Script Encoder is a simple command-line tool that enables script designers to encode their final script so that Web hosts and Web clients cannot view or modify their source.

Note that this encoding only prevents casual viewing of your code; it will not prevent the determined hacker from seeing what you've done and how.

Web designers use scripting on Web pages and server-side active server pages (.ASP) to add virtually every kind of feature you can imagine. In addition, scripting is used by the Windows® Scripting Host (WSH) and in a number of other applications with equally impressive results.

Up to now, one of the shortcomings of using scripts is that they afford no protection of the intellectual property contained within, nor do they provide any assurance that what users get is what you created.

Clever algorithms and carefully designed scripts were always completely visible because they were stored as plain text.

As a result, script users at every level could see the script designer's code and could then take it, modify it, and make it their own. Obviously, this is not good if you're trying to get an edge in a very competitive environment.

With the introduction of scriptlets, protecting the source code becomes even more important. Script designers want to use this simple component architecture, but they don't necessarily want to share their source code with the world.

After a script is encoded, changing any part of the resulting file will render it inoperable, thus ensuring the absolute integrity of your encoded script.