a debugger. However a good code cracker who has the time and expertise (your typical demented teenager) can get around these safeguards and still look at the code while it's in memory. A suggested response to this is executing some lengthy, meaningless, and tedious code at the beginning of your program, forcing the cracker to waste several hours before they get to something significant.

Other than that, I know nothing.

Regards,

Scott