Google Desktop indexes Password protected Office Documents

Just discovered a rather nasty security flaw of Google Desktop, it seems it
gets a bit overzealous in its search to index documents

Create a password protected word or excel document and save it. Give it a
few minutes and then search for the file name or contents. Google desktop
appears to be able to open the file and display the contents regardless of
the encryption. It also displays the 1st few lines of the encrypted file in
the search results and if you click on the "cached" link it can display the
entire contents of the file.

I can only assume Google desktop has indexed the file when its open in Excel
or Word and it doesn't actually crack the encryption on it after its saved
to disk.

When you click on the filename returned in the search results you will get
prompted by word or excel to enter the password as usual.

My only advice is to specifically exclude the paths to any password
protected files. Also exclude paths to any encrypted PGPDisk or TrueCrypt
mapped drives as Google Desktop will also return results in these even when
not mounted.

Google Desktop indexes Password protected Office Documents

Hi

Just discovered a rather nasty security flaw of Google Desktop, it seems it gets a bit overzealous in its search to index documents

Create a password protected word or excel document and save it. Give it a few minutes and then search for the file name or contents. Google desktop appears to be able to open the file and display the contents regardless of the encryption. It also displays the 1st few lines of the encrypted file in the search results and if you click on the "cached" link it can display the entire contents of the file.

I can only assume Google desktop has indexed the file when its open in Excel or Word and it doesn't actually crack the encryption on it after its saved to disk.

When you click on the filename returned in the search results you will get prompted by word or excel to enter the password as usual.

My only advice is to specifically exclude the paths to any password protected files. Also exclude paths to any encrypted PGPDisk or TrueCrypt mapped drives as Google Desktop will also return results in these even when not mounted.

RegSeeker Registry inspector/cleaner

OK, I'm very impressed with this freeware tool called Regseeker

Apart from cleaning the registry (after backing it up) it also allows you to view the history of Internet Explorer, Open files (from the Common Dialog), Used programs (used in windows to dictate which "Personalised" menus to show on the start menu.

Also has a useful tweaks section that contains lots of the usual tweaks I would use, such as adding "Command prompt here" and open in notepad to the context menu and increasing the symultaneous download limit in IE to more that 4 at a time.

It also knows the format of the hidden index.dat IE cache file which contains all sites visited and is NOT cleared when you clear down the IE history. This was a project I was considering doing at one stage but couldn't figure out the binary file format. These guys seem to have cracked it.

Anyway URL for download is

http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Flat Panel Monitor Prices

Most computer magazines now usually have a large add for Dell. I have one here selling a Celeron 2.6 with a 15" flat panel monitor for EUR529 ex vat.

My question is how can they offer the flat panel for such a good price part from the usual economies of scale etc.? A quick look at Komplett.ie shows other 15" ranging from EUR361 to EUR389 i.e. http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=115963&cks=PRL

Why would anyone buy a flat panel from anyone else when you get a PC as well for a little over an extra 100 quid?

Using a PDA as a MP3 player

I was looking for reviews on PDAs for use as an MP3 player. Found this one on a Toshiba e800 that reckons with the screen off you could get 8 hours of play.

The latest Nokia 6230 phone with MP3 player from a SD card costs approx EUR300 with a o2 bonus upgrade probably over EUR400 without.

I think I could be getting a basic phone and a new PocketPC.

_________________________________________

The handheld is equipped with a removable Li-Ion battery 1320 mAh. While testing the off-line work the PDA functioned well (however, the power consumption system is not well thought-out compared to Asus models). At the maximum load (maximum highlight, 400 MHz frequency, clips at high bit-rate) the handheld has worked 2 hours 40 minutes. In the mp3 mode (playing from a SD card, display off), but at the highest frequency (400 MHz) the e800 served 8 hours. Thus the display consumes most power. A continuous Bluetooth session lasted 5 hours (an active Internet connection through a handset, periodic PC synchronization, lame highlight, Power saving mode) a good figure. In an option you can use an enhanced battery (2640 mAh) to double off-line performance (note, it will affect dimensions and weight).

http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/review/toshiba-e800-en.shtml

Energy Blue Theme for Tablet PCs can also work in any version of XP

Microsoft released a new theme for Windows Media Centre PCs just launched but have also included it for the few people that have tablet PCs, its called "Energy Blue"

Tablet PC Energy Blue Theme

If you download the theme it can be used in standard windows XP too with a little extraction and copy/paste.

Use a tool such as WinRAR or WinZip or my personal open source freeware favourite 7-Zip, you can extract the downloadable .exe file and copy the extracted files to the C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes folder.

Then right click your desktop and choose "Energy Blue" from the Themes tab and click apply.

Desktop Sidebar

Nice Free download called

Desktop SideBar

"Desktop Sidebar provides you with instant access to the information you most desire by grabbing data from your PC and the internet. The result is a dynamic visual display you configure and control."

Includes downloadable plugins to add to the toolbar, skinnable to your own tastes. When I 1st saw it on a widescreen notebook computer which has ample space on the right hand side, I thought it was a early longhorn build because of the characteristic clock at the top.

Cleartype Powertoy

For anyone using a flatpanel display

XP PowerToys

Microsoft issued the ClearType Tuner, a new PowerToy for Windows XP that creates a new Control Panel applet for (obviously) setting up optimal ClearType settings, depending on your display and eyesight.

Making ASP.Net applications XHTML compliant

Good article here on how the auto generated code by the .Net Framework is not XHTML compliant due to CaSe sensitivity and unclosed tags etc

This C# page class would allow you to derive your own pages from it and override the Render tag to convert the output to compliant XHTML

www.codeproject.com/aspnet/ASPNET2XHTML.asp