Merge pull request #503 from fireeye/explorer/update-readme

updating capa explorer README

README.md

@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@ rule:
 The [github.com/fireeye/capa-rules](https://github.com/fireeye/capa-rules) repository contains hundreds of standard library rules that are distributed with capa.
 Please learn to write rules and contribute new entries as you find interesting techniques in malware.
 
-If you use IDA Pro, then you can use the [capa explorer plugin](capa/ida/plugin/).
-capa explorer lets you quickly identify and navigate to interesting areas of a program and help you build new capa rules out of the features extracted directly from your IDB.
+If you use IDA Pro, then you can use the [capa explorer](capa/ida/plugin/) plugin.
+capa explorer helps you identify interesting areas of a program and build new capa rules using features extracted directly from your IDA Pro database.
 
 ![capa + IDA Pro integration](doc/img/explorer_expanded.png)
 

capa/ida/plugin/README.md

@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 ![capa explorer](../../../.github/capa-explorer-logo.png)
 
-capa explorer is an IDA Pro plugin written in Python that integrates the FLARE team's open-source framework, capa, with IDA. capa is a framework that uses a well-defined collection of rules to 
+capa explorer is an IDAPython plugin that integrates the FLARE team's open-source framework, capa, with IDA Pro. capa is a framework that uses a well-defined collection of rules to 
 identify capabilities in a program. You can run capa against a PE file or shellcode and it tells you what it thinks the program can do. For example, it might suggest that 
-the program is a backdoor, can install services, or relies on HTTP to communicate. You can use capa explorer to run capa directly on an IDA database without requiring access
-to or execution of the source binary. Once a database has been analyzed, capa explorer can be used to quickly identify and navigate to interesting areas of a program and manually build new capa rules out
-of the features extracted directly from your IDB.
+the program is a backdoor, can install services, or relies on HTTP to communicate. capa explorer runs capa directly against your IDA Pro database (IDB) without requiring access
+to the original binary file. Once a database has been analyzed, capa explorer helps you identify interesting areas of a program and build new capa rules using features extracted from your IDB.
 
 We love using capa explorer during malware analysis because it teaches us what parts of a program suggest a behavior. As we click on rows, capa explorer jumps directly 
-to important addresses in the IDA Pro database and highlights key features in the Disassembly view so they stand out visually. To illustrate, we use capa explorer to 
+to important addresses in the IDB and highlights key features in the Disassembly view so they stand out visually. To illustrate, we use capa explorer to 
 analyze Lab 14-02 from [Practical Malware Analysis](https://nostarch.com/malware) (PMA) available [here](https://practicalmalwareanalysis.com/labs/). Our goal is to understand 
 the program's functionality.
 
@@ -15,16 +14,15 @@ After loading Lab 14-02 into IDA and analyzing the database with capa explorer,
 
 ![](../../../doc/img/explorer_condensed.png)
 
-We can use capa explorer to navigate the IDA Disassembly view directly to the suspect function and get an assembly-level breakdown of why capa matched `self delete via COMSPEC environment variable` 
-for this particular function.
+We can use capa explorer to navigate our Disassembly view directly to the suspect function and get an assembly-level breakdown of why capa matched `self delete via COMSPEC environment variable`.
 
 ![](../../../doc/img/explorer_expanded.png)
 
 Using the `Rule Information` and `Details` columns capa explorer shows us that the suspect function matched `self delete via COMSPEC environment variable` because it contains capa rule matches for `create process`, `get COMSPEC environment variable`,
-and `query environment variable`, references to the strings `COMSPEC`, ` > nul`, and `/c del`, and calls to the Windows API functions `GetEnvironmentVariableA` and `ShellExecuteEx`.
+and `query environment variable`, references to the strings `COMSPEC`, ` > nul`, and `/c del `, and calls to the Windows API functions `GetEnvironmentVariableA` and `ShellExecuteEx`.
 
-capa explorer also helps you build new capa rules. To start select the `Rule Generator` tab, navigate to a function in the IDA `Disassembly` view,
-and click `Analyze`. capa explorer will extract features from this function and display them in the `Function Features` pane. You can add features listed in this pane to the `Editor` pane
+capa explorer also helps you build new capa rules. To start select the `Rule Generator` tab, navigate to a function in your Disassembly view,
+and click `Analyze`. capa explorer will extract features from the function and display them in the `Features` pane. You can add features listed in this pane to the `Editor` pane
 by either double-clicking a feature or using multi-select + right-click to add multiple features at once. The `Preview` and `Editor` panes help edit your rule. Use the `Preview` pane
 to modify the rule text directly and the `Editor` pane to construct and rearrange your hierarchy of statements and features. When you finish a rule you can save it directly to a file by clicking `Save`.
 
@@ -44,7 +42,7 @@ If you encounter issues with your specific setup, please open a new [Issue](http
 
 ### Supported File Types
 
-capa explorer is limited to the file types supported by capa, which includes:
+capa explorer is limited to the file types supported by capa, which include:
 
 * Windows 32-bit and 64-bit PE files
 * Windows 32-bit and 64-bit shellcode
@@ -62,50 +60,48 @@ You can install capa explorer using the following steps:
 
 ### Usage
 
-1. Run IDA and analyze a supported file type (select the `Manual Load` and `Load Resources` options in IDA for best results)
+1. Open IDA and analyze a supported file type (select the `Manual Load` and `Load Resources` options in IDA for best results)
 2. Open capa explorer in IDA by navigating to `Edit > Plugins > FLARE capa explorer` or using the keyboard shortcut `Alt+F5`
 3. Select the `Program Analysis` tab
 4. Click the `Analyze` button
 
 When running capa explorer for the first time you are prompted to select a file directory containing capa rules. The plugin conveniently
-remembers your selection for future runs; you can change this selection by navigating to `Settings > Change default rules directory...`. We recommend 
+remembers your selection for future runs; you can change this selection and other default settings by clicking `Settings`. We recommend 
 downloading and using the [standard collection of capa rules](https://github.com/fireeye/capa-rules) when getting started with the plugin.
 
 #### Tips for Program Analysis
 
 * Start analysis by clicking the `Analyze` button
-* Reset the plugin user interface and remove highlighting from IDA disassembly view by clicking the `Reset` button
-* Change your capa rules directory by navigating to `Settings > Change default rules directory...` from the plugin menu
+* Reset the plugin user interface and remove highlighting from your Disassembly view by clicking the `Reset` button
+* Change your capa rules directory and other default settings by clicking `Settings`
 * Hover your cursor over a rule match to view the source content of the rule
-* Double-click the `Address` column to navigate the IDA Disassembly view to the associated feature
+* Double-click the `Address` column to navigate your Disassembly view to the address of the associated feature
 * Double-click a result in the `Rule Information` column to expand its children
-* Select a checkbox in the `Rule Information` column to highlight the address of the associated feature in the IDA Dissasembly view
+* Select a checkbox in the `Rule Information` column to highlight the address of the associated feature in your Dissasembly view
 
 #### Tips for Rule Generator
 
-* Navigate to a function in the `Disassembly` view and click`Analyze` to get started
-* Double-click or multi-select + right-click in the `Function Features` pane to add features to the `Editor` pane
-* Right-click features in the `Editor` pane to make modifications
-* Drag-and-drop (single click + multi-select support) features in the `Editor` pane to quickly build a hierarchy of statements and features
-* Right-click anywhere in the `Editor` pane not on a feature to quickly remove all features
-* Add descriptions/comments by placing editing the appropriate column in the `Editor` pane
-* Directly edit rule text, including rule metadata fields using the `Preview` pane
-* Change the default rule author and default scope displayed in the `Preview` pane by navigating to `Settings`
+* Navigate to a function in your Disassembly view and click`Analyze` to get started
+* Double-click or use multi-select + right-click to add features from the `Features` pane to the `Editor` pane
+* Right-click features in the `Editor` pane to make context-specific modifications
+* Drag-and-drop (single click + multi-select support) features in the `Editor` pane to construct your hierarchy of statements and features
+* Right-click anywhere in the `Editor` pane not on a feature to remove all features
+* Add descriptions or comments to a feature by editing the corresponding column in the `Editor` pane
+* Directly edit rule text and metadata fields using the `Preview` pane
+* Change the default rule author and default rule scope displayed in the `Preview` pane by clicking `Settings`
 
 ## Development
 
-Because capa explorer is packaged with capa you will need to install capa locally for development.
-
-You can install capa locally by following the steps outlined in `Method 3: Inspecting the capa source code` of the [capa 
+capa explorer is packaged with capa so you will need to install capa locally for development. You can install capa locally by following the steps outlined in `Method 3: Inspecting the capa source code` of the [capa 
 installation guide](https://github.com/fireeye/capa/blob/master/doc/installation.md#method-3-inspecting-the-capa-source-code). Once installed, copy [capa_explorer.py](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fireeye/capa/master/capa/ida/plugin/capa_explorer.py) 
-to your IDA plugins directory to run the plugin in IDA.
+to your plugins directory to install capa explorer in IDA.
 
 ### Components
 
 capa explorer consists of two main components:
 
-* An IDA [feature extractor](https://github.com/fireeye/capa/tree/master/capa/features/extractors/ida) built on top of IDA's binary analysis engine
-  * This component uses IDAPython to extract [capa features](https://github.com/fireeye/capa-rules/blob/master/doc/format.md#extracted-features) from the IDA database such as strings, 
+* An [feature extractor](https://github.com/fireeye/capa/tree/master/capa/features/extractors/ida) built on top of IDA's binary analysis engine
+  * This component uses IDAPython to extract [capa features](https://github.com/fireeye/capa-rules/blob/master/doc/format.md#extracted-features) from your IDBs such as strings, 
 disassembly, and control flow; these extracted features are used by capa to find feature combinations that result in a rule match
 * An [interactive user interface](https://github.com/fireeye/capa/tree/master/capa/ida/plugin) for displaying and exploring capa rule matches
-  * This component integrates the IDA feature extractor and capa, providing an interactive user interface to dissect rule matches found by capa using features extracted by the IDA feature extractor
+  * This component integrates the feature extractor and capa, providing an interactive user interface to dissect rule matches found by capa using features extracted directly from your IDBs