Reverse engineering dongle protected software

I was young, the internet just started and we could get tons of software for free. It was free because somebody out there was “kind” enough to crack/patch the .exe file.

I’ve put “kind” between quotes, because this was the view I had when I was a kid. Now I’m a software engineer and I know how much effort it takes to build software. So please, don’t download cracked software. Support the developer and buy a licence!

Applying such a crack, patching the exe, I always wanted to know how to do such a thing. It turns out you need…