Editing NOP (code) (section)

== Cracking ==
NOPs are often involved when [[Software cracking|cracking]] software that checks for serial numbers, specific hardware or software requirements, presence or absence of hardware [[dongle]]s, etc. in the form of a [[NOP slide]]. This process is accomplished by altering [[Subroutine|functions and subroutines]] to bypass security checks and instead simply return the expected value being checked for. Because most of the instructions in the security check routine will be unused, these would be replaced with NOPs, thus removing the software's security functionality without altering the positioning of everything which follows in the binary.