Encryption for Executable

Question

Can anyone recommend what's a good way to encrypt an executable? I was trying to use AxCrypt but I don't like the usage, i.e. you specify a passcode and the person who launches the exe needs to specify the passcode. Is there someway to encrypt it once and users just run the exe without specifying any passwords?

Answer 1

It's basically pointless. If it's a .NET or Java program, obfuscators can improve performance and decrease the executable size and make it difficult to reverse engineer. Packers can decrease executable size. Signing can provide assurance to your users that you built the program. But encryption of the executable for the purpose of hiding it's executable code is rather pointless.