________________________________________________________________________________ BillBlocker *** What is it? BillBlocker is a simple drag-and-drop utility for removing the PID_GUID data from files created with Microsoft Office. Sounds wonderful. I've been looking for something like that. Er ... what's PID_GUID data? OK. Starting with Microsoft Office '98 (on the Macintosh), Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, | PowerPoint) write a unique identifying code into each | file that they create. This code - called the PID_GUID - is built out of a variety of different bits of information, and its purpose is apparently to provide a | unique reference number for every document (Microsoft's documentation suggests that the time format they use will roll over in the year 3400, which means that we can look forward to a Year 3.4K problem; on the other hand, if anyone's still using Microsoft Office in 1400 years time, the possibility of non-unique document identifiers is probably not the worst of their problems). The presence of the PID_GUID isn't necessarily sinister - there can be valid reasons for wanting a unique identifier for every document. However, among the data | that Office uses to build the PID_GUID is the 'hardware | address' of your computer. The hardware address is | actually the identifying number assigned to the Ethernet | card in your machine (if you have one; if you don't have an Ethernet card, the code will use a random number | instead). Every Ethernet device made has a unique ID | number, so effectively Office applications are encoding | information in your files that says "This document was | made on such-and-such a computer and no other." This raises certain issues. Not everybody is likely to be happy with the idea that every document they create using Office can be traced to them. Imagine the case of someone who lives under an oppressive regime writing | articles that criticise the government. Or someone who | works for an organization that is breaking the law in | some way, and wants to write a memo about what they've seen. And so on. Add to this the fact that Office also apparently stores | registry information - the name of the owner etc. - in your documents. It's not clear quite how much information Office stores in each document, but taken together, it adds up to quite a detailed picture of the document author. Whether or not Microsoft's intentions were sinister, there is a potential for abuse. Everyone should have the right to write anonymous documents. That's where BillBlocker comes in. BillBlocker is a drag and drop application that copies any Office document dropped on it. In the process of copying the document, it overwrites the PID_GUID with zeroes. That's all. It doesn't change anything else in the document, and the document should open normally with all its data intact. Zeroing the PID_GUID should not affect the actual content or functionality of the document in any way (unless, of course, you use some document indexing scheme that relies on unique document references). For safety, BillBlocker also keeps a copy of the original document, which is renamed by adding the extension '.old'. *** How do I use it? Simply drag the Office document you want to 'anonymize' onto BillBlocker's icon. BillBlocker will read it, zero the PID_GUID, and write it out. The new copy of the document will be created in the same place as the original. *** Preferences The Preferences menu item under the File menu brings up a dialog that allows you to specify some simple preferences for controlling BillBlocker's behaviour. At present, the only item shown is the Stay Open checkbox. If you check the Stay Open checkbox, BillBlocker will not quit automatically when it has finished processing, but will remain open. This may or may not be useful to you. *** Some questions and answers Q: Will BillBlocker damage my documents? A: It shouldn't. It changes only the PID_GUID, and doesn't touch any other data in the document. Your documents should work normally afterwards. For safety, however, you should keep copies of the original documents in a safe place. Q: Does it remove all the secret personal information in my documents? A: No. It doesn't touch the registry information. It doesn't change any other information that Microsoft may have tucked away in the file somewhere. The only thing it changes is the PID_GUID (but if I can get any documentation for the Office format, then I'll try to provide the option to zap the registry information as well). Q: Does it do anything about the Office bug by which Office documents may end up including fragments of other files, potentially including confidential information? A: No. You can get a fix for that particular problem from Microsoft themselves. Look for the Microsoft Office for Macintosh update on their Web site (). Q: Will BillBlocker always work? A: Not always. BillBlocker is a crude hack, written at high speed late at night by a sloppy programmer. Under some relatively rare circumstances, it might fail to find the PID_GUID. If this happens, it will, however, issue a warning. I hope to fix this in a later release. Q: Do older versions of Office also store identifying information in documents? A: Apparently not. BillBlocker will copy such files, but won't change them, and it will issue a warning to say that no PID_GUID was found. Q: How much does it cost? A: BillBlocker is freeware. It would be silly to ask money for such a trivial application. However, if you like it and want to make me happy, go and take a look at the Web site of my friends from The Serious Road Trip - Connexion Humanitaire Francaise at . If you like the sound of what they're doing and want to support their efforts in any way, that would be great. *** Warnings and disclaimer BillBlocker is currently development software. Software is developed in cycles, with each cycle bringing new versions that contain more features and fewer bugs (at least that's the way it's supposed to work). In the hierarchy of development cycles, development comes before alpha, which comes before beta, which comes before final candidate, which comes before release. What this means is that BillBlocker is likely to be very soft and crumbly, and it may generate the wrong results, crash unpredictably, or destroy your data, your hard disc, and all life as we know it. If it does, I'm afraid that's your problem. I'm hereby warning you that it may do bad things; if you go ahead and use it despite this warning, then that means that you're prepared to accept the possibility of damage. While I do my best to ensure that BillBlocker behaves itself, I will not be liable for anything it may do to you or your data, software or hardware. If you can't live with this, don't run BillBlocker. BillBlocker seems mostly stable, although it hasn't been extensively tested in abnormal situations such as low memory conditions. One potential danger: BillBlocker is currently not fussy about the kind of files that it accepts. Moreover, it only copies file data forks (since Microsoft Office apparently doesn't use the resource fork for anything). If you drag a file that has a resource fork onto BillBlocker, the copy created will not contain a resource fork, and thus may not be a complete or correct file. Use BillBlocker only on Office files. BillBlocker has been tested on a PowerMac 7600/120 running MacOS 8.1 (Int'l English). It should theoretically run on any Macintosh running System 7 or later, including 68K machines (BillBlocker is a 68K application). However, it has not been tested on other configurations. *** History v0.1d - 11.03.99 First release. Crude and basic implementation, not extensively tested or debugged. Limited error-checking. *** Still to do Extend BillBlocker to remove other personal information such as registry data. Fix bug that causes BillBlocker to occasionally miss the PID_GUID. Make BillBlocker copy Word resource forks, just for the sake of completeness (even though they're not used for anything). Limit BillBlocker to accepting only Microsoft Office files (currently it will process any file dropped on it). Allow BillBlocker to process folders recursively. Improve handling of overlong filenames, disk full errors etc. Make default extension for backup files user-customizable. Try to get Balloon Help working on the dialogs. Make BillBlocker write plausible PID_GUID's (according to the definition) instead of simply zeroing everything. *** Feedback Comments, suggestions and questions can be sent to: angus@pobox.com I'd be interested to hear from anyone using the program, just so that I know which machines it does/doesn't work on. I'd also be interested in any suggestions that you may have for improving it. The latest version of this program and any other programs I write can be found at: *** http://www.raingod.com/ Legal stuff The program is © Angus McIntyre 1999. It can be freely copied and distributed, provided that no more than reasonable distribution/media costs are charged. It may not be sold either separately or as part of a software collection except by prior arrangement. It may not be modified, and this note must always be included with the application. Any use of BillBlocker is at your own risk - I accept no liability for any direct or consequential loss or damage resulting from use of or inability to use this program. By using it, you agree to these terms. Because BillBlocker is currently under development, please do not upload it to any archive servers or distribute it as part of any software collection. If you want to distribute it, mail me and I will notify you when a stable version is available. BillBlocker was developed with MetroWerks CodeWarrior Pro 4. Parts of the finished application may thus be © MetroWerks. It is based on DropShell 2.0, written by Leonard Rosenthol, Marshall Clow and Stephan Somogyi. Their contribution is gratefully acknowledged, and it should be understood that all the bugs in the program are mine, not theirs (well, almost all). All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. *** Envoi "We are forces of chaos and anarchy. Everything they say we are, we are. And we are very proud of ourselves ..." ["We can be together", Jefferson Airplane] ________________________________________________________________________________ no copyright 1999 rolux.org - no commercial use without permission. is a moderated mailing list for the advancement of minor criticism. more information: mail to: majordomo@rolux.org, subject line: , message body: info. further questions: mail to: rolux-owner@rolux.org. archive: http://www.rolux.org