Best Practices for SmartScreen AppRep

Last year, I wrote about how Windows integrates SmartScreen Application Reputation to help ensure users have a secure and smooth experience when running downloaded software. tl;dr: When a user runs a downloaded program, a call to SmartScreen’s web-based reputation service is made, and four possible outcomes can occur: As a software developer, it’s natural thatContinue reading “Best Practices for SmartScreen AppRep”

Coding at Google

I wrote this a few years back, but I’ve had occasion to cite it yet again when explaining why engineering at Google was awesome. To avoid it getting eaten by the bitbucket, I’m publishing it here. Background: From January 2016 to May 2018, I was a Senior SWE on the Chrome Enamel Security team. GoogleContinue reading “Coding at Google”

Email Etiquette: Avoid BCC’ing large distribution lists

While Microsoft corporate culture has evolved over the years, and the last twenty years have seen the introduction of new mass communication mechanisms like Yammer and Teams, we remain an email heavy company. Many product teams have related “Selfhost” or “Discussions” aliases (aka “Discussion Lists” or DLs) to which thousands of employees subscribe so theyContinue reading “Email Etiquette: Avoid BCC’ing large distribution lists”

Best Practice: Post-Mortems

I’ve written a bit about working at Google in the past. Google does a lot of things right, and other companies would benefit by following their example. At Google, one of the technical practices that I thought was both essential and very well done was the “post-mortem”– whenever they hit a significant problem, after puttingContinue reading “Best Practice: Post-Mortems”