Crack intro: Difference between revisions

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{{Use British English|date=December 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}

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[[File:Quartex.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Cracktro for the cracking group Quartex on [[Amiga]]. A typical crack intro has a scrolling text marquee at the bottom of the screen.]]

A '''crack intro''', alsocommonly knownabbreviated as a '''cracktro''', '''loader''', or just '''intro''', is a small introduction sequence added to [[keygen]]s and [[Software cracking|cracked software]]. It aimsaimed to inform the user which cracking crew or individual cracker removed the software's [[copy protection]] and distributed the crack or keygen.<ref name="EuroGamer" /><ref name="wired"/><ref name="0dayartTheVerge"/>

==History==

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Crack-intro programming eventually became an art form in its own right, and people started coding intros without attaching them to a crack just to show off how well they could program. This practice evolved into the [[demoscene]].<ref name="EuroGamer"/>

Crack intros and other small software created by [[Software cracker|software crackers]] such as [[Keygen|keygens]] and [[Patch (computing)|patches]] that remove protection from commercial applications often use [[chiptune]]s made in the[[music formtracker]]s offor background music. These chiptunes are now still accessible as downloadable ''[[Module file#Music disk|musicdisks]]'' or ''musicpacks''.<ref name="chiptunes2009"/>

==See also==