How safe .els files ? Reverse engineerability ?

["Frank Richardson" <frankr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm interested in the possibility of protecting my work with password protected (locked) .els. Seems I've seen some discussion on the o-list before where the majority opinion was that even locked .els files were "crackable".

As I understand, a protected ELS file does not contain the source file, it only contains the executable file.

Is it possible for a thief to "reverse engineer" from the .exe file ?  Can you give me some sort of example how much effort may be required ?

If you put a date limitation in your .els file then can't a thief just change the date in his bios so he can keep running the .els file ?

Any and all technical comments/suggestions appreciated.

Frank