500 Most Common Passwords

I came across a list of the 500 most common passwords (originally from http://www.whatsmypass.com/?p=415 and from Perfect Passwords by Mark Burnett). I’ve de-HTMLized the list and it’s now available in text format for easy parsing. It will also be included as a plug-in for Yasca, the source code analyzer.

The ten most common passwords from the list are:

• 123456
• password
• 12345678
• 1234
• (a type of feline)
• 12345
• dragon
• qwerty
• 696969
• mustang

Download the list:

• Text Format
• HTML Format (from original source)

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Microsoft Excel - “Windows Cannnot Find … ” Error

Under Microsoft Excel 2007, sometimes you’ll click on a file within Windows Explorer, and when Excel opens, you’ll receive an error message “Windows cannot find <file>. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. You’ll be able to drag the file onto an empty Excel window or open the file from Excel directly. It’s quite annoying, but there’s a fix for it.

This can be resolved with the following procedure:

1. Open Microsoft Excel 2007.
2. Click on the Microsoft Office Button (top left hand corner).
3. Click “Excel Options” and then “Advanced”.
4. Find the “General” section and uncheck the box titled Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).
5. Click “OK”.

If you happen to be using Microsoft Excel 2003, you can use the following procedure instead:

1. Open Microsoft Excel 2003.
2. Under the Tools menu, click Options.
3. Open the General tab.
4. Uncheck the box titled Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).

Thanks to Porthale at http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-1790606.php for this tip!

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Free ASCII Quick Reference Sheet

I tried finding a nice quick-reference ASCII table but didn’t find anything I liked, so I created my own. It is a single page PDF with all ASCII characters (regular and extended). Simple, easy, and printable.

ASCII Quick Reference [pdf]

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Accessing Private Methods in Java

In every introductory Java programming class (and probably every tutorial or book), students are taught that private fields and methods can only be accessed by methods of the same class. Though this would seem to be a security control, using private visibility can be easily overridden, as shown below:

import java.lang.reflect.*;
class A {
  private void f() {
    System.out.println("Running A.f()");
  }
}

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    Class a = new A().getClass();
    Method m = a.getDeclaredMethod("f", null);
    m.setAccessible(true);
    m.invoke(new A(), null);
  }
}

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Web 2.0 Roundup

E-Mail

G-Mail: Google as started offering its popular e-mail client for use on hosted networks.

Webmail.us:

Sproutit:

Word Processing

Writely: Probably the best online word processor available.

Writeboard: Another quite good online word processor.

Ralleypoint:

Jotspot Live:

Zoho Writer:

Spreadsheet

Numsum: The best online spreadsheet.

EditGrid: Nice-looking spreadsheet — check it out!

iRows: Another excellent online spreadsheet.

Jotspot Tracker: Combines a spreadsheet with a Wiki.

Online Spreadsheet: Ugly, but works

Trim Spreadsheet: All Javascript spreadsheet engine.

Calendar

30 Boxes: Best online calendar software

CalendarHub:

Airset:

Hula:

Joyent:

Kiko:

Planzo:

Spongecell:

Trumba:

Presentation

S5:

SlideML:

Project Management

Basecamp: online project management

SidejobTrack: keep track of your side jobs

Mini-Suites

Zimbra:

gOffice:

Thinkfree:

Groowy:

Online Desktop

Protopage: Simple online desktop

YouOS: Web-based Operating System

eyeOS: Web-based Operating System

Homeportals: Web-based desktop

Miscellaneous

Google Maps: Maps, Directions

gModeler: online UML diagrammer

Painter: online paintbrush

WebNote: Post-It Notes

GChart: Integrated with Google Maps, gives local times, dialing codes, and other information

Flickr: Online photo management

Del.icio.us: Social bookmarking

TagCloud: Social bookmarking

Odeo: Online (”clientless”) Podcasting

Travbuddy: Interesting travel site — reviews and recommendations

Digg: news aggregation

Mooflex: online content management suite (currently pre-beta)

Meebo: online instant messaging (AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, etc)

Rollyo: create a “custom” search engine

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