This tip is nothing new, in and of itself, but it is an important reminder. It also happens to make a perfect example for our continuing series on CygWin, the Linux emulator for Windows.

MD5 Codes: MD5 stands for Message Digest version 5. The MD5 algorithm takes a file (the “message”) of any size, and reduces it down to a code that looks like this: “ac30ce5b07b0018d65203fbc680968f5″ (the “digest”). The brilliant thing about the MD5 algorithm is that if the message changes by so much as a single byte, it will produce a completely different digest. Think of MD5s as fingerprints for files.

The MD5 algorithm has many uses. Foremost is the ability to validate that when a data file is transmitted from point A to point B, it arrives intact, without distortion. This is done by calculating the MD5 string that corresponds to the original file (at point A), calculating the MD5 again using the copy of the file (at point B), and then comparing the two MD5 strings.

Continue Reading »

Read more: Windows, Linux | Comments (12)

Did you know that in Microsoft Word, it is possible to do a search and replace on the formatting of text? For example, say that you’ve been given a bibliography that has all of the book titles in bold, but proper form is for book titles to be in italics. Using the search and replace function, it’s easy to change all of the bold text to italics in one fell swoop.

Continue Reading »

Read more: Software, Windows, Productivity | Comments (26)

This is part three in a series of tips on using CygWin, a Linux emulator for Windows that provides the best of both worlds. (Parts one and two gave an overview of CygWin along with tips for installing it.) Now, we’ll get into the various files and folders that are created by the CygWin installer; what they mean and how to use them to launch CygWin and begin to take advantage of CygWin — and, as always, tips, tips, and more tips.

Continue Reading »

Read more: Windows, Linux | Comments (0)

Here is a great tip for anyone who wants to practice their regular expression writing. Whether you are new to regular expressions and just want to play, or you are an old hand at regular expressions but faced with debugging a complicated expression, this can help.

Continue Reading »

Read more: Programming | Comments (3)

Are you the alpha geek in your office? Are you the family member that everyone else calls when they have a computer problem? If so, a big timesaver when it comes to providing phone support is to know all the keyboard shortcuts.

The Easy Way:
For just one example, in Windows, the Windows Explorer can be opened using WinKey+E. (WinKey refers to the special key with the flying Windows logo on it. There’s one on either side of the space bar.) No matter what, telling someone to hold down the WinKey while pressing the letter E always brings up an Explorer window.

The Hard Way:
Compare that to trying to describe to someone over the phone how to do something using a mouse. If you need him to click on an icon on the desktop, well first you might have to talk him through minimizing or closing all of the currently open windows. Then, hunting for the icon on a cluttered desktop is always fun. When he finally finds the icon and double-clicks on it, can you be sure it worked? Perhaps he didn’t double click fast enough. Or, maybe the mouse moved slightly between the two clicks. — You get the picture. These are all issues that shortcut keys avoid.

Continue Reading »

Read more: Windows, Productivity | Comments (2)

Here is something to keep an eye on. Yesterday, we posted a tip entitled, Quick Tip: Use PasswordSafe, about free software you can use to easily keep track of the hundreds of user ID/passwords pairs that go along with the ever-growing number of secure websites that are now an indispensable part of our lives. The fact that each of these websites requires a separate registration is a major inconvenience. PasswordSafe does an admirable job of alleviating the symptom, but what about the root cause?

Well, great strides are being made in the area of single sign-on authentication (SSO) for websites. Microsoft introduced one SSO solution, called CardSpace (formerly code named InfoCard), with the launch of Vista. Independently, an SSO solution called OpenID has been evolving in the open-source world, and just last month, Microsoft announced that they will be embracing OpenID as well. (Microsoft says that OpenID has a vulnerability to phishing, but they’ll help to work towards plugging it.) OpenID was initiated by Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal. AOL, Digg, Wikipedia, and Technoratti have all announced plans to adopt it.

The basic premise with both CardSpace and OpenID is that instead of having to create a separate identity for every website visited, a person would create just a handful of identities, one for each area of their life (work, school, hobby, dating), and those identities would be reusable. This is exciting news. As you can imagine, it will greatly reduce the problem that PasswordSafe addresses, but not entirely. For one thing, PasswordSafe will still be great for keeping track of the OpenID identities themselves. Also, there will always be non-website entries to track (serial numbers, registration codes, etc.).

References: wikipedia.org/wiki/Openid, wikipedia.org/wiki/CardSpace.

Read more: Security | Comments (0)