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Using C++ Templates to Implement Dynamic Memory Objects with Custom Allocator

I just published a new article about Using C++ Templates to Implement Dynamic Memory Objects with Custom Allocator. By using these techniques you can separate functionality that uses custom memory management from the underlying memory semantics (heap, stack, shared memory, mapped memory, …) as well as play with behavior of the allocation process itself.

New article on Win32 Transactions

I just posted a new article online about using Win32 transactions for registry updates in a real-world scenario. You can check it out here.

Deleting your part of the registry

Something I learned recently after making a copy / paste error: If you execute RegDeleteTree on HKEY_CURRENT_USER, there is no safeguard and as soon as you log off and the last reference to its subkeys are released, you won’t be logging on to that account again 🙂 That’s all.

Site name change

I finally found a good name for my site. Life has taken me in many directions: passionate C++ developer, Japanese language student, Bladesmith, Active Directory admin, and many others. Recently I’ve been pulled back strongly in the direction of platform development involving COM, win32, and C++. And that’s when it hit me. In COM programming,…

Powershell folly

Home renovation kept me from doing much IT related things in my free time, but this is something I needed to share. If you do this in powershell: $array = @(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)$array[0..-1] The result is really not what any programmer would expect. Rather than throw an exception, powershell simply decides to roll over to the end…

Configuration options for the Local Security Authority

Windows allows a large amount of security settings to be configured, either through Group Policy, or Local Security Policy: With improved focus on cyber security in the entier ICT industry there may be a requirement to tighten these settings. This can be tricky. It’s one thing to implement a high security scheme when you start…

Alternate computernames

One of the neat little things that ahs been around for a while is that computers in a Windows network can have multiple names. This is especially convenient when dealing with lifecycle management, where clients may be configured to use fixed names. Even if you could change that manually at the client level, that could…

Redirecting the default Users and Computers containers

I mentioned earlier that I prefer to not define policies at the domain root level unless they need to apply to everything in the domain, which means applying them at OU level. The problem is that by default, newly created users or computers are not in an OU but in the default users or computers…

Remote query of priviliges for local principals

As part of investigations, you may need to query which privilege is held by a local principal, such as a local user or group. There is of course ‘whoami’ which tells you everything you need to know when logged in on a given system. And there is the ProcessExplorer utility which is incredibly powerful, and…

Cannot connect to SQL Server

In dealing with a hardened SQL Server, connecting may be problematic. The general idea in hardening any piece of software is basically to decrease its outside surface as much as possible while still allowing the minimum required surface. And if you are trying to interface with a SQL Server that the vendor didn’t intend for…

Local Security Policy not showing up in GPRESULT

I was double checking some security settings on one of our systems. I could trace back everything to group membership and Group Policy, except for one thing. There was a ‘SeImpersonatePrivilege’ in a user token (verified via ProcessExplorer) yet it was nowhere to be found. Normally this is the sort of thing you’d find via…

Setting up local administrators

As I am building a small virtual network of machines for development purposes, I figured I might as well try to do things the right way instead of just running everything as Domain Administrator for the sake of convenience 🙂 Given that my main platform focus is Windows 10 / Server 2016 currently, I want…

Back in the saddle

Quite a while I used to be a software developer, doing lots of interesting systems programming projects for companies like IMEC, JDS-Uniphase, Alactel Space, … mainly in the C++ language. I focused on kernel level programming, real-time software, inter process communication, things like that. I switched to an admin job to be close to home…

Spicy Shiitake Soup

This is my favorite soup and I’m sharing the recipe. Ingredients 1 chicken breast 100 g (3.5 ounces) of miso paste 1 jar of bamboo heart 1 bushel spring onion (6 to 8 pieces usually) 1 red paprika 1 yellow paprika 2 heaped table spoons of sambal (ground chili pepper paste) 1 big onion 4…

Mad dog 357 sriracha

Just tried this one. Holy fuck… The taste is actually great. Salty sweet with many layers of heat. This is going to be awesome on spaghetti! And it didn’t actually burn as bad as i feared. Initially… So i had a 2nd portion. And then the heat kicked in and kept getting worse. Still, all…

Japanese oddity

The Japanese language consists of several writing systems. There are 3 main ones. There are hiragana and katakana, which are phonetic alphabets, each with 48+ characters. And then there is Kanji, the writing system with thousands of pictograms which were imported from the Chinese language. Hiragana and Kanji are used for ‘real’ Japanese words, and…

Crimson hot sauce

This one is not very hot. Slightly acidic and just wonderful to add to soups, especially chicken soup. Hotness: medium Taste: good

日本語の日記

今日は　午前六時二十分に　起きる　のは　不快かったです。昨日の夜　酒を　飲みすぎでした。しかし　今朝に　コーヒーを　沢山　飲みます。

日本語の日記

今日，私は　家内と　林で　散歩しました。散歩は　九　キロメートル　でした。天気は　良かったです。暖かかったです。午後五時に　晩御飯　を　作りました。 この日記を　始めました。

Site name

So why that name? The thing is: coming up with a good name for a website is difficult. Especially for a generic website without a specific topic. I could use my own name as domain name, but that would just be tacky in the same way that vanity plates on a car with your own…

Personal or not

I’ve created (or rather resurrected) my personal site. Anything I post here will be identifiable as mine. My thoughts, my opinions, as well as much random stuff. This poses its own dilemma. After all, my name will be directly tied to this content. Google will index it. My opinions will be here, visible for anyone…

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