::::::::::::::
:: Pixondes ::
::::::::::::::

Simple 256 byte Win32 PE executable intro
Created 30.01.2024 by Busy soft for LoveByte party

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

  Description

Pixondes - PIXels ON DESktop - is a simple graphic
effect what draws pixels into 512x512 area placed
in left upper corner on desktop.

To get best view, set black color on desktop and get
away all opened windows. You can move icons away too.

Press ESC key for end of activity and exit intro.

Please do not scare - after exit intro, already drawn
pixels remains on the desktop. You can remove them by
moving mouse pointer or some opened window over them.

On some versions of windows, if you do some
other work in system (manipulate with windows),
it is a small chance that the pressed ESC key
is not recognized. In this case, you can kill
the process in Task Manager / Process explorer.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

  Technical info

In fact, this is not a serious high-end intro.
This is another attempt how to hack the PE headers
to produce the Win32 EXE file as short as possible.

All needed imports are resolved by 10-bit hash.
This way is not 100% bulletproof and can crash
when there will be added new exports in future
versions of used DLL's what have the same hash.

Likewise there is one another risk: some future windows
version may not accept hacked PE headers in this intro.

Therefore 1k version of intro with correct headers
and standard import table is added to this package.

In this package, there are 3 executable files:

  Pix256-WinXP.exe ... 256 bytes version for older windows (tested on XP SP2 SP3)
  Pix256-Win10.exe ... 268 bytes version for newer windows (tested on 7 and 10)
  PixStd.exe ......... 1kB version with correct headers (should work on all Win32+)

The executable files for WinXP and Win10 are EXACTLY THE SAME,
the only difference is Win10 is padded by zeros to length 268 bytes.

Unfortunately, windows 7 and newer do not allow to execute any files
shorter than 268 bytes (Why ?? I don't know) so padding is necessary.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

  Ending words

Contact: busy@128.sk  busy.128.sk
Please feel free to write me :)

All executable files in this package were
scanned by ESET antivirus a and they are clean.
But in practice, what malware is able to infect
so short files (and do not change the length) ???

I hope this intro will inspire you for creating next
ASAP (as-short-as-possible) Win32 programs or intros :)

Big thanks go to Crinkler ( http://crinkler.net/ )
for inspiration for hacking PE header and imports.
