Member Avatar for Member #956681

What's a portable software? and Is It even legal?

And whats cracked software? Is It legal also?

Thsi Is my first time hearing about these things.

  • 4 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 3K Views
  • 16 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Squidge

Dani AI

Generated

@napninjanx, building on what and said: “Portable” generally means an app that runs without a traditional installer and keeps its settings alongside the executable so you can carry it on a USB drive. That is perfectly legal when the publisher licenses it that way (common with open source or vendors that ship a portable build). On Windows, even Microsoft’s package manager treats “portable” as just another installer type that copies files to a folder, which is a good mental model of what “portable” really implies. Note that portable does not guarantee “no traces” — some apps still write to AppData or the Registry unless coded otherwise. See the Open Source Definition and Microsoft’s WinGet overview. (opensource.org, learn.microsoft.com)

By contrast, “cracked” software is software whose copy protection has been bypassed. In the U.S., circumventing access controls is prohibited by the DMCA’s anti-circumvention rules (17 U.S.C. 1201), with only narrow, time-limited exemptions that do not legalize downloading unauthorized copies. Beyond the legal risk, pirated/cracked downloads are a major malware vector; law enforcement and security researchers repeatedly warn that such packages are frequently booby-trapped. See the statute at 17 U.S.C. 1201 and the FBI’s advisory on pirated software carrying malware (FBI). (law.cornell.edu, fbi.gov)

Quick way to sanity-check a “portable” app (echoing ’s point about sticking to legit sources):

  • Run it in a test account or VM.
  • Use Microsoft’s free Process Monitor to watch for writes to the Registry or %AppData%/%LocalAppData%. Filter by the app’s process name; if you see persistent writes outside the app’s own folder, it is not fully portable/stealth. Download and docs: Process Monitor. (learn.microsoft.com)

Bottom line: portable can be fine when provided or permitted by the publisher; cracked is both risky and, in most jurisdictions, illegal.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for happygeek

My understanding of portable softare is that it's simply anything coded so that it can run from removable media such as a USB thumb drive, for example. In the context of my experience, it also leaves no trace of usage behind on the host machine that portable media is connected to - portable browser, email client etc. And, yes, it is legal.

As for cracked software, are you serious? That is software which has had the copy protection broken so as to run without a commercial license being required. And, yes, it is illegal.

Edited by happygeek
Member Avatar for caperjack

Thsi Is my first time hearing about these things.

Ditto what happygeek said .and its nothing new ,i first connected to the internet in 1996,and there was all kinds of cracked programs avaible ,maybe not portable apps, will also like to add seeing as you are new to computers[lol] and whats outthere might i suggest Googlehappy hunting .

i use to have a thumdrive full of portable apps ,like firefox and much much more ,a email program .i could plug in the thumb drive into anyones computer check my mail ,surf the net and not add a single thing to anyone computer while doing this ,great stuff actually

Edited by caperjack
Member Avatar for happygeek

Cracked software distribution pre-dates the Internet, of course. The cracking groups, also known as Demo groups at the time IIRC, on the Amiga (and to a lesser extent PC and Atari) platform existed to break copy protection on software and then redistribute either by post or BBS.

Member Avatar for Squidge

What's a portable software? and Is It even legal?

It is legal and illegal.

This one Click Here, is a collection of legal compact Apps available.

There are others, and i have in the past come across portable and cracked apps such as Dreamweaver, Flash etc. If it is under the Open Source license then yes this is all above board.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.