Source Code Protection

Question

When you compile a program to publish with Visual Studio 2010, does that have any advanced methods to keep your program being decompiled to source code? Are there any methods you would use to encrypt yoursource code before compiling?

Answer 1

Visual Studio by default does not apply any form of enhancements nor modify the compiled binaries other than chosen optimization setting. There are however protectors you can make use of. Remember UPX? Well upx is still a very viable method of encrypting your binaries altough of course it all depends on your needs.

Answer 2

No, there's really no way to prevent a managed assembly from being decompiled back into source code. The best you can hope for is obfuscation, which can do quite a good job of making the decompiled code hard to understand.