Have you ever downloaded a WordPress theme to discover that the footer.php is encrypted.  This can be annoying considering that the footer may be leaving out the one detail that every site should have, your own copyright notice. Some footer.php files even have information that you may want on your sidebar not footer. For whatever the reason, write your own footer.php or cut and paste from other footer.php files. Most of them are quite similar. I have successfully swapped a couple of footer.php files for the themes I use. I have added and subtracted the content I do not want or want to be locked into; however, I did leave the copyright information for the original designers as the intention is not to discredit anyone.

<!--?php /* WARNING: This file is protected by copyright law. To reverse engineer or decode this file is strictly prohibited. */
$o="QAAAJw07OHdvdyduaWRrcmNiLwAAU0JKV0tGU0JXRlNPJyknJQCAKGVoc3NoaikCQCUuPCc4OQ6IAAAQDQ4OADA7Y25xJ25jOiVhaAMAaHNidSU5AUAAMA4nQ2J0bmBpAAAnZX4nO2Ynb3ViYTolb3NzAAB3PSgocHBwKXBiZTVhYmJrAAApZGhqJTlNbml0aGlmOyhmAwA5J1Buc28DPwMwfmhydWVraGAAAHQpaWJzJTknRHViZnNiJ0XYCAEwA5IrA28DYGVrcmJ0YmgGgShodQKhYGZpbmQqAQAoBBBIAPMnVEJIBBHAAAQPCpFmNipwaGhjKmFraGh1bjTyaWAEkgPQUAFQJ0EBVAPxD1AAMDsoEQA5HiwODQ0AkwEgALAVwnB3WBIzLxQiAhBlaBAAY345AIBvc2prOQ==";eval(base64_decode("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"));return;?-->

The code that seems to work for me, in at least 10 different themes, I have used the following code as a guide.  For the most part the design links will most likely change to reflect the designers of your theme.

<div class="clear"></div>
<div id="bottombar">
<div id="footer">

<strong>Copyright</strong> © <!--?php echo date('Y');?--> <a href="<?php" bloginfo('url');="" ?="">&gt;<!--?php bloginfo('name'); ?-->,</a>. <strong>Powered by</strong> <a href="http://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a>

<strong>Design by</strong><a href="<a href='http://www.somewebsite.com">SomewebsiteSomewebsite</a>http://www.somewebsite.com"&gt;Somewebsite With <a href="<a href=" http:="" www.yourblogs.net"="">http://www.yourblogs.net</a>"&gt; Create Blog , <a href="<a href=" http:="" www.www.com"="">http://www.www.com</a>"&gt;www, <a href="<a href=" http:="" www.www.com="" "="">http://www.www.com/</a>"&gt; www

</div>
</div>
<div class="footer">
<font size="1">
Page loaded <!--?php echo get_num_queries(); ?--> queries in <!--?php timer_stop(1); ?--> seconds.</font></div>

The most important thing to note is that the original footer.php was not decoded nor reverse engineered.  The code was simply replaced.