Marcus' Macro Scheduler Blog

MJT Net Ltd, and Macro Scheduler, will be 10 years old this year. The company was officially incorporated on 15th August 1997, though Macro Scheduler itself was launched sometime in March. So 2007 will be a special year for us. When I first created Macro Scheduler back in 1997 I never imagined that it would evolve into the product it has become. The evolution of the product is largely thanks to the many wonderful users who have always offered valuable suggestions and ideas for new features. Development has always been extremely user-driven and here we are today with a superb product I can be very proud of. So, many, many thanks to everyone who has contributed with suggestions and feedback over the last ten years. It has been an amazing ride. Thanks to all who have contributed to our success so far with your custom and loyalty.

Here’s to another ten years, and more, of Macro Scheduler!

My sister and her partner are emigrating to New Zealand. Her partner went out there a few weeks ago. In order to ensure his legal and financial affairs could be easily dealt with he gave his mother power of attorney. So he gets to New Zealand and opens a bank account, then asks his mother to transfer some money from his UK bank account to his new NZ one. His mother goes to the bank to sort this out but is told that they can’t do it because they don’t know her – she’s not the account holder. But she has power of attorney. She shows them the power of attorney papers and demonstrates that all is in order legally. Nope they won’t budge. They won’t authorise the transfer. So she has an idea – can she transfer some money from her UK account to his NZ account instead? Yes, no problem. And, as power of attorney, can she transfer money from his UK account to her UK account? Yes, no problem. Ok, job done then. Seriously. I’m not making this up.

Update 26th April 2011: We are now able to offer our customers a discount on Comodo Code Signing certificates through our Partners K Software. For details and coupon code please log into the registered user area.

What is Code Signing?

In Windows XP when you download an executable file from the Internet the browser checks the file’s Authenticode signature. This verifies who the publisher is. You get a dialog asking if you wish to download software from this publisher. If there is no signature the warning is more severe and it says something like:

The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software? This file does not have a valid digital signature that verifies its publisher. You should only run software from publishers you trust.

In some cases you will also get a similar warning when running applications that haven’t been signed. Apps that have been signed are trusted more by the operating system. And Vista is even more fussy.

Code signing protects against tampering and impersonation. If a signed app is tampered with or modified in some way the signature becomes invalid and so the user will be warned when they try to run it.

How does it work?

A publisher applies for a digital certificate from a Certification Authority. Using the Microsoft Authenticode tools the publisher can sign their applications with their digital certificate. The signing tool basically makes a hash of the code and their private key and appends the signature to the end of the executable. If the code is later modified the signature will therefore be invalid as it is partially based on the application’s code itself.

Should I sign EXEs Compiled with Macro Scheduler?

If you distribute compiled macros to others, or let people download them from the web you should consider signing them. Users can then see who the publisher is and be sure that the file hasn’t been modified in any way, and will no longer see the unknown publisher warning presented by the web browser.

So how do I sign my EXEs?

First you need to obtain an Authenticode Certificate from one of the following Certification Authorities:
– Thawte
– Verisign
– Comodo

You also need the code signing tools. These come with the Microsoft Platform SDK and can be downloaded here:
Platform SDK Redistributable: CAPICOM

Once installed, launch SignTool.exe to sign your EXE. For command line options see: Sign Tool (SignTool.exe)

For more information about Authenticode and Code Signing see Authenticode Overviews and Tutorials on Microsoft.com

Someone emailed me a link to a page on a crack site which purported to offer a crack for the Macro Scheduler 8.1 evaluation version. So I fired up Windows 2000 in Virtual PC and downloaded the “crack”. It contained two executable files. I scanned them with AVG Antivirus. One of the files contained a trojan. Since I was running under a Virtual PC environment it was safe to try this “crack” out anyway (I can easily trash/recreate the Virtual environment and the host PC is protected). Well, as expected, all it did was make some changes to the system and install the trojan. It didn’t do anything to Macro Scheduler. Macro Scheduler wasn’t cracked at all, but the O/S is now potentially compromised. Proves my point about how dangerous cracks can be. More often than not they aren’t cracks at all. Just trojan horses, keyloggers or viruses. Do yourself a favour, don’t download software cracks! Instead, if your issue is one of cost, email the developer and explain what you need the software for. You never know, they might even offer you a discount.

I’ve been thinking about creating an area of the site for people to upload tools they’ve created with Macro Scheduler Pro to. It could be free tools and utilities, or even demo versions of commercial products you’ve created. It would be a great way to demonstrate some of the things Macro Scheduler can do, as well as give developers some extra exposure. If you write tools that you give away, or sell, with Macro Scheduler Pro, please let me know what you think of this idea. If there’s enough interest I’ll get to it!

Wow it’s been a busy few weeks since we announced the beta. But I’m pleased to say that pretty much all of the issues found so far have been minor UI tweaks. There have been no reported backwards compatible problems with running old scripts and the new functions and scripting features are working well. I’ve had some great feedback on the new code builder enhancements too. It seems they are going down well. The new code builder features really do seem to have made writing code easier for experienced users as well as newcomers, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. It’s also good to see people making the most of the new image recognition functions.

Many thanks for all your feedback and assistance so far. The new manual is now at the printers and a proof should be on its way to us. So we’re now well on track for official release in January.

If you haven’t tried version 9.0 yet you can download the beta in the registered user download area. The current beta build is 033. Please report any issues at the beta forum. Oh, and if you’re holding off purchasing Macro Scheduler because you’re waiting for 9.0, there’s no need, because anyone purchasing now will get a free update to v9 in January.

Over here in the UK, climate change and the environment are finally well and truly on the agenda. Green issues get a mention in almost every TV evening news bulletin and our political leaders, gearing up for the next general election, are giving green policies great importance. But this time it appears to be more than just waffle and token gestures. The environment has become an every-day issue. Ordinary people really are worried about the effects of climate change and the government is beginning to realise the impact it will have on the economy. It’s not just an emotional issue any more. It is beginning to hit wallets.

So I was interested to read in this week’s Computer Weekly that Hillingdon Council, in London, have made an 82% power saving by moving legacy systems that were running on 40 servers onto three modern servers running VMWare. By virtualising 40 legacy servers into 3 they have cut power consumption down from 18,720 kVAs to a total of 3,450 kVAs. Nice work.

And last week 100% of IT professionals who took part in a survey by Computer Weekly agreed that it was important for IT to be environmentally friendly. But again, these environmental issues are also hitting firms in the wallet. According to technology analyst firm BroadGroup, power now accounts for 30% of datacentre operating costs!

What are you doing to save power? There are free versions of VMWare and Virtual PC available. So there’s no excuse not to be making the most of them. And don’t forget you can use Macro Scheduler to automatically shut down your PC each night!