November 25, 2006

Running Vista

Filed under: General, Vista — Marcus Tettmar @ 10:51 pm

So I downloaded the final version of Vista last week and I’m now running Vista as my main environment. Am I mad? Let’s see how it goes. Lots of my favourite apps need to be run as admin because they write to the programs folder, or HKLM. For years, developers have made the bad habit of assuming the user is admin due to the way previous versions of Windows install by default. But with Vista defaulting to run apps at least user privileges, all that will have to change. But until these legacy apps get updated or replaced, there will be lots of workarounds. And I wouldn’t be surprised if many people switch off the new security features of Vista in order to run their old apps, and in so doing defeat the purpose of the main focus of this new operating system! Time will tell. Of course, Macro Scheduler is already Vista compliant and v9.0 has been built with Vista in mind, so no problems there.

I’ve already found what appears to be a bug in the final release. Vista wouldn’t let me attach to a network printer, shared by an XP machine. It kept saying access denied. Yet I was able to add the printer driver manually under LPT1 and then change the port to the network name of the shared printer. Then everything worked. Go figure.

Since RC1 I’ve been baffled by the shutdown options. And it seems I’m not alone. Why are there so many ways to switch off Vista, and what does the off button do that’s different to the six shutdown menu options? Do I want to lock/log off/switch user/switch off/restart or sleep!? Maybe I’ll just leave it running and not touch anything! Seems this is a result of design by committee and corporate bureaucracy.

November 20, 2006

MD5/SHA1 Hash DLL

Filed under: Announcements — Marcus Tettmar @ 5:02 pm

I’ve just uploaded a new Macro Scheduler MD5/SHA1 hash library to the libraries and plugins page. If you ever wanted a macro to verify the MD5 or SHA1 checksum of files, or need to hash strings, you can now use this DLL. Download it here.

November 16, 2006

Sorting Bubbles

Filed under: Scripting — Marcus Tettmar @ 9:12 am

I’ve just posted a tip to Scripts ‘n Tips showing a simple Bubble Sort subroutine. The example sorts a list of files returned by the GetFileList function. I hope it’s useful. Here it is.

November 15, 2006

November 13, 2006

Success Story – Advent Capital Management

Filed under: Success Stories — Marcus Tettmar @ 10:21 pm

By Ashley Henry.

My name is Ashley Henry; I’m a Network Admin at Advent Capital Management, which is a hedge fund managing billions of dollars. We deal nationally as well as internationally. There are several reports and processes that need to run several times per day; most of which require several redundant manual inputs. There’s never enough time in the day to complete most of the tasks the various departments need to get done. The challenge was to quickly and accurately transfer and print the data from various reports and processes to our trade system and with little or no manual intervention.

I’ve been using Macro Scheduler for about four months, Prior to using Macro Scheduler we attempted to print and enter these orders manually. This was very time consuming and error prone. It also cost more man hours than necessary. Since the Traders and Operations group are often interrupted by other phone calls and tasks, they would sometimes forget which report to run or when to run them.

Before coming to Macro Scheduler my programming / macro skills were minimal. I’ve primarily worked on the networking side of things. Since I had minimal experience in programming I thought that Macro Scheduler would be difficult to use, but I was pleasantly surprised. Marcus has been extremely helpful with some of the scripts that I couldn’t figure out. I’ve made hundreds of support calls to other companies and NONE has come close to the support that I’ve received from MJT. Thus far, I’ve saved the company at least 10 man hours per week and there’s so much more automating that needs to be done… Good job to Marcus for the wonderful product that he has produced.

November 9, 2006

Code Signing Compiled Macros

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 9:34 am

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

November 7, 2006

Not a crack

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 8:29 am

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.

November 2, 2006

Tools Upload Area?

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 11:30 am

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!

Beta 9.0 Progress

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 11:28 am

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.

October 31, 2006

Green IT

Filed under: General — Marcus Tettmar @ 3:07 pm

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!

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