MRT North Ave. Station south bound, Thursday, August 2, 2007, 08:40 AM MRT time
This is a normal rush hour scene.
2
Aug
Mornings at MRT
2
Aug
Checking for tell-tale signs of malware infection
If you have suspicions that your computer has been infected by a malware, what are the ways you can do to confirm such infection?
Here’s one thing that your antivirus vendor won’t tell you: they cannot prevent entry of a new malware if they don’t have detection for it. So it is very possible that you can get infected, specially if you are not careful.
Generally, check the following to find out if your computer is infected:
1. Running applications and processes
2. The system registry
3. New files
4. Open ports
We’ll discuss the first two, as the latter two are more complicated and technical.
Most malware are memory-resident; it means that they stay in memory upon execution. So to check, you can verify using the Windows Task Manager. To open the Task Manager, press Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc. Check the Applications tab for unknown or unfamiliar names. Terminate them if necessary.
However, there are malware that employs techniques so that you can’t see them via Task Manager, or you can’t terminate them. A third-party process manager is necessary (for example, Process Explorer).
Check the process name. One time, I had encountered a process named “WORDPAD.COM”. The problem is that the file name of the real WordPad is “WORDPAD.EXE”.
Look for the file if it exists. In the same example, WORDPAD.COM was not present in my system.
Check what file the process points to. This will give you a clue on what file to delete or submit to AV companies for checking.
Most malware create registry entries so that they start when Windows boots up – this is what we call autostart technique.
Tweaking the registry is not for the faint-hearted. One mistake and you might have to re-install the operating system or an application that is affected by your mistake. It is better to back up the registry before doing any tweaking.
To view the registry, click Start, then Run. Type “REGEDIT.EXE” and then click Ok.
To back up your registry, click File on the main menu of the Registry Editor, then click on Export.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun. Check the entries at the right pane for suspicious file names. If you have to delete entries do so, as long as you know what you are doing.
Also, check HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun.
2
Aug
Asus eee PC delayed
It seems that the release of Asus eee PC is delayed:
Asus has moved the release date of the EeePC 701 to “Mid/Sept to Early/Oct.” No word on any more details.
Bummer. Maybe I should get the Sony Ericsson P1i instead.
1
Aug
Salary gap is the problem
Boo Chanco thinks the appointment of Romulo Neri as Chair of the Commission on Higher Education will address the disconnect between the graduates that schools produce and the jobs that are available. He also thinks that Neri will have the political will to close down diploma mills.
I am all for closing down diploma mills. I am wary though of retooling our education system just to accommodate what jobs there are.
The disconnect between the skills of the graduates and the jobs available is indeed a problem. To bridge the disconnect, CHED must have the means to compel schools to retool and churn out graduates that could fill up the jobs that are available.
Yes, the use of the words ‘retool’ and ‘churn’ are deliberate. Because that’s what Chanco and others are thinking – transform our schools into factories. (Yes, I’m old-school when it comes to education.)
Skills can be taught, but it will depend on the student’s aptitude. The National Collegiate Aptitude Examination is designed to guide a student in choosing what course to take in college. The rationale is that via NCAE, the student will take a course that he/she has the aptitude, therefore insuring that the student will somehow be successful. However, it is very possible that the course chosen is disconnected from whatever jobs there are – another graduate added in the jobless pool.
Call center companies complain that the supply cannot satisfy demand. You know what Chanco and others don’t know? Interview call center agents, past and present, and ask them what they feel. What Chanco and others don’t know is that the attrition rate in call center companies is high.
Also, not everyone can enter call center companies even if they are trained.
Remember Trade Secretary Peter Favila saying that there are jobs out there but Filipinos are just being choosy? In a way he is correct – we are choosy because we just cannot live on a pittance being paid to a welder. And that is I think the real problem is.
The gap between the salaries of a lathe machine operator and a call center agent is wide. So we train the operator to become a call center agent, even if he has no aptitude for it. The trained operator enters a call center company. Several months later, he is either terminated or resigned. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The problem is how to bridge the salary gap. This is what we should address.
RELATED POSTS:
More Problems in Education
For when dreams exceed one’s grasp
31
Jul
Sign of the times
Pati ba naman sa lotto, may price increase?
From ABS-CBN News:
PCSO to jack up prices of lotto bets
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will increase the minimum lotto bet to P20 effective August 15, ABS-CBN News reported Tuesday.
Arnel Casas, assistant manager of PCSO’s Central Operation Department, said the price adjustment will only affect the “jackpot-bearing” games including 6/42, 6/45, and 6/49.
Casas said the PCSO intends to double the jackpot prize of the three numbers games as well as double the charity contributions of the department.
He said the PCSO has been deliberating on the price increase since the games were first introduced on March 8, 1995.
The increase, meanwhile, raised speculations of a boom in the numbers racket “jueteng” once the price adjustment takes effect.
Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio said the numbers racket is the Filipinos’ cheaper alternative to lotto. He said people can place jueteng bets for as low as P1.
The government created lotto to combat the increasing popularity of jueteng. The numbers racket was partly blamed for President Joseph Estrada’s downfall in 2001 after he allegedly pocketed millions of pesos in jueteng payola.
Members of President Arroyo’s family were also linked to jueteng operations in the country but a Senate investigation into the issue proved fruitless after several witnesses recanted.
Casas downplayed the possible resurgence of jueteng after the lotto price adjustment.
“Meron naman kaming EZ 2. Iyon po ang pantapat sa jueteng. Hindi po nagbago ang presyo (We have the EZ 2 game. This game was created to compete with jueteng. The game’s minimum bet [remains P10]),” he explained.
Aside from EZ 2, Casas said the PCSO is currently studying the expansion of small-time lottery (STL) into other provinces. He said the STL game is still in the experimental stage.
Various sectors, including bishops groups, have openly protested the government’s introduction of the STL game. Reports said the STL game is being used by big-time gambling operators as front for their jueteng operations.
What’s next? Poll tax?
31
Jul
Microsoft to Release Works Free and Ad Supported
OpenOffice and Google Docs must be doing very well for Microsoft to take notice and take action.
In an interview with ZDNet, Satya Nadella (Corporate Vice President, Microsoft-Search & Advertising Platform Group) confirms the year-old rumor that Microsoft is going to release a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Works. (See this article from Ars Technica.)
In the interview, it was said that the free version was released July 27. Like the interviewer, I cannot find the download link in the Microsoft Works home page.
Must be a premature announcement, then. Has OpenOffice and Google finally made an impact in Microsoft’s lucrative office productivity market?
—
Hosted apps are not for me. Yet. I am not totally online, and I am not convinced by the idea of a server holding my documents. There’s OpenOffice, despite the fact that this app is a resource hog.
I’m sure Rocky (being Google fanboy that he is) is convinced by this model. How about you? Are you ready for hosted office productivity apps?
30
Jul
This picture needs a caption
(Photo © 2007 Ivan Basit. Used with permission.)
And whoever can supply the best caption wins my eternal admiration and respect (and link). Sorry, no cash; wait till I win the 6/49 Super Lotto. Leave your caption at the comments.
Any caption with the words “bad hair day” (or combination thereof) will be automatically disqualified. That’s MY caption for the said photo.
PS: If you are interested with having a studio photograph taken by Ivan, leave a comment, and make sure you use a valid email address so that I can send you the PDF brochure.
30
Jul
Insults do not affect dem pols
John Nery asked what is the best political insult?
I will not answer the question because (1) it is a question of history, and is never the subject of most history books; and (2) like everything else, the answer will always be relative, ie. how the insult affects the receiver of the attack.
Instead I submit that a good politician will never be affected by such. Number one, it should not concern one if the insult is false. Number two, an insult is always an ad hominem, and as such, is meaningless in the exchange of ideas.
How do you deal with an insult? This is supposed to be a dilemma: if you react furiously, people will tend to see you as guilty; if you don’t even react to it, people tend to see that silence as proof of guilt.
An insult is issued to provoke, to force someone to react.
React if you must, but make it a dignified one.
PS: How do you deal with insults?
PPS: Miriam Santiago called the members of the House of Representatives as “talakitok”. Now that his son is a congressman, I wonder if the appellation still applies, or she would use a collective modifier. Now, I am waiting for Miriam die hards for their wonderful comments (sample some of them here).
28
Jul
Now it’s skirting the law
First, it’s rule by law. Now, it is skirting the law.
The Supreme Court has ordered the Executive Department, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine National Police to produce Jonas Burgos at the Court of Appeals yesterday. As expected, no Burgos was produced. And most expectedly, the summoned people did not even bother dignifying the Court order with a written reply,
Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Maj. Gen. Delfin Bangit of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (Isafp), Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, 7th Infantry Division head Maj. Gen. Juanito Gomez, Lt. Col. Noel Clement of the Escort and Security Battalion, and 56th Infantry Battalion commanding officer Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano – all of them proved to the entire nation who is in command and who is in power. All of them snubbed the Court; the Emperor had sent his own lawyer, the others represented by an assistant solicitor-general. They snubbed the Court because they know they will get away with it.
And they did.
The main argument that the solicitor-general has employed is the standard AFP reply – they cannot produce Burgos because they don’t have him. Circumstantial evidences will point out that this is false. Cases in point:
1. The car that was used in the abduction was found in a military camp.
2. The AFP had conducted an investigation, but like the Mayuga Report, it will not release the findings, “for confidential reasons.”
3. General Tolentino has branded Burgos as a member of the New People’s Army.
Maybe they did had Burgos, but he was long dead.
Maybe the NPA has Burgos, in an attempt to undermine the AFP. But how come the AFP and the PNP have not said anything in this line? And why are they not investigating this? Why can’t they declare an all-out war against the NPA?
Also, giving Gloria Arroyo a dose of her own medicine, let us cite some numbers. I will quote Jhay Rocas here:
874 cases of human rights violations, 99, 011 individual victims, 14, 302 families in 288 communities, 282 victims of extra-judicial killings, 69 victims of massacres, 147 victims of forced disappearances…
Bangit complains that he and the AFP are maligned. Prove, Mr. General, that you have not done anything. Prove by apprehending and putting into justice the perpetrators of these crimes. But can you? Will you?
Rule by law: using the law to your means. Skirting the law: using loopholes to get away from law. Both are legacies of the Arroyo administration.
What I am afraid of is that the AFP indeed have Burgos in their custody, and they are defying every institution there is, and is undermining the Judiciary, the last institution that the Arroyo administration has not corrupted/destroyed/compromised. Yet.
In a blog post, The Purple Phoenix thinks that Jamby Madrigal is angling for the presidency at 2010. I had commented that I will vote for Madrigal if she will put up reward money (minimum of 3 million pesos) to anyone who can positively point where Burgos is, among other conditions I had posted in the said comment.
Impunity n.
1. Freedom from punishment of any kind.
2. A legal reward given for terrorist actions, when they are carried out by the State. (emphasis mine)
27
Jul
Love Cliches, One
Starting this post, I will be collating all cliches and mushiness about love that I can find (read: in my brain).
One
Found while on the bus:
“What are love songs for if you have no one to sing them to?”