GIMP Curves: Cleaning up old settings

Each and every time you use the Curves function in GIMP 2.6, it saves that setting, and labels it with the time it was used. The same color curve can then be used again, just by recognizing the time in the Presets drop-down menu within the Curves dialog box. This is a great feature, since [...]

Canonizing PCAD netlist files

OK, so the board designer just sent me an updated schematics of the design. Are there any changes? Comparing the schematics itself is hopeless. So I’ll compare the PCAD netfiles (those with a .NET extension). I mean, they are simple text files, after all. The problem is that Orcad feels free to change the order [...]

Mangling win32 executables with a hex editor

This is a short note about how to make small manipulations in executables or DLLs in order to get rid of malware behaviour. For example, if some application pops up a dialog box which I’d like to eliminate. It can also be the final step in cracking (which is very recommended as an educational experience). [...]

Tracing API calls on Windows

Linux has ltrace. Windows has…? I was looking for applications to trace DLL calls, so I could tell why a certain application goes wrong. The classic way is to get hints from library calls. Or system calls. Or both. In the beginning, I was turned down by they idea, that most trackers only support those [...]