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Cancel Cable: How Internet Pirates Get Free Stuff |
Chapter 15 – Applications and Games
A sampling of software that you can download:
- Business and home — accounting, communication, database, flowcharting, networking, personal finance, presentation, project management, reports and forms, schedule and contact management, spreadsheet, tax prep, training, travel, word processing
- Children — activities, art, early learning, games, interactive books, literature, math, nature, reading, reference, science, socialization, parental controls, problem solving, virtual pets
- Creative — 3D, animation, clip art, cooking, fashion, hobbies, illustration, music and audio, photo and video editing, publishing
- Education and reference — arts, culture, dictionaries, encyclopedias, foreign languages, geography, history, literature, mapping, religion, science, script and screen writing, secondary education, sound libraries, test prep, typing, writing
- Games — all operating systems, mobile devices, and consoles
- Operating systems and servers
- Professional — 3D modeling, architecture, drafting/CAD, forensics, IDEs and compilers, engineering, legal, mapping/GIS, mathematics, medical, statistics, virtualization, web development
- Utility — antimalware, archivers, backup, disk authoring, drive partitioning, file conversion, firewalls, image mounting, privacy, screen capture, security, text editors, voice recognition
Pirating software is dicier than pirating media (movies, music, and so on) because the former must be installed and poses a greater threat of malware (Chapter 4). When browsing for software torrents, look for popular releases by reputable piracy groups. Some installations are easy, but you’re usually at the mercy of the torrent’s installation instructions. These instructions come in a separate .txt, .nfo, .rtf, or .html file and range from lucidly comprehensive to cryptically terse. If you can’t install or run a program, read the torrent’s user comments to see whether someone else had (and solved) the same problem you’re facing. You can also post your own questions, solutions, and experiences. Software piracy has its own vocabulary and techniques, described next.
Archives
For programs packaged as archives (.rar or .zip files), the first step of the installation instructions is “Extract” or one of its synonyms: expand, uncompress, unpack, unrar, or unzip. For details, see Chapter 5.
Disk Images
Often a program comes as a disk image, which is a single large file that reproduces the contents, structure, and behavior of an optical disk, hard drive, or other physical storage medium. If you’ve copied or backed up any music CD or movie DVD, then you’re familiar with the idea. Think of a disk image as a digital copy of a program’s original installation disk. Large programs can span multiple disk images.
The standard Windows disk-image formats are ISO (.iso) and CUE/BIN (paired .cue and .bin files). IMG (.img) files are equivalent to ISOs. Nonstandard images, which you should approach with caution, include MagicISO (.udf, .uif), Media Descriptor (paired .mdf and .mds files), and PowerISO (.daa).
The standard OS X disk-image format is DMG (.dmg). A less-common format is CDR (.cdr), an ISO-like format used by OS X’s Disk Utility (you can change the filename extension from .cdr to .iso). Old OS 9 disk images have .smi or .img extensions.
If you download a disk-image file in an unfamiliar format, search fileinfo.com 
for the filename extension or read Wikipedia’s article about disk images . To associate a particular disk-image type with a specific program, see Chapter 3.
Executables
An executable or EXE file is a program. (Technically, it’s a sequence of instructions that performs specific tasks on a computer.) When you launch an application, you’re actually opening its executable file. Windows application files have the extension .exe (notepad.exe, for example). OS X applications have the extension .app (iTunes.app). Small, standalone applications and utilities, which you can launch without installing, tend to come as executable files rather than as disk images.
Mounting Disk Images
Mounting a disk image makes it behave like a physical CD or DVD. A mounted image appears as a separate virtual drive in Windows Explorer or Finder windows, as though it were a real disk inserted into a normal CD/DVD drive. You can mount multiple disk images at the same time, from local or network drives.
Windows programs that can mount disk images include Daemon Tools Lite and Virtual CloneDrive . If you get Daemon Tools Lite, opt out of the bundled spyware (browser toolbar, Daemon search, and so on) during installation.
In OS X, .dmg files automount when you open them (you don’t need a separate mounting program). To mount an ISO, use the built-in Disk Utility application (choose File > Open Disk Image) or the hdiutil command (in Terminal, type hdiutil mount -help).
File archivers (Chapter 5) can browse and extract the contents of ISOs and other disk images without mounting them.
See also Wikipedia’s list of disk-image software .
Burning Disks
Burning a disk records a disk image onto a writeable CD or DVD (to do this, your computer’s optical drive must be able to write disks as well as read them). Installation instructions often have a “Mount or burn image” step, meaning that you can install a program by either mounting the disk image as a virtual drive or running a burned disk of the image. It’s rarely necessary to burn a disk because image-mounting suffices in almost every case. Image-based software installations are faster than disk-based ones. You can install operating systems from images on bootable flash drives. You can bypass copy-protection requirements for physical disks by using disk mounters or software cracks. Console games are one of the few torrent categories where it’s necessary or convenient to burn disks.
To burn a disk image in Windows, right-click an .iso or .img file and choose “Burn disc image”. In OS X, use the built-in Disk Utility application (choose Images > Burn) or the hdiutil command (in Terminal, type hdiutil burn -help). For other disk-image formats, use a third-party disk-authoring program such as Alcohol 120% or PowerISO. See also Wikipedia’s list of disk-image software .
Keygens, Cracks, and Jailbreaks
Torrents for copy-protected applications and games include software countermeasures that bypass or remove the protection.
A key generator, or keygen, is a mini program that generates a product key or serial number that unlocks or activates software. Keygens are usually standalone executables, but some are command-line programs that you run in Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (OS X). If the keygen is an .exe file, then you must run it in Windows, even if it generates keys for OS X programs. (Don’t be startled if a keygen plays a synthesized tune when you open it.) In some cases, a torrent will come with a typed list of keys instead of a key generator. You need a key when you install or first launch a copy-protected program.
A crack replaces or modifies software to disable a program’s irritating DRM features (copy protection, expiration dates, trial limits, disk checks, ads, nag screens, and so on). Common cracks are .exe, .dll, .app, .plist, and other files that you copy to a program’s installation or settings folders, overwriting the original (uncracked) files. Some cracks are standalone executables or registry (.reg) files that you need to run only once after you install a program. Overwriting or modifying original files or settings with cracks is called patching.
Installing a copy-protected program requires a keygen, crack, or both. The installation instructions should tell you how and when to apply them, and where they reside in the torrent or disk image (usually in a separate folder named “Crack”, “Keygen”, or labeled with the cracker’s alias). The easiest programs to install are precracked (preactivated), requiring no special action by you beyond installation.
A jailbreak overrides vendor-imposed software lockdowns on a particular device. Jailbreaking an iOS device, for example, lets you bypass Apple’s App Store and install cracked apps (.ipa files) on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch via Cydia . Jailbreaking a video-game console lets you play pirated or homebrew games. Jailbreaks are common but they’re not part of torrent downloads (they’re a separate prior step). For more information, search the web for the name of your device followed by the word jailbreak. Related Wikipedia articles include “iOS jailbreaking” , “Homebrew (video games)” , and “Privilege escalation” .
Installing Programs
Aside from generating keys and applying cracks, installing pirated programs is usually no different from installing legitimate ones. You must have administrator privileges on your computer to install software.
For Windows disk images, a program’s install wizard should autostart when you mount the image or insert the burned disk. If it doesn’t start, browse through the image or disk and open the program’s setup file, usually named setup.exe or install.exe. Follow the wizard’s onscreen instructions. Along the way, you may have to type or paste a key from the keygen.
Other types of Windows installers include Windows Installer (.msi) and executable (.exe) files. Some programs arrive unpacked in a hierarchy of folders and require no installation.
For OS X disk images, double-click the .dmg file or the icon of the burned disk, and then double-click the disk-image icon that appears on the desktop. Drag the program’s icon to the Applications folder or to your home folder, or follow the instructions in the installer window.
In all cases, generate keys, apply cracks, and install and launch the program as the torrent instructs.