Andrew Craig Mackenzie

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Here is a range of my software, including details and source code were possible.

Note: All software on this page is provided 'as-is' with no warranty of any kind. Use it at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any damages, real or imagined, that you may suffer as a result of using this software.

Having said this, you should have no problem with any of the software provided here.

• MSN Virus Remover
• AutoRun Disabler
• File Encryptor

MSN Virus Remover

MSN Virus Remover is a tool that removes annoying MSN viruses from your computer. I started developing in December 2007 after a few of my contacts contracted MSN viruses and I could put up with it no longer.

For those of you who don't know what an MSN virus is, they are generally simple programs which install themselves on your computer and connect you to a botnet and proceed to attempt to steal passwords, banking details, CD keys from the registry, have capabilities to launch DDOS attacks, can update themselves and of course spread through a variety of means including, but not limited to dropping themselves in the shared folders of P2P applications (such as Limewire, Emule, Ares, etc) and spamming your MSN contacts with messages such as:

• do you think my picture is too kinky for myspace?
• check out my new photos, i just scanned them

These messages are generally followed by a link of file transfer request.

MSN Virus Remover was written in Visual Basic 6.
More information about MSN Virus Remover and a download link can be found here.
This project is closed source.

AutoRun Disabler

Ever inserted a software CD and had it automatically open up an installer or menu screen? Perhaps you have inserted a USB drive or external hard drive and had a similar thing happen?

This automated action can be very useful and time saving, especially for the inexperienced computer user, however, it presents a very real and easy to exploit security risk.

When you insert a CD, connect an external drive or open a network share, Windows automatically looks for a file called Autorun.inf; this file contains a set of plain text instructions that tell windows what icon to give the drive and which programs to execute immediately and can even add new menu items when you right click the drive in Explorer.

The contents of Autorun.inf generally look something like this:
[AutoRun]
icon=setup.ico                                 ;choose an icon to use for the drive
open=setup.exe                                 ;automatically run setup.exe
shell\readme = &Read Me                        ;add a Read Me option to the right-click menu
shell\readme\command = notepad readme.txt      ;when Read Me is pressed open the file readme.txt using notepad

It should be immediately obvious to most people that it would take no effort at all for a virus to copy it's self and an Autorun.inf to your portable devices, which you no doubt will connect to other computers, whether they be at home, school or in the office or visiting an important client to give a presentation. Once the device is connected to another computer, Windows will unwittingly run the virus, which will proceed to install it's self on the system and likewise copy it's self to all portable devices and where possible network shares.

These tactics are already very common with malware and viruses and are only increasing in use.

To help protect my own computers from other peoples portable drives and my own portable drives I have used in other computers, I have written AutoRun Disabler.

AutoRun Disabler does exactly what the title suggests, it disables all Autorun files across the system and allows for them to be re-enabled easily when necessary. While there are many methods for doing this, the one I chose to use is virtually fool proof. Windows does allow Autoruns to be disabled through device manager, however, on some systems it does not honour the setting and while Microsoft Has released a patch for this, there is no guarantee that the feature will not be broken in future or that you have the patch installed on your system.

Simply click the Protect button and all Autoruns will immediately disabled. To re-enable Autoruns, simpy click the Unprotect button; some times it is necessary to restart your computer after clicking Unprotect.

How does it work?

Windows provides an easy way of remapping ini files to registry keys; by using this, we can map all Autorun.inf to effectively nothing. Now, when you insert your external storage device, Windows will look for Autorun.inf, and if it finds it, it will go to the registry to check if it has been remapped, upon doing so it will see the mapping, determine there are no instructions to carry out and do nothing.

The registry key for remapping ini files is located in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\

All we need to do now is add in an entry for Autorun.inf:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf

Lastly, we add a Default string value:
@SYS:DoesNotExist

AutoRun Disabler was written in Visual Basic 6.
AutoRun Disabler can be downloaded here.
The source code is available here.

File Encryptor

Do you have the need to protect your documents from prying eyes? If so, this may be the tool for you!

File Encryptor takes any file and uses a simple, yet effective encryption method to protect your files with the password/encryption key of your choice; simply tell it which file you want to encrypt, enter a password and press encrypt. The file will then be encrypted using XOR encryption and a new, encrypted file will be generated with a .enc extension.

eg myfile.jpg -> myfile.jpg.enc

Decrypting is just as simple, select a .enc file, enter the password and press decrypt; the file will be decrypted and the original restored.

Features

• Quickly encrypts/decrypts files.
• Uses a non standard algorithm.
• Allows you to choose if the original is deleted when the file is encrypted.
• Allows you to choose if the encrypted file is deleted when the file is decrypted.
• Brute force protection (If the password is not correct there is no warning, the output will be garbage.)
• Case sensitive.

Drawbacks

• If you forget your password you may never be able to decrypt your file.
• It may still be possible to use frequency analysis to calculate the password.
• Palindromic passwords will not work. eg. 'abcba', 'ABBA', 'glenelg'.
  Passwords such as 'race car' and 'go hang a salami im a lasagna hog' are fine as they do not reverse perfectly due to spaces.

File Encryptor was written in Visual Basic 6.
File Encryptor can be downloaded here.
The source code is available here.