In Python, while I was testing a bruteforce script I saw that not printing something like Trying Password: *password* with every attempt significantly decreases the time it takes in order to find the password. I just let it run on a blank screen but if I put something as simple as a loading animation (Running . . .)in the beginning to let me know it's working fine, would that slow down my program too?
(Excuse me if any of what I said was hard to understand. I'm confused as well)
When attempting a bruteforce, it's best to have as much processing power available. A constant call from Python to update the screen (with a loading status, in this case) takes up some processing power and would indeed slow down the bruteforce.
By how much it slows down depends on how your script is written and the hardware it's running on. Better hardware - faster. Better threading for the script - faster. You might be able to avoid a noticeable impact if you offload the "animation" to a thread which isn't fully utilized (if your script leaves any such threads in the first place).
Though unless you are on a very slow PC, the main slow down probably doesn't come from the CPU, but from the data bus. Sending information between components at a very rapid pace could cause a bottleneck. So if your script waits for that bottleneck to pass before it continues cycling passwords - it gets slowed down. Try to separate the "loading" status from the rest of the logic, so that the CPU can keep cycling passwords without waiting for each screen refresh to pass.
I hope this helped.
Would adding an animation slow down my program in Python?