Archive for July, 2010
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/19
The Stuxnet rootkit exploit shows why digital signatures are weak.
Not so much the signatures themselves are weak, but the process around signing with digital certificates is weak:
If an unauthorized person or piece of software gains access to the private key of the digital certificate used for signing anything, then the whole chain starting with that digital certificate is compromised.
In this case, a private key used for signing Realtek drivers was used to sign the Stuxnet rootkit drivers.
VeriSign now has revoked this particular digital certificate.
Which results into all drivers that have been signed with this revoked certificate become marked as a potential security risk.
The rootkit also revealed another security issue with the Windows Shell exploited by specially crafted .lnk files, but the risk of the digital signing process has much bigger implications.
–jeroen
via: VeriSign Revokes Certificate Used to Sign Stuxnet Malware | threatpost.
Posted in Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/19
Sometimes you need to drop a trigger, and depending on your SCM, your database might not actually have it.
Many people start blinding querying the system tables for this (a few of those examples are revealed by this Google search query).
This might be caused by old Microsoft documentation showing this as an example back in SQL Server 2000.
This is not needed for DML triggers (that react on data changes), querying the system tables is only needed for DDL triggers (that react on DDL actions).
For DML triggers (the vast majority!), you can use OBJECT_ID in stead. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Database Development, Development, SQL Server | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/16
Quite a few web sites have fields where you cannot paste with Ctrl-V.
I don’t know why: pasting text input is a great way to speed up your work.
A solution for most of them: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User, Web Browsers, Windows | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/15
Thanks to Kilian Croese, I updated the Google Calendar – printing multiple months or weeks to PDF posting with this info:
- No need to use Fiddler any more for obtaining the base printing URL.
- Added information for these parameters:
- pfs (font size)
- po (page orientation)
- pbw (black & white)
- In addition, I improved the documentation on the parameter rand (which is a JavaScript EPOCH value)
- Finally I dug a bit deeper into the page sources, and added information about these parameters:
- pjs (PDF Printing Java Script)
- pda (PDF download)
The original post is now both far easier to use, and much more complete.
–jeroen
Via: Google Calendar – printing multiple months or weeks to PDF « The Wiert Corner – Jeroen Pluimers’ irregular stream of Wiert stuff.
Posted in Font, Google, Google Apps, PDF, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/14
Declared @local_variables and parameters in stored procedures are a very handy feature of SQL Server.
They allow for local storage, and for passing information around without storing them in your database first.
You can assign values by using both SET @local_variable, and SELECT @local_variable.
Note that these are different than a regular SET or regular SELECT.
In addition, SET @local_variable and SELECT @local_variable are different too.
Though Microsoft recommends using SET, there are a differences between SET and SELECT, which can make SELECT a lot faster in loops.
Assigning multiple @local_variables in a single SELECT query
There seem to be no examples (or very few: as I could not find them) about using the SELECT @local_variable to select values into multiple @local_variables from a query.
This can be very useful, so here is a small example: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Database Development, Development, SQL Server | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/13
Recently I needed a way to automate some testing on SQL Server 2005.
The easiest way was to start with restoring some predetermined database state from a .BAK file.
Hence I wrote the script below.
Next to SQLCMD, this script uses SubInACL, which you can download here (don’t worry that version seems to be only for Windows 2000..2003: it still works in Windows 7).
Microsoft does not have much documentation (except the built-in by calling “SubInACL /help /full”.
But this SubInACL page has some more insight on how to use it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Database Development, Development, SQL Server | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/12
At home, I have 7 screens on 3 computers on the same desk.
That sounds like a clutter, but all these keyboards and mice hooked up to them add even more clutter.
Until I found out about [Wayback] Input Director a while ago: a (virtual) Software KVM to Control Multiple Computers.
It took only a few minutes to setup, and works like a breeze.
I have played around with it for about 2 months now, and it is great: I did not have to change any settings since the initial – and easy – setup.
Now I just use the keyboard/mouse that are most convenient to my situation: all keyboard/mice can control all computers and monitors.
A breeze indeed!
–jeroen
Posted in Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/09
A while ago, I posted about Windows 7: new shortcut keys (windows hotkeys and more).
When you are in Vista or XP, you can feel a bit ‘lost’ missing those new keyboard shortcuts.
I just learned there is a tool that supplies the new Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts in Vista and XP :-)
–jeroen
Posted in Keyboards and Keyboard Shortcuts, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2010/07/08
Five words:
use parameters instead of literals.
via: Date Time SQL Queries: Formatting Date Time Values for Access SQL in Delphi.
Edit: Fixed “in stead of” into “instead of”: learned something new today :-)
–jeroen
Posted in Delphi, Development, Software Development | 9 Comments »
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