CyD Web Development Tools
Some time ago de decided to start working on a new product CyD Web Development Tools. The product will consist of modules for WEB developers and SEO professionals. Some of the modules will be available as part of CyD Network Utilities - Security tools.
At this time the product consist of only one module - search for WEB site vulnerabilities. The program needs improvements but you can try the module absolutely free-of-charge with no limits. Tell me if you have any suggestions for the program or if you found error. Some commands do not work in the program. I'm going to implement the full set of the features as soon as possible.
Date: 2009-12-06
[Read more] [Software]
Visual DNS Client
I've spent last two weeks to develop a new module for network tools program. The module is an analog of windows command tool nslookup. More information about DNS client you can find on CyD Software Labs WEB site.
Date: 2009-11-08
[Read more] [Software]
Speeding up DNS Operation
Every time you want to visit a site, for example to download a new version of a CyD Software Labs program, you enter the site's address as text data. In the case of our CyD Software labs, this will be www.cydsoft.com. But the actual site address is not the text name, but an IP address. An IP address (as used in the most common 4th version of the IP protocol) consists of four groups, each of three numbers, separated by periods.
Consequently, before the site can be loaded into whatever browser you are using, its IP address must be determined by its symbolic address (name). To get the IP address, the computer sends a request to the DNS server to translate the user-friendly name into the IP address. Only after the computer receives the IP address of the server of the site from the DNS can the connection be established and the site loaded into the browser. The address translation process can take some time, so the delay can be noticeable.
Why are DNS address-translation operations needed? Because humans are not particularly good at remembering numbers. It is much easier for us to remember meaningful text names, especially if they are associated with what we are interested in. Machines, on the contrary, use numbers in their operation. So, to build a bridge to connect humans and machines, the DNS system was designed to convert human-friendly text names into the numerical IP addresses used by computers.
Date: 2009-10-04
[Read more] [Network]
Profwebdev services for developers and admins
Yesterday I created a new section on profwebdev.com web site - Services. In the section I'm going to publish services for WEB developers and network administrators. At this time there are two services:
- IP online information - allows you to get know your IP address and browser information that available for web sites. All you see in the service result page are available for any other site you visit.
- Online ping - allows you to check connection with any WEB site from profwebdev.com server.
I'm going to add a lot of new WEB services. I want to make available online most of the features of CyD Network Utilities - Security tools. Any feedback are welcome. What services do you want to see first?
Date: 2009-09-16
[Read more] [Talking]
Image Hosting
One of the ways online marketing campaigns can get traffic and attract new business is through an engaging web design. Just as with print ads, the right images can make a huge difference as to whether your potential clients choose you or your competitors. To put great, attention-grabbing illustrations on the Internet, you may want to make use of an image hosting service.
How Image Hosting Services Work
Companies upload images to the website hosted on the image hosting server through what is called an upload interface. Once the image has been uploaded, others can come to the site and view those images. Clients can also create links to the image, such as linking with HTML code or creating a thumbnail of the image that can be clicked to call up the full image.
Date: 2009-08-11
[Read more] [WEB]
Photo Workshop
Now I'm working on my new WEB site: Digital Photo Workshop. The site is devoted to a new program called DPhotoWorkshop. The program isn't finished yet but you can look at interface and see how it will look like.
Besides, on this WEB site I'm going to publish a lot of photo pictures in Photo Library I have made using my photo cameras. I very fond of my camera and I like to make pictures. I'm not a professional photographer, but I want to share my work with you.
The site is still under constriction but basic features already implemented.
Date: 2009-08-09
[Read more] [WEB]
CyD Careful Observer - Network Monitor 2010
CyD Careful Observer - Network Monitor 2010 is now available. The new version has a lot of features that will be useful to database administrators, web site owners and so on.
Now you can set any number of testers to one host. The older version allowed setting only one tester to each host. To configure two testers on one IP address you had to create two network items in the program. Now you have to create only one network item.
More information about new features may be found on the vendor WEB log. I recommend you to read the next record: New features of CyD Careful Observer - Network Monitor 2010
Date: 2009-05-25
[Read more] [Network]
XP Themes
Themes are stored in the drive:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes folder. Open this folder and inspect its contents. At first, the folder may look the same as in the old Windows 9x - the same useless files with the theme extension and a bunch of useless folders.
The Luna folder contains all of the files necessary for the standard XP theme. Let's take a look at this. Whoa, what is this strange thing: luna.msstyles?! I don't remember seeing this extension in the old Windows. Let's take a closer look at it. The first thing I did the first time I saw this file was to examine its contents in Windows Commander (pressing the F3 key). The immediate thing that catches your eye is that the first two bytes of this file are MZ. This tells me that this file likely contains byte code like that in executable files. Looking further, we can see the magic message: "This program cannot be run in DOS mode." This means that the luna.msstyles file not only contains byte code, but is also executable, or, at least, that its structure is very similar to the executable file structure.
You already know that any executable or DLL file can contain resources, and you also know how to edit those resources. I was hoping that this file would also hold some resources, so I tried to open it with Borland Resource Workshop. I was deeply disappointed, because BRW simply issued a system error message, and terminated. The program's age does have some undesirable effects.
Date: 2009-05-04
[Read more] [Windows Resources]
Security and efficiency
Some programming books concentrate on presenting programming-related material and only give some brief optimization and security information in the end as an afterthought. Some books show how to calculate a factorial using recursive functions. I understand that it is an example only. But this is the wrong approach, because if a person acquires inefficient programming habits, a couple of short chapters will hardly undo the damage. Habits are usually difficult to get rid of, and, as one of my college teacher used to say, improperly acquired knowledge is worse than the lack of knowledge.
Once you have learned an inefficient but working programming technique, you will keep using it, believing that because it works it must be right. On the contrary, if you do not know how to do a certain programming task, you may ask someone and learn not only a working method but also an efficient way of doing it. The method quality depends on who you asked about the help. Even if you don't know how to solve a particular problem, and there is no one to ask, you could attempt to do it yourself and, in development process, learn not only what works but also what works best. I believe that all computer books have to describe efficient approaches and security coding only over the all book pages.
If you simply write code that does the job, you have taken regular programmer's approach. But if your code not only does the job but also does it faster more secure and more efficiently then you have taken the hacker's approach. So, the art of being a hacker consists of making code work as well as possible in as many aspects as possible.
Date: 2009-04-19
[Read more] [Security]
Editing Strings and Accelerators
The String section in a resource file is for the storage of ... strings! These can be various messages, names, or simply string lines used by a program. Select any resource in this section and switch into the editing mode (menu sequence Viewer/Edit Mode). Use resource 57 (in the dealer.exe file) as an example to examine source code that can be edited:
STRINGTABLE
{
901, "Dialer"
902, "Phone Dialer"
}
The string resource code starts with the keyword STRINGTABLE. It is followed by a pair of curly brackets, inside of which strings are defined as follows:
Number, "String"
Date: 2009-04-11
[Read more] [Windows Resources]