分类: Win故知新

TONT 35253 日期/时间控制面板不是当日历用的

原文链接:https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050621-04/?p=35253

Although many people use the Date/Time control panel to flip through a calendar, that’s not what it is for. In fact, if you use it that way, you can create all sorts of havoc!

尽管有很多人都用『日期/时间设置』控制面板来翻看日历,但这并不是其设计初衷。实际上,如果那样操作的话,还会造成各种大破坏呢!

In its original incarnation in Windows 95, the Date/Time control panel changed your date and time. If you clicked through the calendar to see next month, you actually changed your system clock to next month. If you changed your mind and clicked “Cancel”, the Date/Time control panel undid its changes and restored the date to the original date.

在 Windows 95 的『日期/时间设置』控制面板里,其是用来修改系统的日期和时间设置的。如果在里面的日历上点击查看下个月的话,实际上已经立刻将系统日期修改为下个月了,此时如果你改变主意点击『取消』按钮的话,『日期/时间设置』控制面板会撤销你的设置,并将系统事件调回修改之前的值。

In other words, here’s what happened, step by step:

换句话说,以下是在你操作期间会一步一步发生的事情:

  • On April 1, you open the Date/Time control panel.
    4月1日,你打开了『日期/时间设置』控制面板。
  • You change the month to May. The Date/Time control panel changes your system date to May 1. If you are running an appointment calendar program, all appointments from the month of April will fire. (For example, your April 15th alarm to remind you to file your income taxes.) You are annoyed by all these alerts and you cancel them.
    你(为了查看日历而)将月份改到了5月,而『日期/时间设置』控制面板也将系统日期改到了5月1日。如果你的系统上安装了日程提醒软件,所有4月份的安排此时都会被激活。(例如,你设置了4月15日提醒自己报税。)你被这些提醒吵到了,于是将它们全部取消掉了。
  • You decide you didn’t want to change the month to May after all and click Cancel.
    你决定实际上并不是要将系统日期修改为5月,于是点击了『取消』。
  • The Date/Time control panel changes the date back to April 1.
    『日期/时间设置』控制面板将日期改回了4月1日。
  • On April 15th, your income tax alarm fails to fire because you cancelled it, remember?
    在4月15日,报税的提醒并没有被激活,因为你之前将它取消掉了,还记得吗?

In other words, the Date/Time control panel was not designed for letting you flip through a calendar. It was designed for changing the system date and time.

换句话说,『日期/时间设置』控制面板的设计并不是让你用来翻日历的,而是用来修改系统的日期和时间的。

Unaware of its design, people have been using the Date/Time control panel as if it were a calendar, not realizing that it was doing all sorts of scary things behind the scenes. It’s like using a cash register as an adding machine. Sure, it does a great job of adding numbers together, but you’re also messing up the accounting back at the main office!

然而,在没有意识到这个设计的前提下,人们一直把『日期/时间设置』控制面板当日历来用,而并没有意识到背后正在发生的、各种可怕的事情。这就像用收款机当加法计算器一样。没错,它的确能把将数字加到一起这件事做得很好,但公司的会计可就要炸锅了。

For Windows 2000, in reluctant recognition of the way people had been mis-using the Date/Time control panel, it was rewritten so that it doesn’t change the system time until you hit the Apply button.

直到 Windows 2000 以后,意识到人们对『日期/时间设置』控制面板的误用,虽然很不情愿,但开发人员还是对其进行了重新编写,使其变成只有在点击『应用』按钮后,新的日期、时间设置才会生效了。

Aaron Margosis shows you how to grant a user permission to change the system date and time without having to make them a full administrator.

Aaron Margosis 在他的文章中介绍了如何获得用户授权来修改系统的日期和时间,而不必将用户提升为具有完全权限的系统管理员

(译注:我怎么感觉用户的直觉好像没什么问题,反倒是微软原本的设计过于超前啊……)

TONT 35393 为什么控制面板里的程序和属性页不会出现在任务栏上?

原文链接:https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050608-36/?p=35393

Control panel programs and property sheets don’t show up in the taskbar. Why not?

控制面板中的程序,以及各种属性页(译注:如文件属性、文件夹属性等)不会在任务栏中显示,为什么呢?

As I recall, the explanation was that control panel programs and property sheets aren’t applications. They are auxiliary helper windows that assist you with a task, but they aren’t a program in their own right. Therefore, they don’t get a taskbar button.

根据我的记忆,这是由于控制面板里的程序和属性页并不是应用程序。它们是用来协助你完成一项任务的辅助窗口,但其自身并非独立的程序,因此它们就不会有任务栏按钮。

I’ve always been kind of suspicious of that explanation, but there it is, make of it what you will. (I don’t mind the behavior—putting them in the taskbar just creates clutter—but the explanation I found kind of wanting.)

我对这种解释也心存疑虑,不过话就放在这儿,你可以按自己的想法理解。(我对这样的设计并不在乎——将这些内容在任务栏上再开一个按钮显得很累赘——但还是觉得这样的解释有一定的必要性存在。)

(译注:Windows 10 的相关设计已经做出了大幅改变,这里看看就好)

TONT 35653 微软的企业网络:比『地狱』还要恐怖1.7倍

原文链接:https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050512-48/?p=35653

Today I’m going to tell a story from 1996. Why? Because I can.

这回我要讲一个1996年的故事。为什么呢?因为我想这么做。

One of the tests performed by Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) was the NCT packet stress test which had the nickname “Hell”. The purpose of the test was to flood a network card with an insane number of packets, in order to see how it handled extreme conditions. It uncovered packet-dropping bugs, timing problems, all sorts of great stuff. Network card vendors used it to determine what size internal hardware buffers should be in order to cover “all reasonable network traffic scenarios”.

Windows硬件设备质量实验室(WHQL)日常进行的其中一项测试是NCT数据包压力测试(译注:没有找到NCT具体指什么,哪位朋友了解请赐教),而这项测试被冠了个昵称叫『地狱』(Hell)。这项测试的目的是让一块网卡去处理数量多到疯狂的数据包,以验证其在极限条件下的表现,而这项测试可以揭露出这块网卡的掉包bug、时序问题等各种各样的毛病。网卡供应商通过这项测试的结果来判定他们的产品硬件缓冲区的大小,以便应对『所有合乎常理的网络流量场景』。

It so happened that at the time this test had currency (1996 era), the traffic on the Microsoft corporate network was approximately 1.7 times worse than the NCT packet stress test. A card could pass the Hell test with flying colors, yet drop 90% of its packets when installed on a computer at Microsoft because the card simply couldn’t keep up with the traffic.

巧合的是,当年这项测试还具备价值时(1996年那时候),运行在微软的企业网络上的流量实际上大约是NCT数据包压力测试的1.7倍之多。某块网卡可能能在『Hell』测试中获得漂亮的分数,但将其安装在微软内部的机器上的时候仍然会有90%的丢包率,仅仅是因为这块网卡实在承受不住那么大的流量。

The open secret among network card vendors was, “If you want your card to work with Windows, submit one card to WHQL and send another to a developer on the Windows team.”

网卡供应商之间的一个公开的秘密是:『如果你想让自己的产品能在 Windows 上运行,那就在向 WHQL 提交样品的同时也给 Windows 开发组的工程师也送一块。』

(This rule applied to hardware other than network cards. I was “gifted” a sound card from a major manufacturer and installed it on my main machine. It wasn’t long before I found and fixed a crashing bug in their driver.)

(这条规矩在网卡之外的硬件上也适用。我就曾经被『赠予』了一块某大厂的声卡,于是就将其装在了我的机器上。没过多久,我就发现并修复了这块声卡的驱动里一个会导致崩溃的bug。)

TONT 35713 当人们要将安全漏洞作为功能的时候:窃取密码

原文链接:https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050504-52/?p=35713

Sometimes people ask for features that are such blatant security holes I don’t know what they were thinking.

有些时候,有些人提出的功能需求完全就是安全漏洞,真不知道这些人脑子里都在想什么。

Is there a way to get the current user’s password? I have a program that does some stuff, then reboots the system, and I want to have the current user’s password so I can log that user back in when I’m done, then my program can resume its operation.

有没有办法获取当前用户的密码呢?我的程序会进行一些操作,然后重新启动系统,这时候我希望能获得用户的密码,这样重启完成后就能替用户进行登录,然后我的程序就能继续执行剩下的操作了。

(Sometimes they don’t bother explaining why they need the user’s password; they just ask for it.)

(有时候这些人连为什么需要用户的密码都懒得解释,就只是要而已。)

Imagine the fantastic security hole if this were possible. Anybody could write a program that steals your password without even having to trick you into typing it. They would just call the imaginary GetPasswordOfCurrentUser function and bingo! they have your password.

想象一下如果这件事成为可能的话,会产生一个多么美妙的安全漏洞。任何人都可以写一段程序来窃取你的密码,甚至不需要欺骗你把密码输进去,只需要调用那个虚构的 GetPasswordOfCurrentUser 方法就好了,一转眼,他们就拥有了你的密码。

For another angle on credential-stealing, read Larry Osterman‘s discussion of why delegation doesn’t work over the network.

或者也可以换个角度来观察凭据窃取这个问题,可以读一读  Larry Osterman 关于为什么代理认证在(内部)网络上行不通的文章。

Even if you didn’t want the password itself but merely some sort of “cookie” that could be used to log the user on later, you still have a security hole. Let’s call this imaginary function GetPasswordCookieOfCurrentUser; it returns a “cookie” that can be used to log the user on instead of using their password.

即便你不是想要密码本身,只是想要个某种形式的『Cookie』用于稍后替用户登录,这样操作同样也是一个安全漏洞。姑且将这个想象中的方法叫做 GetPasswordCookieOfCurrentUser,调用之会返回一个『Cookie』可以在稍后用于替用户登录,而不是直接返回用户的密码。

This is just a thinly-disguised GetPasswordOfCurrentUser because that “cookie” is equivalent to a password. Log on with the cookie and you are now that person.

这不过是前述的 GetPasswordOfCurrentUser 稍稍改头换面了一下而已,因为这个『Cookie』等同于密码,用这个『Cookie』登录之后你就是用户本人了。

(译注:Windows 10 看上去已经有了这篇15年前的文章描述的功能了——设置—账户—登录选项—『更新或重启后,使用我的登录信息自动完成设备设置并重新打开我的应用』,但仅限于系统更新或由系统发起的设备配置,而不是像这篇文章说的那样可以由第三方程序使用,且如果本机加入了域或应用了组策略,则该功能不可用。点击这里查看官方说明。)

TONT 35853 当人们要将安全漏洞作为功能的时候:在资源管理器中隐藏文件

原文链接:https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050419-50/?p=35853

By default, Explorer does not show files that have the FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN flag, since somebody went out of their way to hide those files from view.

通常情况下,资源管理器不会显示带有 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN 标签的文件,因为有人特意将这些文件在视图中隐藏了。

You can, of course, ask that such files be shown anyway by going to Folder Options and selecting “Show hidden files and folders”. This shows files and folders even if they are marked as FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN.

当然,你也可以刻意要求将这些文件显示出来,方法是在『文件夹选项』中勾选『显示隐藏的文件和文件夹』。这样即便被标记了 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN 标签的文件和文件夹也会被显示出来。

On the other hand, files that are marked as both FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM remain hidden from view. These are typically files that involved in the plumbing of the operating system, messing with which can cause various types of “excitement”. Files like the page file, folder configuration files, and the System Volume Information folder.

另一方面,同时具有 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN  和 FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM 标签的文件在视图中仍然是隐藏的,这类文件通常是对系统来说至关重要的,对这些文件乱来会造成各种各样『激动人心』的事情,例如页面文件(译注:虚拟内存)、文件夹的配置文件、以及卷信息(System Volumn Information)文件夹。

If you want to see those files, too, then you can uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”.

如果你想看到这些文件,可以选择取消勾选『隐藏受保护的系统文件』。

Let’s look at how far this game of hide/show ping-pong has gone:

现在我们来看看这场隐藏与显示猫鼠游戏走到了什么地步:

Show(显示) Hide(隐藏)
1. Normal file(普通文件)
2. Hidden file(带有隐藏属性的文件)
3. “Show hidden files”(『显示隐藏的文件(和文件夹)』)
4. Hidden + System(带有隐藏+系统属性的文件(和文件夹))
5. “Show protected
operating system files”(『显示受保护的系统文件』)

You’d think this would be the end of the hide/show arms race, but apparently some people want to add a sixth level and make something invisible to Explorer, overriding the five existing levels.

你可能以为这场隐藏与现实的军备竞赛就到此为止了,但很显然,有人还想再加一个第六级别,让某些东西在资源管理器中不可见,凌驾于现有的五层设计之上。

At some point this back-and-forth has to stop, and for now, it has stopped at level five. Adding just a sixth level would create a security hole, because it would allow a file to hide from the user. As a matter of security, a sufficiently-privileged user must always have a way of seeing what is there or at least know that there is something there that can’t be seen. Nothing can be undetectably invisible.

这种你来我往的竞赛到了某种程度就应该打住了,而目前则停在了第五级上。只增加一个第六级会催生一个安全漏洞,因为那样就会允许某个文件对用户不可见。出于安全考虑,某个具备足够权限的用户必须总是有办法看到某处有什么东西,或者至少知道那里有什么目前看不到的东西。任何东西完全隐形、无法被检测到是不可以的。

If you add a sixth level that lets a file hide from level five, then there must be a level seven that reveals it.

如果你真的增加了在第五级的情况下看不到的第六级,那么就必须有第七级可以解除这种限制。