2 possible gems in MS downloads

1. Application Signature Builder 1.0

“The Application Signature Builder (ASB) tool is used by software vendors and IT professionals to generate a Signature File containing file attribute information that allows Microsoft to discretely identify the program (executable) files added to a Microsoft® Windows® -based system when a particular version of a software application is installed.

This information provides Microsoft the ability to programmatically identify discrete variations of an application across multiple versions, which in turn enables Microsoft to deliver dynamic information to Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) regarding issues encountered on Microsoft Windows platforms and to provide dynamic resolutions to Windows users, for known application issues on Microsoft Windows.“

 

Sounds to me like a possible auto-updating and error reporting service in our future for ISV's

 

2.CryptoAPI Monitor (CAPIMON)

“...In addition, not all applications can report accurate and detailed errors when CryptoAPI returns anything other than a successful completion result. As a result, applications that use CryptoAPI are often difficult to troubleshoot. CryptoAPI Monitor (CAPIMON) is designed specifically to address this issue by allowing the administrator to monitor an application’s CryptoAPI calls and the results. CAPIMON can be used to troubleshoot errors in X.509 version 3 certificate chain building and revocation. It cannot be used to troubleshoot cryptographic service providers (CSP), cryptographic routines, and digital signature operations which are also part of CryptoAPI. “

 

Nothing to say about this one. Sounds like if you're going to be doing anything with crypto that could crash (meaning anything really) you might want this.