How can I create a window which is fully apparent to the user but is not visible in screenshots. I know that this is possible since Neo SafeKeys (an onscreen keyboard to defeat keyloggers) does not appear in the screenshots taken by keylogging software I installed.
To give you an idea, the window is fully visible to the user, however when a screenshot is taken, the Neo SafeKeys window does not appear at all (as if it does not even exist).
Neo SafeKeys states that it uses an invisible protection layer above the window to protect against screenshots. I have searched all over the internet to see how can I reproduce this, to no avail. Does anybody know how this can be performed (windows which is visible to user but invisible in screenshots)?
What you can do is you can prevent the PrtScn key from doing anything when pressed. Take a look at this article while shows you how to do this.
What this article is doing is clearing out the clipboard. What you can do instead is capture the screen image and digitally remove your application, then put the revised image on the clipboard, thus giving the "Effect" of making your window transparent.
Also, you might want to look at this SO question which gives an alternative way to make your window just appear "blue", though its not easy to do.
Does anybody know how this can be performed (windows which is visible to user but invisible in screenshots)?
Use DirectX to render directly to the device.
In your C# application you can set up a global hook to monitor keyboard events. Then your application becomes the global handler for print screens. Now if another application managed screen prints natively, can't stop that, but anything running through windows, you can get at.
The WM_KEYBOARD_LL hook is one of the few global hooks that can be used in managed code because it doesn't require a DLL to be injected into every target.
For some code you can visit here:
Adam's Blog
Keep in mind that these are global hooks so you want to make sure nothing else (other applications) are effected. I've used these in the past as we hosted showing a power point in an application we worked on. Basically we didn't want the user to invoke any powerpoint menus or keyboard short cuts so we used a global hook. We always checked to see whether the users was in a certain area (screen) and in our application, otherwise we would effect other applications functionality (including our own!)
Microsoft Information:
Hooks Overview
There's this.....
visual cryptography
live example here
But this could be easily coded against by taking multiple screenshots and laying them overeachother and such...
If you are using Windows, and you can avoid that screenlogging happens, you can implement a nice solution like a virtual desktop to embed your process into it. When a process is running inside a virtual desktop it is possible to bypass an screenlogger tool that runs over win32 Api.
Check out this article so you can sneak a peek how to implement a nice solution to scape from screen and keyboard monitoring.
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/7392/Lock-Windows-Desktop?fid=62485&select=3139662&fr=101#xx0xx
Related
I need help. I made a WPF application. Its functionality is that it launches the application when it is launched. But if it is pinned to the taskbar, then a JumpList appears. From which you can also call other applications. I ran into this problem: I do not know how to make the program automatically pinned to the taskbar after the first launch. Please help someone. I read on microsoft's website, but it's not suitable for wpf. Please help with this.
Maybe there is some kind of library? Maybe there is a way with the registry?
Don't ask for support for pinning, here is why.
Microsoft goes in great length to prevent applications altering user preferences. Why? Because otherwise, every application would do it. Giving access to user preferences via API means developers start exploiting it. It means applications fighting for screen space. You install compnay A product and it unpins company B product.
If such API existed, that is malware.
And an API for only the calling executable is not viable, it would mean that somewhere deep in the operating system the function call to do it for any executable exists. And then somebody finds it and calls it directly. Besides, it has been a big trouble for Microsoft to decouple the shell as it is.
Instead, explorer handles it.
Further reading Why is there no programmatic access to the Start menu pin list?.
Some application do manage to pin.
Regardless of what, it is a bad practice.
It is not guaranteed to work, much less in the next Windows update.
One way is to mimic user input. It is hard to consider all cases (what if the taskbar is hidden, what if it is not in the usual place, what if explorer is not running, etc.), but you can imagine setting the pointer position and sending keys.
Another way would be to write directly to the list. You might have found out that the pinned items are at:
%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
And they are regular, good old, shortcuts. And you could add your own. And it would not work.
Thus, the answer is "Please don't do it".
For a more detailed explanation, you can try to refer here.
Whenever my windows forms application runs for the first time, the tray icon stays visible for about less than a minute, and then it autohides, what can i do to make it stick and not auto hide ?
I tried searching and can't find any useful information.
It appears that this is the default behavior for windows 7 and above, I wonder if there is a way to override that behavior from inside my application ?
There is no supported programmatic way to override the system's default show/hide notification icon behavior. MSDN:
When an icon is added to the notification area on Windows 7, it is added to the overflow section of the notification area by default. This area contains notification area icons that are active, but not visible in the notification area. Only the user can promote an icon from the overflow to the notification area, although in certain circumstances the system can temporarily promote an icon into the notification area as a short preview (under one minute).
Emphasis mine.
As you've no doubt read the discussion in the comments, there is indeed no supported way of doing this. That said, if you're determined and you have the time to do a little digging, I'd recommend using a few tools to bypass the documentation and looking at what's actually happening under the hood with the notification setting. There may be appropriate documentation on this but I've not found it.
The brute force approach would be to use SysInternal's RegMon tool to view all registry access . If you tie it to the "Explorer.exe" process, you will see all relevant information on what the desktop and start bar are doing, including any file access. Make no mistake - this is a brute force approach and will require a lot of effort and digging. Once tied to the explorer.exe process you can make changes to the notificaiton settings. Viewing and investigating the changes made by the process will give you an idea of where the relevant settings are stored and how. The downside is that there's going to be a lot of data to trawl through and investigate to find out what's going on but it can be done. This is not an ideal solution but if no other is forthcoming you're left with the rough and ready approach I'm afraid. It comes down to how much effort you want to put into a solution to this.
I am writing a glassing program, similar to Glass2k (see image below) as I often need to view my pdf tutorials while working on the program in question.
I have so far been able to write the program that glasses the windows I want (via a global keyboard shortcut).
I now need a way to replicate Glass2k's feature which makes glassed windows stay on top of all windows irrespective of which program I switch to (more like setting a WinForm's TopMost property to True. Is there any way of doing this in .NET?
I'm prepared to get down and dirty with DllImports and all so any suggestion is welcome as long as it is in VB.NET or C#.
Edit
This is just based on a whim but I could also do with code that allows me to minimize, maximise restore and close any window as is done in Process Explorer? (see image)
I found out that a lot of work had been done by Michael Schierl on wrapping PInvokes in managed code. This is his site: Managed Windows API.
It turns out that the library is quite extensive and covers a lot of the commonly used PInvokes, makikng it very useful in Upper-Intermediate application development.
How can I disable Print Screen functionality while my WPF application is running?
The use-case is that my client wants to avoid unnecessary replication of valuable patient-centric data from the outside world and they provide the physical security to keep people from taking data through non-digital means.
Okay, it is possible, and could indeed be useful if your application is deployed in an environment where a camera is not available to the user.
First of all, I used the RegisterHotKey and UnregisterHotKey API calls, documented here http://pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32.RegisterHotKey as described in this rather old article here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163713.aspx.
I registered the IDHOT_SNAPDESKTOP hotkey in the Window_Load event and unregistered it in the Window_Closed. Trying to do this in the constructor gave me problems getting a consistent handle with the WindowInteropHelper(this) method.
If you'd like to do more than just ignore the keys you can set up a windows message handler, making a kind of WndProc using,
HwndSource source = HwndSource.FromHwnd(<handle>);
source.AddHook(<WndProc>);
making the handle as described above, and the WndProc implementation yourself.
As yet, I don't know how to "not" handle the hot key and get windows to perform its normal behaviour except, of course, by unregistering the hotkeys.
Its not very elegant or "WPF" but it worked for me.
As #ghord comments
The use of EnsureHandle() looks useful for getting a handler in the constructor.
It's not possible to disable printing, and even if it were possible, it would be easily circumvented by a cell phone camera. Many are in the megapixel resolution range, making it quite easy for someone to get the information they want.
If you want to disable the Print Screen Key on your keyboard, Jodrell's answer gives a way of doing that (understanding that it's not going to keep people from printing, and a determined user will find a way around that).
Really, it all comes down to trust. If an employer can't trust their employees not to remove data that is already protected by law in most jurisdictions (HIPAA in the USA), then there's a bigger issue at stake.
Easy:
Windows.UI.ViewManagement.ApplicationView.GetForCurrentView().IsScreenCaptureEnabled = false;
Simply speaking, you cannot. "Print screen" just copies the pixels on the screen to the clipboard, and is not part of your application.
Basically you can hook to the ClipBoard events and then set the image copied to null if someone does it. So they can copy the image but it will be reset:
Have a look at this:
Clipboard event C#
Alternatively in a timer, check the content of the clip board and clear it as soon as it is set to a picture.
No, No way to do that. Even if you capture the Print Screen key in your application user might set focus to some other application and then do the Print screen(having your application on side etc.).
Only way would be to create a dummy application in background which captures all keystrokes using Keyboard Hooks and filters Print Screen, but that will happen for all applications not just yours. And moreover as George said user can use cellphone camera too!
I think Microsoft Rights Management System can help. Give it a try. Following is the link:
Microsoft Rights Management System
The only way I can think of is to use the native Windows API (SetWindowsHookEx) to catch all keystrokes and filter out the PrintScreen key. However this would involve creating a native (i.e. unmanaged) DLL to actually do the keystroke processing.
I am trying to do my winform application dock and follow another application, like IE or word. My full plan is run the program underground and then this specific application is running, my winform will maximize and dock, will follow if moved, minimize if this application is minimized.
Can you guys show me some ideas about how to do it?
thanks
You will have to get the messages send to the other application and analyze them. Here are some resources on window system hooks on MSDN and in the MSDN Magazin. So you will have to use good old P/Invoke because there is no managed API.
Hooks can work; however, both the programs you mention (IE & Word) provide APIs that allow you to customize the user interface. I would first look there. BTW, Due to IE's restricted environment your going to have a lot of trouble getting the standard hook APIs to work.