Stop them from stealing your AutoHotkey script | Prevent decompiling

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

You can get the resources mentioned in this video here: www.the-automator.com/how-to-stop-someone-from-taking-your-script/

[@patrickschardt7724]

I love that you use the iconic inconceivable line from The Princess Bride for the Windows error sound

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Inconceivable! It's typically one of the first things I set when I get a new computer. 😊

[@edwiny2797]

Hi Joe nice to see you. Awesome video. Thank you. By the way, is there any way to make a compilation better for antivirus to not detect it as a virus.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

THere are several things you can do. Some easy, some not so much. 1) don't use compression when you compile 2) use 64 bit versin of AHK when you compile 3) if the script is for your own computer you can self-sign it. 4) buy certification to sign them (which costs several hunderd a year)

[@edwiny2797]

​@@JoeGlines-Automator Thank you, Joe, for responding promptly.

[@millionerpath]

Thank you very much! Thats what I was looking at

[@michaeltodd2012]

Since I've not purposefully wanted to sell any of my AHK applications, I have not been worried about the source code. But, I did write a AHK Script manager to launch plain text scripts. That happened because a few years ago, my compiled scripts were getting antivirus false positives A LOT and it was really bugging me. To the point, one version of this AHK launcher used 7zip with password protected AHK files. Embedded in the program was the passphrase. The program would decrypt AHK scripts when launching them and immediately delete the .AHK files. So, that was one level of protection from general users as they would never see the raw script files. Undelete of the AHK files may be possible but the Systernals SDelete command can be used to securely delete the raw source files.

Great video Joe, you really rock ! I'm always learning something new from you. You know, I guess that the number 4 is the answer lol

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Awesome! Thank you! And thanks for answering the meme question! Yeah, I thought it was pretty funny...

[@janwszoek1578]

4 is our man I mean the joke from the last part

[@bc4198]

Do you cover anywhere why a person would want to decompile your scripts?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

No. That's pretty obvious to most people. they want to see your source code...

[@DonQuirin]

Keep up the great and informative videos!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Thank you Don! Hope you're staying safe!

[@Annuit20]

Thanks for the vid, and ob its No. 4 :-D

[@theycallmesuz]

I'm a follower of Joe, always great information. Joe also has webinars, podcasts and Udemy courses available!

[@user-ec6zh7cg3g]

I really like your videos. Great content

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Thank you!

[@justforyou9271]

Thank You, I was in need of this

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Thanks! What do you think of the new format? Having eye candy, funny meme?

[@justforyou9271]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Yes, definitely more people will come to see. Last meme was very funny - it's nice idea to end up video with meme which gives smiling end to the subscriber ☺

[@Spawnova]

Nice video! I didn't know there was an alternative to mpress, I wonder which one does better compression.. I'm not sure if someone will find an easy way to bypass the method you show in the video, but because I'm so paranoid I actually obfuscate my code when compiling; variables, functions etc. gets randomly generated and everything else is stripped away =P

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I think the best thing to do is to try and not let people know what language you're using in the first place... Obfuscating will help but all it does is make it a little more painful for someone to hack (granted one could view every step we take to prevent hacking is just making it more painful...)

[@TheRickyrobot]

great video!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Thank you Ricky!

I was scuring my scripts with it for years.

[@Rambyaye]

Thanks for this video, really informative. AutoHotkey is still new for me. I wanted to download the Ahk_H compiler but Jesus!! Github is like a labyrinth for a non programmer like me. What to download in all the versions and folders over there? Perharps a video on how to install it would be also usefull. For me the number 4 is the guy:) Edit: Finally solved but it was a hassle!

[@kentpachi143]

Hello Joe, The exe for compiler ahk_h is detected as malware and also the exe it compress is detected too.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

You have to just decide if you trust the source or not. Sadly most antivirus flags AutoHotkey... It's just that it's a very powerful tool. Some use it for bad, but the vast, vast majority use it for good.

[@utrutr6013]

Now that over a year has gone by, is this still the best easy obfuscation method you would recommend? Also, does this work with AHK V2 scripts? Thanks.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

This is with AutoHotkey_H (a completely different fork than V1 or v2. It's still the best that I know of because it isn't just obvuscation...

[@utrutr6013]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Oohh... I'm not familiar with that version at all then. So it will only work with _H scripts? Is _H different in terms of writing scripts? i.e. is the language/syntax different or only at the point of compiling the script?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

@@utrutr6013 ahk_h is similar to V1. Basically a different compiler. It is multithreading

[@keithrandellparas489]

Hello, I can no longer find the compiler for ahk_h from the link you gave. Is there an update?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I just looked and it is on the front page of his Github. It's just the executable version of AutoHotkey_H . That's what compiles code in AutoHotkey...

[@guest238]

amigo me sale un error:: y no pasa nada me podrias ayudar o pasar el codigo x favor!!

[@janwszoek1578]

Ok Joe how'd u got thoose bin files?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I listed the resources to everything I got in the description / video

[@janwszoek1578]

@@JoeGlines-Automator okay i got it

[@eiglehawk]

I place hotkeyit Compiler and its not working I think its written in Autohotkey_H which I do not use :( its throwing error when ever I launch missing VCRruntime140.dll file

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

If you watch the video you'll understand that this approach is for using AutoHotkey_H.

[@panshot582]

How to instal mpress and UPX in windows 10?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I just downloaded and installed them. Look at the links in the description

[@janwszoek1578]

Joe can I make my script so nobody can copy it and share it?

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Sure. Go ahead. (ha ha). As with all programming languages it really is a matter of "how difficult" it will be to steal, not making it impossible. Compiling it with _h and using a tool to mask it's content will help keep the IP protected but there is always someone that can hack it

[@janwszoek1578]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Okay thanks, I am asking because I made a script that I can monetize and I do not want it to be copied or shared, it can only be accessible through paying

[@janwszoek1578]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Well Joe I got again in trouble, when compiling script and trying to encrypt it window pops and says script file not found:\\.\pipe\BinScriptBody

[@janwszoek1578]

@@JoeGlines-Automator Joe is everything allright? Did you got consumed by this woman at the beginning of this video?

[@ahmedshaheen4815]

Hi Joe, Thanks a lot for your efforts and great information i used this tool few months back and it was working perfectly but now my anti virus is detecting it as i virus and delete it, giving risk type Trojan.Gen.MBT, Heur.AdvMl.B any advise or any alternative solution as the script protection is very important for me.

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I can pretty much guarantee you that your antivirus is wrong. There are a ton of false positives around AutoHotkey. Personally I'd just white-list it. It's such a problem, that's why I don't distribute executables... The only real other solution is going through a painful process of being able to sign your own certificates.

[@janwszoek1578]

JOE WHY ARE YOU DELETING MY COMMENTS IAM KEEPING WATCH IN CASE YOU RESPOND TO MY STUPID QUESTIONS

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

I'm not deleting anything. If you put in URLs or certain words KZbin will automatically filter them / flag them as spam

[@janwszoek1578]

@@JoeGlines-Automator okay okay

[@theycallmesuz]

I'm a follower of Joe, always great information. Joe also has webinars, podcasts and Udemy courses available!

[@JoeGlines-Automator]

Awesome, thank you!