Access asking for password when going to Tools/References - security

I'm trying to go to the references on an Access Database. I'm not very familiar with this database but here's my history with it:
I tried to open the code files once and it asked for a password
Prior developer assured me there was no password on it and he was able to get into the code files just fine.
I then tried and, to my surprise, it no longer asked me for a password
Today I try to get into Tools/References and the password box is back.
Allegedly this mdb is not supposed to be protected. Any help if figuring out how to get past this would be greatly appreciated!

The original programmer removed the password that was required to get into the code, but then we found there was another level of security protecting the project references. The original programmer couldn't figure out how to remove that password, but he was instead able to change it to something that wasn't personal.
So I never really got the answer I was looking for but I think the moral of the story is that people need to not use personal passwords for their work stuff so that when I take over their work they can just tell me what it is instead of making me wait a month for them to come back and change it.

Related

How do you enable excel add-ins for all users using registry (HKLM)?

I'm trying to enable an excel add-in for all users in a given lab (Office 2019 is installed). The path to the add-in's "OPEN" string in the registry is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\options. Before scripting anything for deployment, I'm just trying to manually test where I can enable that same add-in for HKLM and have it work for another test user.
I've tried creating my own key for the add-in under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Excel\Addins (Addins is a key I added manually), however so far I haven't had any luck.
I've seen other people mention this issue in other posts, but the answers weren't very clear to me and many of these posts were from 5+ years ago, so I'm hoping there's a more up-to-date solution I can utilize. Please let me know if you have any knowledge on this particular problem. Thank you!
I'm a bit of a noob with this sort of thing still, so thorough (even verbose) answers are extremely appreciated.
This is a per user delegation. You need to use a GPO to set the reg key for the users as they login.

Is there a way to restrict CRUD operations on Notes/Domino data using an alternative application?

We have a (super)user who has been using VBA in an Excel spreadsheet to create and manipulate documents in a Domino database application.
The user has 'Editor' access to the application, and should normally be able to create/edit the document contents.
They have been, however, creating documents using VBA. That logic doesn't consider such important document fields as Readers, Authors, etc. .
We would like to restrict access to all Domino data so that it can only be created/modified using an IBM Notes client.
I have tried looking through the ECL, but that only restricts what 'others' do.
Since he has his Notes client available, the external logic is using his normal Notes credentials.
I have tried setting a hidden field with the Notes client and looking for that in the QuerySave event of the form design.
Unfortunately, the external code pays no attention to the form events and the save is executed despite the missing field.
Similarly, the Database Script has no bearing on the execution of external logic.
I was going to inspect the client version upon database open and restrict activity based on a variance in the version (I was hoping!).
I have de-selected the 'Don't prompt for a password...' option in the user security preferences, but that has no effect at all (suspected as much!).
The ONLY thing I have been able to suggest is to hide the database design... That's really only designed to thwart a user's efforts to understand the underlying design.
It won't prevent them from creating hundreds of thousands of documents with a fictitious form and throwing the app into disarray.
I'm hoping that there is a solution out there that I'm missing.
The user has been instructed not to undertake such activity in the future.
We were lucky that there really wasn't any malicious intent - "Just trying to be more efficient" we're told.
The effects of the activity have been remedied, and the user has been warned.
What I want to know is... how can I prevent this from ever happening again?
The circumstances are rare I know, but I would've thought there'd be a means of restricting the platforms used to manage Notes/Domino data.
Is there a way to ensure no external applications are able to access, create or modify Notes database documents?
I am currently focussing on access to Notes via COM.
I thought that, if I unregistered 'nlsxbe.dll' from the registry, that would prevent such activity - It has not.
I also tried removing the .TLB files from the Notes executable folder - removal of 'notes32.tlb' and 'domobj.tlb' have no effect at all. Removal of 'ltsci3.tlb' screws everything up (as expected!).
I'm really having no luck at all - Any/all suggestions would be most appreciated!
I'm not aware of any way to detect that a connection has been made by standalone code instead of by the Notes client, but you do have two paths available to you:
A Domino server add-in that prevents documents from being saved in that particular database if certain criteria aren't met.
An agent that is triggered to run shortly after documents are saved or modified in that particular database. The agent code can delete (or modify, if you prefer) the documents that don't conform to the required criteria.
The server add-in route would normally require coding in C, but thanks to the Open NTF Trigger Happy project, the hard part is done for you, and the rest can be filled in with either LotusScript or Java agent code that is "triggered" by the pre-written C code. You will need to have some basic knowledge of how the Notes Extension Manager interface works, but once you get past that and write your agent code to enforce your data consistency/integrity requirements, the only real hurdle is your willingness to host open source code on your server.
There may be two other possibilities, but I can't say if either will solve or deal with the issue...
In the ECL you can disable 'COM' access for the user (also known as OLE or ActiveX) automation since VBA access is usually via COM. This has stopped Notes using external COM access for me, but I don't know if also prevents VBA using Notes. Additional steps may be needed to enforce the ECL and apply to the specific users.
There is an (old) notes.ini 'DisableExternalApps' (or something similar) that disables some external access. This can affect many things (DDE/Prompts/#dblookups) but again I don't know if this will disable VBA/COM and its not user specific, but server wide.
I would have thought that removing the nlsxbe.dll or restricting access to execute it might work, but the ECL may be the best bet.
Alternatively, rather than add hidden flags to your design (and the documents), and then delete the offending documents, your agent could apply the correct author/reader fields to the documents instead.
Very tricky. Did you find a better solution?

Design Elements getting signed randomly

This morning my boss asked me if I was making changes in the Domino PNAB. I wasn't. I did make one change the day before. Well Designer is showing that I signed scores or hundreds of design elements in the address book, which I did NOT do, at least manually.
We have seen this on and off for years now, and always just ignored it (my boss would resign the design.
Has anyone else experienced this or know what could be the cause. I think I will probably have to open an PMR with IBM.
There could be a few causes. Ones that come to mind are design refresh occurring, auto-refresh from source control ODP and replication from another source. The User Detail on the database may be informative (Database Properties, second tab, User Detail...), it may show when it occurred, which could clarify things.
If you have Build Automatically enabled (I don't), that could cause issues with signing, especially if any change is detected by different signers. Notes/Designer 8.5.3 IF2 should fix an issue where just opening an NSF can causing a signing change for Java classes, but that should be fixed. As Paul mentions, watching out for any potential changes to an app, such as automatic import from ODP, etc., should be watched for. I'm rather leery of leaving Build Automatically on or anything making a change without my explicit direction. I mention this since my company still has a surprising number of older client versions.
Kathy Brown's blog post on the subject ca. pre- 8.5.3 IF2:
http://www.runningnotes.net/index.php/2013/08/29/mystery-application-breakage/

Editing a webpage with no source

I am a new developer (as in just graduated on the 10th) and was hired by a company to do web development. I was asked to do some minor changes to a site that this company acquired. The problem is that we do not have access to the source code (apparently the people had a bad break up with their previous developers and cannot get the source, I'm not exactly sure). Is there a way I can add links to a site and have it change live? I have Visual Studios, the address, the links, and the videos they will go to, not a hard fix, but I don't know how to edit the site without the source code. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
I advise you to talk to a senior or superior and get more information on how to proceed, because getting that code in a less than professional (or legal) way (e.g. using website rippers or something) would be a bad career move ;)
good luck.
interesting situation I should say, the company definetely didnt do its homework before the break-up
I am presuming you answer "yes" for the questions below
Is your company the legal owner of this website?
can you change the name servers or CNames etc
The current website is not Flash or silverlight
if here - you have said "yes" for all the above.
First of all navigate to every page of this website. File save as
each of this page to html(make sure you choose webpage complete -
this will save all the images as well) I realise this will be static, but there is not much you can do here
Get all resources (stylesheets, xsds (if any) , any other images)
Enrich this content based on requirements (i.e. add dynamic content, change logos etc)
Modify the cname or nameserver to point to the location(webserver)
you are in control.
Deploy your enriched and tested code
Educate your company to treat the developers well and when things go wrong, ensure transition is done well
I hope this help and good luck
Krishna

How do I put a File (Excel) online (Apache Server) with Password Protection but with the Option for Users to alter the File and save the changes?

I have to put an excel file online on a web server (Apache) with some basic password protection (basic http auth). User, however, should be able to open the file from within excel and save their changes back to the server.
Is there any simple and effective solution for it? I am not very experienced with webdav.
Maybe use Google Docs to share the document. That would be as turn-key as it gets. :)
Funny enough, if you just need "basic-level" security, you can set it up in the Excel sheet itself:Go to the Tools -> Protection menu and you can lock down the whole sheet, or just specific ranges.Note This is not "really good" security and will not stand up against an even moderately-skilled attack...but it will pass muster for the most basic uses.
Webdav can do this. Might be a hassle to set it up.

Resources