Tag Archive: Source code

Google’s Chrome OS has been a rather interesting project for many people as of late; it was said to be an operating system that was based in the “cloud”, stored mostly online, though nobody knew any exact details. Today, Google has explained more about the OS, clearing things up.

As posted on the official Google blog, Chrome OS is “all about the web.” As such, it is web-based, and as Google states, “The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.” Whilst this sounds handy, keep in mind that it won’t run on any old hardware, but rather it will be given a specific hardware reference. This means, according to Engadget, that regular hard drives are out of the question; Chrome OS is an SSD only deal. It will also support both x86 and ARM hardware. While this sounds bad, keep in mind the project is open source as of this very moment, so it’ll no doubt show up on a range of other computers.

Google understands that you’ll be concerned about the security of the project as a general, so they posted an entirely separate YouTube video explaining how they’re handling that, which we’ve included below. Another benefit to Chrome OS is the speed. Google has said that the current version boots in 7 seconds, which is pretty nippy compared to most operating systems out there.

Though there is still a lot of work to be done, the project will apparently become available to consumers at this time next year, so keep an eye for that when it happens. We’ve included videos of the Chrome OS introduction and the OS UI concepts straight from Google, in addition to the security information, which can be found below the screenshots from Mashable.

12th June 2009: Binaries and Source Code Released

Sod it:

Since MS say this is such a non-issue and have ignored my offers to give them the full details for over four months they can’t mind me posting the app, source code and full details in public.

As well as the C++ code, the source archive contains a text file describing both parts of the method I’m using in detail, including information about the CRYPTBASE.DLL thing which I’ve not published before (mainly because it isn’t that interesting, TBH; it’s just the final link in the chain).

Having released the binaries, MS can probably block them via Windows Defender or plug the CRYPTBASE.DLL hole, and that might cause people to say “they’ve fixed it, stop complaining,” but unless they fix the underlying code-injection / COM elevation problem the file copy stuff will still work. Fixing only the CRYPTBASE.DLL part, or blocking the particular EXE or DLL, will just mean I or someone else has to find another slightly different way to take advantage of the file copy part which MS seem unwilling/unable to fix (or even admit is a problem at all). Finding the CRYPTBASE.DLL method took all of about 10 minutes so I’d be surprised if finding a replacement will be hard.

Source: Windows 7 UAC whitelist
Video: Video demonstration source

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