While analyzing applications in the wild, you might come across a Python application bundled with cx_Freeze. It creates isolated, portable Python applications by including copies of everything the code needs. The final application is a ready-to-go .exe file that is attractive to typical users.

While cx_Freeze is used to package legitimate software, it and similar tools (like PyInstaller) are also used for disguising malware as legitimate executables. Recognizing when an application is using cx_Freeze can save valuable time when reverse engineering software.

Moving between many devices and having to find and open remote shares in GNOME is annoying. Using built-in GNOME tools like gio, it’s possible to automatically mount network shares when you log in without wrangling with Samba or fstab. It works for many protocols, including smb, webdav, and ftp.