Sunday, January 29, 2006

Chinese New Year

As the title implies, this is Chinese New Year...

It's been long time i've never really "feel" the phenomena Chinese New Year, because the feelings of gathering with family members not around.

The significant of celebrating Chinese New Year (short for CNY) is to have a family gathering and enjoy dinner together and have little chit chat... updates each other; when every members of the family seldom gather and meet up during the year.

I've been alone for couple of years during CNY, not with my parents.

Hmm... if you ask me... do i have any feelings of 'celebrating' it?? Guess my answer is ... nope... not really, it's just another day to me...

But i do enjoy the long holiday... one week :)

I have plenty of time doing stuff that i like...

I guess, i do enjoy CNY, do i?? ;)

regards,
Grant

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Virus Attack - W32.Blackmal.E@mm

Virus... isn't this a common discussion between Windows user??

This week, i've been to client's office mainly just to be virus buster...

This is not a brand new i virus though, it's been hitting "seriously" lately to almost 50 clients i've been to...

It's not a serious, destructive virus, it takes a lot of time to kill and cure though.

Alright, the main cast here, i'm talking about is W32.Blackmal.E@mm

This name is from Symantec, don't get confused here, i'm not a strong supporter of Symantec, but most of my clients using NAV has been "flooded" with the effect of this virus.

I haven't find out why would even the NAV server has been seriously "injured".. maybe Sym can answer that.

Alright with frust.. if you found yourself receiving a pop up message (by messenger - not MSN yeah..) stating from "whom" to "whom" has got a virus infection affection by the name of Blackmal.E@mm

Well, the first thing when i came across this, i'll check on the NAV server (or whatever AV server you have) to see if it's been compromised. Normally it will... sad to say that...

The very next thing i'll do is to disconnect everybody elses from the network, just take out the network cable and tell the network admin to tell everybody off the the work, cuz this will take quite some time to settle.

When everybody is off the network, i'll start by using the virus removal - http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blackmal@mm.removal.tool.html
and paste on the desktop and start by scanning and removing those virus.

Alright, you'll be lucky if you got 10 w/s to go... i'm not...

After a long scanning and removing, which every w/s i'm gonna do it twice at least, just to make sure everything is ok.

Finally on the server side, which it normally has kill off the AV's directory, can't possible been scan anymore. After curing the virus, will have to remove the NAV and re-install again.

Same goes to the rest of the workstation if you find it can't be scan anymore.

Anything else??

After i've done that, it's almost the end of my day... not my working hour, though.

Going home with an exhausted mind and body... i'll start work again next week... see ya

regards,
Grant

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Old book - old link - But useful!! - Configuring Samba

Oreilly has been famous on computer books, very expensive here in my country...... still worth to get one or two though...

This book was published in 1999, gosh, 6 - 7 years old book... In such an era, how could such book be helpful??

You'll be surprised, after 5 years of publishing this "old" book, the contents were still very much helpful to me(at least) to configure Samba on unix boxes with SSL and working fine along with Win9x/NT/2000. Not mentioning about XP though, it's not hard anymore when you know how to configure samba client in Win9x/2k right?

Please share this with anyone with needs of configuring Samba(client/server), very informative and yet practical.

Once more, thanks Oreilly for putting this book online for everyone!!

Samba - Oreilly http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/samba/chapter/book/

regards,
Grant

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Debian Lover - For Deb Admin

Since the day i decided to learn Debian, i've found this page - http://www.debian-administration.org/

This is a very resoucesful page for Debian user, be it day-to-day administration or just those not so frequent usage user.

regards,
Grant Skywalker

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Movie Session - Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Another movie session...

A lot of times i always have an impression that cartoon's main audiences are kids... but not this one...

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Actually i wasn't really want to watch cartoon during the time of deciding which movie to watch. Again, my girl friend won this time, cuz comparing Narnia to W&G, it seems that W&G is more "attractive" though it's not that famous comparing to Narnia.

In Imdb.com, Narnia still holds the title (till 30th Dec 2005) of USD 226 million, even above King Kong... where is W&G??

I didn't know what W & G is all about even at the time of buying the ticket, knowing only it's a comedy. Entering the theater hall without having a clue what kind of a movie i'm watching, this is consider first time for my case cuz normally i'll read movie review before i watch the movie.

The movie talks about romance, talks about "frankenstein"... and the beast this time is were-wolf... opss it's were-rabbit...

Can't imagine that a rabbit will become a monster... a destructive beast that bring disasters to human beings...

Do you know what rabbits like the most?? That's a a clue why rabbit is playing an important role here in the scene.

The next attractive point to me is Gromit... The dog that acts like Lassy.. but not that cute compare, still this is a "super-dog", cuz it makes breakfast, it drives a high-tech car invented by its "master"... i got a bit confused, what is the "relation" between Wallace & Gromit...

This is an attractive movie with very heavy English accent, sometimes i find it hard to listen to what the characters trying to say maybe due to i normally watch too much of US's box office i guess.

The movie plot is simply straight forward, instead of aiming for normal comedy, watching W & G is not a bad idea at all... have to thank my gf for pushing me for this... at least we both had a great time in the theater though...

regards,
Grant Skywalker


Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Desktop maintenance and tools

A very common question always being asked - I used my PC for net surfing and normal day-to-day office usage for spreadsheets and documents handling. But i have come across a lot junk mail lately and i've been having a lot of advertisement pop-ups lately, and even pop-ups that tells me my system has been infected by Virus!!!

How am i supposed to do???

This is a fairly common question asked by normal computer users that only uses computer as their day-to-day tool to do their job be it at home or office.

At first, 99% of the users who ask this type of question are windows user. Why?? You may ask.

The answer is, Windows has become a computer illiterate's operating system that caters for anyone who doesn't know computer but still able to operate the PC to perform tasks they need to perform.

Isn't it superb?? A super user-friendly computer operating system that makes anyone able to operate a very complicated computer system with ease... just a few clicks, you're on your way...

This is how software company makes money... This is how hardware vendor makes money too...

How could this be possible?? You may ask...

Software vendor like the famous M$ Windows will tell their user, every minimum 3 years, they'd upgrade the operating system to a brand new, more powerful, more user friendly and over-flooded features to their new operating system. Same goes to their popular M$ Office suite too... From Office97, 2000, XP... 2003...

In year 2006, are you gonna be obselete while still using the old Office 2000 still?? Come one, upgrade your Office suite, you're outdated!!!!

But, frankly speaking, how much of the so call new features that you'd use with the ever changing, newer version of Office suite that you've been upgrading every now and then??

Everytime M$ suggest a new operating system, and office suite, it'll need a more power hardware in order to run smooth on all this new toy for you... Will you want to be using a 40 seconds bootup time Win2k running 256MB RAM??? instead of comparing to my 15sec boot up time of my 1GB RAM and 120GB 7200RPM hard drive running on 3.2Ghz Intel Pentium 4 processor? Mine is faster than yours....

This is the game these big shots are playing... Mine is newer than yours, mine is faster than yours... but how fast?? few seconds different??

Well, gamers... you shouldn't read on anymore, i'm sure you won't be agree with me... But heck.. this is windows users...

Opps... i'm out of topic...

How to protect my Windows?? How to make my Windows bullet prove??

At first, install M$ Windows' best friend - Symantec Norton Anti-Virus... For what?? fighting against the virus of course.... How the hack of all these computer viruses came from anyway??

Ah... followed by the new comer - Spyware... to keep the long story short, it's a tool that could grab your personal information and send it back to its 'master' to "learn" about you and your computer system... Spy-Ware.. as it describes, you know what it means, right?

Last but not least, Firewall...

What??? A firewall??? I thought it's a high-tech toy for corporate??

Nuh... no longer now... Nowadays, personal firewall for PC is everywhere.. some free, some shareware or commercial. Who said your desktop behind the broadband cable/xDSL doesn't need a proper firewall sits on your desktop to prevent your PC being hack???

Okay.. okay.. i know.. i know... I'm long winded...

I'd used ClamAV/Avast/AVG... These 3s are meant for personal, non-commercial use...

If you need a power from commercial version of anti-virus, you could try Trend Micro's http://housecall.trendmicro.com which is a famous online antivirus scanning tool. But it can only scan your system or clean the virus while you're online and not rebooting yet... But once you're rebooting your system, you're on your own... ;)

Anti-spyware... This time, M$ has its own version of anti-spyware, though from the time of writing, it's still in beta version, still, it's useful? If you're using genuine windows, with the "recommended" hardware being install, no harm installing it, right? Else, i'd go for the famous free - Spybot - Search and Destroy...

Ok.. the last one, personal firewall. You've got a few choices, the famous one ZoneAlarm(without pro... as you know, "pro" comes with a price, alright?) and Jetico Personal Firewall. ZoneAlarm is famous and long in the market, it's cool, user friendly and automated... like Windows :)

On the other hand, Jetico gives you full control of everything, it'll keep asking you if you allow the applications to communicate to the outside world. You have to be very good and know about the apps you've install. One word, it's for advanced user, not for novice...

Alright, you make your choices now??

Come on... where to get these ?? Can't you just google around???

regards,
Skywalker

The Movie Session - King Kong

Who doesn't know Peter Jackson... he/she must have not been to the cinema... or not been reading newspaper lately...

The director for Lord of The Ring... The one bring forth New Zealand to the world... Beautiful scenary of mother nature......

I was amazed... how beautiful this country is...

King Kong... who has never heard of this name??

The latest movie at the end of year 2005... carry on till 2006...

The movie i've been waiting for...

We didn't watch it in normal cinema, we're aiming high...

This time, we wanted to experience it in IMAX...

I watched "Jordan to the Max" in IMAX Melbourne, it was fantastic and cool watching my favourite idol "flying" and slamming the dunk... He's the best - Michael Jordan!!!

Can you imagine watching a 2D movie - King Kong in a 3D based IMAX cinema??????

The experience is extraordinary!!!

I didn't know this is a "love" story...

Holding a hand while watching this "love" story... my girl friend was afraid to watch this 25ft beast at first...

She wasn't having a good sleep the night before... but she knew i've been waiting to watch this movie with her... She almost got to open her eyes by force using her finger... just to please me...

She felt asleep for the first 15 mins or so...... her head was on my shoulder... poor baby...

When the "explorers" were sailing towards the Skull Island, the movie is near to "start"... She was awake when the ship was brought near to the island's cliff...

She's a scary cat... everytime the ship hits on the rock where everyone's live in the ship were in danger, she'd grab my arm tightly, showing her concern.

The excitement continues, it goes up when Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) were caught by Kong... and there the hero(s) went for the rescue mission.

The journey for the rescue mission were very excited, i like the idea of King Kong fighting against T-Rex... what a plot!!

Not 1 T-Rex... but they came in a gang... against Kong... but why???

It's the heroin feelings Kong has for Naomi Watts played as Ann Darrow... She's beautiful, her eyes seem to speak her heart... She showed her fears through her eyes when she first saw Kong.
The runaway scene was ended up with unexpected moment... She was saved by Kong when she faced with the T-Rex.

Kong showed his anger... I don't know if Kong is a male... but i think i'd do the same... It's quite impossible to have a female Kong that has feelings towards the beautiful Naomi...

Kong fight the 4 T-Rexes without fear... not because of "self-defense"... but because he's saving his "love" ones... Naomi...

This is the most exciting part of the movie... It reminds me of Bruce Lee who fights the bad guy with his bare hands. He uses all his "skill" to fight... hands and legs, if needed, he bikes too... Cool punches and kicking as well, i'm watching a Chinese Kungfu played by Kong... Ha....

I'd feel touch if i were Ann, without a surprise, Naomi once again showed her gratitude towards the heroic act by Kong, and this time, she feel secure with Kong, her "body-guard" in this "all-big-scale" no matter insects or animals in this island.

Funny enough, all the animals are big in size, but the human who lived in the island aren't...

Another fearless hero come and rescue his belove Naomi - Jack Driscol (Adrien Brody)... His journey towards Naomi isn't safe... at all...

I can't imagine cockcroches are as big as a dog... they are near impossible to kill with their size and their "partners".... all those insects we normally can kill with our "king kong" foot, in our life-time, of course...

It's a "triangle" love in between Kong, Naomi and Adrien... Two human and a gorilla...

How could Kong be brought to New York?? You should watch the movie yourself ;)

Humans are virus to our mother land...

Kong kills when he's living in the island... all animal does, in order to fill their stomach, they don't "plan" to kill and reserve food in the future, keep in the kitchen or refrigerator for next week... They kill when they need to eat...

Audiences pay VVIP admission ticket for King of Kong... They paid to watch a big size monkey being "lock"... not yet in the cage... in Broadway... This is how Carl Danham make money... making use of an innocent animal which lives in an island by himself... no harm to the city guy...

As we all have known... nothing could beat human... including Kong...

Has Ann fall in love with Kong?? He risk his live trying to safe her from "stealing" by another gang of human... He didn't hurt her at all... but he has finally sacrificing his live trying to protect Ann...

I'm confused... Shall we go to zoo to see all these animals being held in the cage?? Are they "enjoying" their life in the cage or in the wild??

If you have watched magadascar, you may felt the other way, but, i'm not the animal locked in the cage, i don't know the feelings of theirs... But if i'm the monkey locked in the cage, i can only play and hang around in the 10 ft x 10 ft x 10ft box... where i should be freely swing in the jungle among the trees... i surely felt sick in the cage...

Maybe i should start to think to release my pet - the hamster from the "cage"... can they live around the neigbourhood without being hunt by the hungry cat??

Confused... still,

regards,
Grant Skywalker

Re-LOVE?? - Part II

Merry Christmas... I was lying on a couch in the living room at my nanny's.

I had plans, wanted to watch Narnia and King Kong...

But nothing happens..

Why??

I wanted so much to go for movie but the loneliness had stop me, I knew i'm
not going to watch it alone...

I was resting at home, hoping i'll recover from the long weekend... I wish i could
cuz my manager is waiting for a healthy Grant to come back to work... I don't
want to disappoint him by bringing back a sick person and he tried all he can to
avoid sending me to client's cuz it affect my health by travelling by bike and lately
the weather in the city is bad, it keeps raining on and off.

A lonely and miserable Christmas i must say... for the year 2005...

I decided not keep quiet anymore and voice out whatever in my mind, i gotto win
her heart back...

My truly belove Venice...

Venice is her dream city, she's been dreaming of going to Venice... one of the most
beautiful city in Europe...

I called - The phone wasn't hung up when she heard my voice...

Calmly, i repeated what i had in mind for weeks... to express the truth, the deep
expression i had, the miscommunication we had...

She listened... again, this time with calm and patience...

I knew she was caught with a romantic guy who snip in and gradually won her
heart over...

I just told the truth... the in-depth feelings i had for her...

I was so ill... still, cuz i missed all the moments we had together...

Telling her that i don't wish to be alone next year...

to be continue... next year...

regards,
Grant Skywalker

Re-LOVE?? - Part I

I've 2 months without communicating with my girl friend....

Too many misunderstandings, miscommunication....

Until this day... near the end of year 2005.... Right after Christmas...

We had a pact.... we're gonna celebrate Christmas together... But ... 24th night,
i was at Menara SPK, doing some pcs maintenance in an office... till 10:30pm...
I stepped out from the building's main entrance...

The guard who opened the main door for me, cuz i'm the last person leaving the
office building, I saw him alone guarding the the lobby. I asked him if he's working
on Christmas?? He replied, he's working as guard, there's no holiday for him, public
holiday is totally meaningless...

I greeted him Merry Christmas... though he's a muslim...

I was sicked for the past 3 weeks ...

Read an article about health, stated that one who sick seeking for recovery, sometimes
the medicine doesn't help, but it's ones "ichinen" (the mindset) that determine if
he wants to recover or not...

I've never been fall sick for more than a week(not in the past few years), but this time,
i knew i wasn't able to recover because i truely miss her...

to be continue...

regards,
Grant Sykwalker