Ujjwal's Blog: May 2013

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Arduino + LCD

In this post I talk briefly about how to use the JHD 162A LCD module which connects to Arduino and powered by Seller LiquidCrystal.

The diagram is used to connect the following.

After configuring the electrical circuit, the programming side will do the same and tell the Arduino pin will be used so that, after that a message is displayed on the screen as show the following code example showing the famous Hello World :

#include

LiquidCrystal lcd(12,11,5,4,3,2);

void setup(){
  lcd.begin(16,2);
  pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop(){
  LCD.write("Hola Mundo");
}

Cheers,

Ujjwal Soni

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Windows Master Control Panel Shortcut aka ‘GOD MODE’

This is a lesser-known flaw in Windows 7 which has been touted as God Mode in the internet circles.

This is a short-cut to access various control settings in Windows Vista and later OS. By creation of a folder with a certain extension, users can access all of the OS’s control panels from within a single shortcut. The hack was published by 3rd parties outside of Microsoft documentation in 2007 and made popular by people claiming to have developed/discovered a ‘GOD MODE’ in windows. Microsoft claims to have built it for developers only and advises against its use.

Process

Create a new folder and rename it as: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Variations

The text ”GodMode” has nothing to do with making the trick work. You can rename the folder “NickyGoesNutsAndBolts.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}” and now you’ve discovered the magical “NickyGoesNutsAndBolts” feature hidden in Windows.

Why a Flaw?

GUID-based folder names can be exploited by computer worms—malicious software that can “reproduce”—hidden in a folder posing as a system folder such as the Recycle Bin, by employing its system application GUID shortcut. For example, a malicious file located at E:\Recycler\bin.{645ff040-5081-101b-9f08-00aa002f954e}\VIRUS.exe cannot be viewed in Explorer (opening the folder in order to view/delete would redirect to the Recycle Bin) and the folder cannot be deleted while the worm is running. Such a shortcut can be bypassed with the use of an active antivirus, or by booting from another operating system.

Validity and Future

This feature works on Windows Vista(x86/x64), Windows 7(x86/x64), Windows 8(x86/x64). Use of this shortcut in development of applications has been negatively advised by Microsoft as it is to be revoked in future editions of the OS.

Source: Wikipedia, MSDN