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Credential Provider update–Windows 8 SDK breaks a few things…

You’ll recall that back in February of 2011, I wrote an article on implementing your first Credential Provider for Windows 7 / 8 / Server 2008 R2 / Server 2012 – and it’s been a fairly successful post on my blog. Just recently, I received a report from one of my users that my version of this was no longer...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sun, Apr 7 2013
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Alun's code, Windows XP, Windows 8
That “are you kidding me?” moment in customer support

So, my Sunbeam electric blanket died yesterday. Second one in a year. As a dutiful consumer, I’d really like to report this to the manufacturer, get a replacement and move on. I fill out the “ Contact Us ” form. Then I get this ludicrous error: So, you’re going to ask your customers to contact you when...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Mon, Feb 11 2013
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security
UDP and DTLS not a performance improvement.

Saw this update in my Windows Update list recently: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2574819 As it stands right now, this is what it says (in part): OK, so I started off feeling good about this – what’s not to like about the idea that DTLS, a security layer for UDP that works roughly akin to TLS / SSL...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Wed, Oct 31 2012
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, TCP/IP, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Security Awareness
Multiple CA0053 errors with Visual Studio 11 Beta

I hate it when the Internet doesn’t know the answer – and doesn’t even have the question – to a problem I’m experiencing. Because it was released during the MVP Summit, I was able to download the Visual Studio 11 Beta and run it on a VS2010 project. There’s no “conversion wizard”, which bodes well, because...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sun, Mar 4 2012
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Things I Learned At Microsoft, Miscellany - not security, Alun's code
What else I did at Black Hat / DefCon–the Core DataMatrix Contest

Black Hat, and its associated sideshow, DefCon, consists of a number of different components. Training, Briefings, Exhibition and Contests, all make up part of Black Hat, and DefCon is a looser collection of Workshops, Events, Parties, Talks, Villages, Contests and numerous other things besides(*). Perhaps...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Wed, Nov 16 2011
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Alun's code
If .NET is so good, why can’t I…?

OK, so don’t get me wrong – there are lots of things I like about .NET: I like that there are five main programming styles to choose from (C#, Visual Basic, F#, PowerShell and C++) I like that it’s so quick and easy to write nice-looking programs I like the Code Access Security model (although most places...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sun, Sep 25 2011
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Alun's code
Migrating from one Windows Phone 7 to another

My original WP7 device (an HTC HD7, aka “Schubert”) has become a vampire. This started just after I applied the NoDo update, and while I was traveling to the UK, although I think both of these events are unrelated. The phone was less than two weeks old when this behaviour started. Every battery I stick...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sat, Jul 23 2011
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Zune, Windows Phone 7
Samples that suck: IfModifiedSince

I’ve been trying to improve my IFetch application’s overall performance, and it’s clear that the best thing that could be done to improve it immediately is to cache the information being returned from the BBC Radio web site, so that next time around, the application doesn’t have to reload all the information...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sun, Feb 21 2010
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Things I Learned At Microsoft, Miscellany - not security, Alun's code
Running out of disk space? How’s your logs?

I ran out of disk space today. This is not entirely a new issue for me, because I like to listen to BBC Radio from back home, and my only way to do that is to download the shows overnight so I can listen to them the next day. [I’m not allowed that sort of bandwidth at work] I start troubleshooting this...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Thu, Dec 25 2008
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Windows Vista
HTML Help in MFC

I recently got around to converting an old MFC project from WinHelp format to HTML Help. Mostly this was to satisfy customers who are using Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, but who don’t want to install WinHlp32 from Microsoft. (If you do want to install WinHlp32, you can find it for Windows Vista...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sun, Oct 12 2008
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Windows Vista, Alun's code, Windows Server 2008
Can You Write Good Code for an OS you Despise?

No, this isn't another of my anti-Mac frothing rants. This is one of my "here's what I hate about many of the open-source projects I deal with" rants. I'm trying to find an SFTP client for Windows that works the way I want it to. All I seem to be able to find are SFTP clients for...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sat, May 3 2008
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Why is PKI so hard?, Miscellany - not security
Retro-bundling - another suck of the Apple

I thought I was done blogging about Apple Software Update, having removed QuickTime from my system completely, and sworn never to install it again or watch another QT or MOV file. But nooo, someone had to spoil it by telling me what Apple Software Update did next . If you're unfortunate enough to...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Fri, Mar 21 2008
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, What my wife knows
MacBook Air debuts; iTunes Pesters Me Again

The big news from Apple this week was that they have a flatter laptop than anyone else (except Intel, who have a "Lorado" concept model that is much cooler, is demonstrated with Vista, and comes with an optional sleeve that has a Sideshow display). Conveniently for those road warriors that...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sat, Jan 19 2008
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security
Removing Apple Mobile Device Support

As mentioned before, I'm not a fan of Appple 's, particularly because they tend to impose crap on me that I'm not interested in having. I've been trying to figure out how to remove iTunes , iPod and Aple Mobile Device Support on and off now for the past month, since it was accidentally...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Mon, Dec 17 2007
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, What my wife knows
Microsoft Support Switches to Live Search

In the spirit of the famous review of Spinal Tap's album "Shark Sandwich", I was tempted to post a two-word review,the first word of which is "Advanced". My three-word review, then - "Worst. Search. Ever". But, just in case you didn't get the hint, here is the explanation...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Sat, Dec 15 2007
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security
DRM should always be a choice

Jesper's recent frustration with a bug in the DRM support on his Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) system demonstrates a couple of basic truths in system reliability: Complexity negatively impacts reliability. DRM contributes to complexity. Clearly, this means that DRM makes systems less reliable...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Tue, Oct 2 2007
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, DRM
Why complain about UAC prompts?

Jesper's article in TechNet Magazine on the purpose and future of UAC in Windows Vista and beyond reminded me that there's a whole slew of behaviours more annoying than UAC's prompting (which, as Jesper points out, is only the most visible portion of a system-wide and company-wide approach...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Mon, Sep 3 2007
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Windows Vista, What my wife knows
Larry Osterman isn't that into you, either.

In previous articles, I've pointed out: Programmer Hubris - He's just not that into you Programmer Hubris - I don't run your software all the time Programmer Hubris Part 3 - Microsoft Knows I'm Not That Into Them I'm still not that into Apple All of these are on the basic theme that...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Wed, Aug 22 2007
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Things I Learned At Microsoft, Miscellany - not security
I'm still not that into Apple

Apple Updater showed me two new software updates the other day - "Quicktime" and "iTunes + QuickTime". Now, remember, I never installed iTunes , and went out of my way to install only QuickTime . I use QuickTime about once every six months, when there's a movie I just have to...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Mon, May 14 2007
Filed under: Filed under: Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, What my wife knows
Alternate Data Streams in Windows Vista

Windows NT 3.1 was released ... oh, back in the early to mid '90s. Ever since then, I've been aware that it supported Alternate Data Streams, also known as ADS, or in some technical documents that didn't make it to final review, Alternative Data Streams. This was added, I think, to support...

Posted to Tales from the Crypto by Alun Jones on Thu, Apr 26 2007
Filed under: Filed under: General Security, Programmer Hubris, Miscellany - not security, Windows Vista, What my wife knows

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