Blog Archives
#MacOsX : Web Hacking with Paros
Paros is a web proxy that allows to intercept and modify all HTTP and HTTPS data between server and client, including cookies and form fields.
I will not explain how and why you use it, but if you are really interested, please take a look on the book: The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Flaws.
Unfortunately there is no native Mac Os X version but Corsaire packed one. Since they updated the site, the link to download it provided in the aforementioned book is broken, so I will provide a new working one. All rights reserved to Corsair and Paros Team.
Paros is no longer developed (it also requires JDK 6 which is not longer supported).
An alternative is a fork of it, Zed Attack Proxy, maintained by OWASP:
Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP)
#MacOsX : Disable Auto-Save and Versions in Mac OS X
Auto-Save and Versions are excellent features in Mac OS X, but some advanced users are annoyed by them as they often don’t want to save intermediate versions of their work.
Moreover some apps write lots of data on disk (e.g. iMovie and iBooks Author) and this can shorten the life of SSD (look here for more tuning for SSDs).
If you know the name of the app plist you want to disable auto-save and Versions for, you can just plug the name into the defaults write command:
defaults write app-plist ApplePersistence -bool noIf you don’t know it then you can find it with the following command:
osascript -e 'id of application "NAME OF APP"'Now if you enter the Versions window, auto-save list will be empty and there are no versions to restore to. You’ll probably want turn off File Locking too.
NOTE: some sandboxed apps require another command in addition:
defaults write app-plist AutosavingDelay -int 0This is expecially true for TextEdit as it is the only Apple app that uses “old-style” autosaving and this causes issues with the sandbox in Lion/Mountain Lion.
NOTE2: It seems that the preference can be set globally but it may cause the login process to become very slow and possibly cause other unexpected behaviour:
defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no#MacOsX : VMware Fusion 5 vs. VMware Fusion 6 vs. VMware Fusion 7 vs. Parallels Desktop 7 [UPDATED]
I will not present functionalities here; it will be just a really brief benchmark.
Configuration:
- Hard Disk OCZ-AGILITY3 240 GB, firmware 1.15
- Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
- Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
- Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- MacBook Pro 13-inch, mid 2009
- Software
- Hosts: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (Parallels 7, Fusion 5), Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 (Fusion 5, Fusion 6), Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 (Fusion 6, Fusion 7)
- Guest: Windows 7
Some info:
- VMs have 2,5 GB RAM allocated
- VMs have 1 CPU allocated
- Parallels was tested when disk was new, while Fusion with half of the space occupied
- Parallels VM has optimize Windows performance on
- Fusion VM has disk buffering disabled
- Fusion 5.0.5, Fusion 6.0.4, and Fusion 7.1.2 were tested with Windows Aero OFF
| Component | Parallels 7.15106 | Fusion 5.0.[1-3] | Fusion 5.0.5 | Fusion 6.0.4 | Fusion 7.1.2 |
| Processor: | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Memory (RAM): | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Graphics: | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 4.7 |
| Gaming graphics: | 4.4 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 4.2 |
| Primary hard disk: | 7.2 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 7.4 | 7.4 |
NOTE1: Fusion 5 seems to start and stop a bit slower than Parallels 7. Fusion 6 doesn’t improve, but SSD might be slower after this time than it was originally.
NOTE2: disabling Aero drastically improve Graphics performance, so do it!
NOTE3: Fusion 6 improve 3D Graphics performance over Fusion 5, but just slightly, so it is not worth an update. IMHO.
NOTE4: the combination of Mac OS X Yosemite and Fusion 7 has poor graphics performance. It is actually a big regression. I think Apple is to blame here.
#WP7 : LG Optimus 7 Unlock + Interop Unlock + Root Tools
If you want install XAP files without a developer account you can do it by modifying some registry keys:
- First go to MFG and follow the path 7.Engineer Menu > 6.Other Settings > Edit Registry
- Set the following fields:
- Select ROOT_PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- Input SUB_PATH: Comm\Security\LVMod
- Input KEY and Select data type: DeveloperUnlockState DWORD
- Input data: 1
- Click Set button
To avoid Zune undo to default settings:
- Go to MFG and follow the path 7.Engineer Menu > 6.Other Settings > Edit Registry
- Set the following fields:
- Select ROOT_PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- Input SUB_PATH: Software\Microsoft\DeviceReg
- Input KEY and Select data type: PortalUrlProd DWORD
- Input data: leave this field empty
- Click Set button
- Go to MFG and follow the path 7.Engineer Menu > 6.Other Settings > Edit Registry
- Set the following fields:
- Select ROOT_PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- Input SUB_PATH: Software\Microsoft\DeviceReg
- Input KEY and Select data type: PortalUrlInt DWORD
- Input data: leave this field empty
- Click Set button
From now on your device is unlocked in developer mode, but you cannot install homebrew apps that modify registry keys. You need Interop Unlock:
- Go to MFG and follow the path 7.Engineer Menu > 6.Other Settings > Edit Registry
- Set the following fields:
- Select ROOT_PATH: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- Input SUB_PATH: Software\Microsoft\DeviceReg\Install
- Input KEY and Select data type: MaxUnsignedApp DWORD
- Input data: 300
- Click Set button
NOTE1: if you want install very nasty apps then you need WP7 Root Tools.
NOTE2: Unlock & Interop Unlock works on WP7 Tango too.
NOTE3: to lock device again set DeveloperUnlockState to 0 (zero).
#MacOSX : Customize Launchpad with Launchpad-Control
Quoting from developer’s site:
Already upgraded to Mac OS X Lion? Yes? Well then you certainly know Launchpad, the “home for your apps” like Apple says.
A huge disadvantage of Launchpad is that every app located in your /Applications folder is shown. That means that you will see little helper programs like uninstallers or updaters, too.
These apps can’t be hidden from Launchpad easily because Apple does not provide any preference pane or tool to do so.
Launchpad-Control is a small tool which allows you to easily hide/unhide apps (and groups) from Launchpad in Mac OS X Lion.
NOTE: it is free, but be kind and make a donation to the developer, he will appreciate it very much. 😉
whitehatty 