The First In-Depth, Real-World, Insider's Guide to Powerful Windows Debugging

For Windows developers, few tasks are more challenging than debugging--or more crucial. Reliable and realistic information about Windows debugging has always been scarce. Now, with over 15 years of experience two of Microsoft's system-level developers present a thorough and practical guide to Windows debugging ever written.

Mario Hewardt and Daniel Pravat cover debugging throughout the entire application lifecycle and show how to make the most of the tools currently available--including Microsoft's powerful native debuggers and third-party solutions.

To help you find real solutions fast, this book is organized around real-world debugging scenarios. Hewardt and Pravat use detailed code examples to illuminate the complex debugging challenges professional developers actually face. From core Windows operating system concepts to security, Windows Vista and 64-bit debugging, they address emerging topics head-on-and nothing is ever oversimplified or glossed over!

This book enables you to

• Master today's most powerful Windows debugging tools, including NTSD, CDB, WinDbg, KD, and ADPlus
• Debug code that wasn't designed or written for easy debugging
• Understand debuggers "under the hood," and manage symbols and sources efficiently
• Debug complex memory corruptions related to stacks and heaps
• Resolve complex security problems
• Debug across processes: identity tracking, RPC debugger extensions, and tracking IPCs with Ethereal
• Find and fix resource leaks, such as memory and handle leaks.
• Debug common thread synchronization problems
• Learn when and how to write custom debugger extensions
• Perform "postmortem debugging" using crash dumps and Windows Error Reporting
• Automate debugging with DebugDiag and the Analyze Debugger command

Whether you're a system-level or application developer, Advanced Windows Debugging delivers the deep understanding of debugging that could save you weeks on your very next project.

• Overview
  • Introduction to the Tools
  • Introduction to the Debuggers
  • Debugger Uncovered
  • Managing Symbol and Source Files
• Applied Debugging
  • Memory Corruptions Part I - Stacks
  • Memory Corruptions Part I - Heaps
  • Security
  • Inter-process Communication
  • Resource Leaks
  • Synchronization
• Advanced Topics
  • Writing Custom Debugger Extensions
  • 64-bit Debugging
  • Postmortem Debugging
  • Power Tools
  • Windows Vista Fundamentals
  • Appendix A: Application Verifier Test Settings