My PC Got Hijacked !

My home computer running on a Windows XP Home Edition got hijacked by spywares, trojans and malwares 2 days ago. I turned on my pc late Thursday night and to my dismay and shock my beautiful desktop wallpaper has been replaced by a message filled with typos telling me spyware threat has been detected on my pc and that I should quickly protect my computer with some anti-spyware programs. My Internet Explorer just redirects to a page listing some anti-spyware products which I doubt are real. I launched the Task Manager to see what processes are causing all this mayhem. I instead got the error message: "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator". I just about flipped out when I saw that as I am the administrator! I then sort of knew I was in for the long haul and it was just too late in the night to do anything. So I turned off my pc and got to work disinfecting my PC at late Friday night. I noticed by then my pc's speed has been reduced to a crawl but thank god I could still access the internet and my Firefox could still access sites without being hijacked as was the case with Internet Explorer. I installed AVG Anti-Spyware and had my pc scanned with it. It managed to detect only some spywares and that apart it didn't do a good job at all at quarantining and removing them. They are still there after re-booting. So I removed AVG and installed Webroot Spy Sweeper which I read almost everywhere that it is one of the top anti-spyware programs in existence. So with that fact in mind I was feeling kind of confident when installing it. After the install, I started the Spy Sweeper scan on my pc and by 3am it was detecting around 40+ anti-spywares where 3 of which are categorised as High Risk threats ! Two of which is the CoolWebSearch and Trojan.Downloader.xs . I just let it continue its scan while I went to bed, I was just too sleepy by then. Woke up at 6.45am (Saturday) to have a look at the scan results. Spy Sweeper had completed its scan by then and there was a long list of malwares and trojans which it had detected. I selected all of them and quarantined them. Upon reboot I was disappointed to find that my pc is still not yet back to normal. Spy Sweeper is still detecting the CoolWebSearch malware and moving it to quarantine section each time it tries to change the registry. I tried deleting CoolWebSearch from my pc with the Spy Sweeper delete key but to no avail as it will resurface within 1 minute. Spy Sweeper just failed miserably at getting rid of CoolWebSearch ! It got rid of the easy ones like webenhance.dll but not this one. I just realised Spy Sweeper being a top notch anti-spyware is just hype. Frustrated I installed the lesser known anti-spyware, SUPERAntiSpyware Professional, as a last ditch attempt before maybe comtemplating a hard disk format. And you know what, it turned out to be heaven sent ! Thank God ! It was beautiful, it managed to detect a whole lot more spywares etc. then all the so called top anti-spywares in less than half the time and what's really wonderful is it managed to successfully removed all of them including the nasty CoolWebSearch and Trojan.Downloader.xs (which turned out to be the main perpetrator and the hijacker of my desktop and Internet Explorer) without even breaking a sweat. I just rebooted my pc next and it was back to normal except for the execution of the Task Manager which I still get the error message : "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator". This I managed to resolve by applying the method outlined by Microsoft Support here.

It was tiring that one and a half days but I'm glad I got rid of them pests and life is back to normal.

Who is Jessica Jay?

I was browsing at a CD shop last week and stumbled on this new Jessica Jay cd called "My Heart Is Back". I didn't know she has released a new cd. Its been a while since we last heard from this mysterious singer. I first came to know of her when she came out in the early 90s with the song "Broken Hearted Woman". I first heard the song in a dark and smokey pub. Liked the song almost immediately and thought it was a pretty good upbeat rendition of the Faye Wong canto song "A Woman Who Is Easily Hurt" which inspired it I think. Of course Faye Wong's song was in turn based on the original Japanese song by Japanese singer Miyuki Nakajima. A quick look at the cd back cover reveals there are several new remixes of "Broken Hearted Woman" which ought to be interesting. However, there is no picture of her on the cover (front or back) so I still do not know how she looks like. There is never any official or confirmed picture of her. She's an enigma really. And I don't think I'm that far off to say that there are any fans out there who knows much about her. Trust me you could scour the internet for info about her but you won't find much. It will rather only bring you back to the original question, "Who is Jessica Jay" ?

David Gahan's bastard son ?

I failed to mention this earlier but when I was watching Indiana Jones 4, I couldn't help but noticed the glaring similarities between Shia LaBeouf and Dave Gahan, frontman of Depeche Mode. To see what I mean just have a look at these two side by side (below):

Shia Labeouf (left) David Gahan (right)
Now you see what I mean ? I wonder if anyone else noticed the similarities. If there is any biopic movie to be made about Dave Gahan, Shia would be the top choice.

Watched Indiana Jones 4

I brought my wife and baby to watch the movie yesterday afternoon at 2pm. It almost didn't happened as my wife was worried that the baby might not be able to stand the whole 2 hours in the theater. But I felt pretty confident that she would be alright as I know her character by now and assured my wife. With 20 mins left on the clock before the movie starts, we left our place and made for the theater which we reached ... just in time. The theater wasn't overly crowded and I noticed quite a number of people in their 40s and 50s, clearly Indy fans right from the very start. There were lots of little kids there as well accompanied by their parents to watch probably their first Indy flick. About the movie itself, it was a bit lackluster at times and really tried my patience. I must admit that I went in feeling more ebullient than when I came out. There's no denying that it is a worthy addition to the series but I'm surprised some rank it above the 2nd and 3rd installments. Indiana Jones and UFOs just didn't quite do it for me I'm afraid. It's a wrong mix. For my baby Sophia it's her first movie experience in the cinemas. She sat and watched the events unfold in the screen silently for the first 10 mins without moving, maybe just a little bit overwhelmed by the whole new experience. Then she started eating some candies offered by her mum and began to gaze around the darkened theater. That was interrupted by the gunshots and explosions from the opening scenes and she appeared a little startled but once she got the hang of it that its just a movie she started enjoying herself. By the half hour mark, she was laughing and smiling and pouncing up and down. However, by the hour and a half mark, she got bored with the movie and the fact that she has been sitting in one place for so long. She started to get really restless and even attempted to disturb the patrons seated in front of us. I was thinking of bringing her out for some fresh air but then she started to follow the movie again, only for a few minutes though, as she fell asleep and unfortunately missed the finale.

A friend told me that the movie was shot in classic Technicolor and not on digital. I read last year that Sean Connery was approached to reprise his role as Indy Senior but he declined it with good humor too:

"I get asked the question so often, I thought it best to make an announcement," says Connery in statement on the film's official website. "I thought long and hard about it and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement it would have been an Indiana Jones film. I love working with Steven and George, and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison as my son.

"But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun. I, do however, have one bit of advice for Junior: Demand that the critters be digital, the cliffs be low, and for goodness sake keep that whip by your side at all times in case you need to escape from the stunt coordinator! This is a remarkable cast, and I can only say, 'Break a leg, everyone.' I'll see you on May 22, 2008, at the theater!"

Connery had retired from acting in 2005."

So what's your favorite moment from the movie? Mine was all the scenes involving the retrieval of the fedora.

Winner Of Akademi Fantasia 6 is ... Stacy ?

Tomorrow's the final of Akademi Fantasia 6. There's no doubt in my mind that Stacy will win easily. Yes, Stacy will be crowned the new Akademi Fantasia winner tomorrow night. I guessed correctly last season's winner, Mila and I think my guess is right again for this season. My wife actually got me watching the Akademi Fantasia show last year. I am now a bigger fan than she is ! Ha ha.

Birthday Blues

One thing I learned from making money on the internet is that its not sustainable. I was making RM2,000 - RM3,000 a month from Google Adsense but got banned last year. I then made RM5,000-RM6,000 a month from an affiliate program but got dumped from the program today for no good apparent reasons. And it happened right on my birthday too - sigh ...that's cruel :(

Parking at Spring

At the tHe Spring shopping mall, I just realised they now have a parking toll system installed. And its all fully automated. No parking attendants sitting in their claustrophobic booth to collect money from you. No.

When you drive in, you first obtain a ticket similar to the one depicted below:

Now that's pretty standard procedure at all car parks, right?

Now when it comes to paying, that's when things start to get different. Instead of paying at the parking exit you now have to pay before you get into your car ! You have to make sure that you settle the payment before you drive your car to the exit. This is important and should be heeded if you don't want to get stuck at the exit with dozens of cars angrily honing at you. Good for me my family informed me beforehand otherwise I would have got myself into a rather embarrassing situation.

This is how the machine looks like. Pretty ugly and cold looking, isn't it?

The payment procedure is a breeze. Just stick in your card to reveal how much you owe in parking fees. Then just pay the amount by sliding in your ringgit note(s).

Parking wasn't really that expensive. I was there for about 2 hours and I only paid RM 2. In the current economic climate, it could have been worse. And anyways the toilet facilities are still free, so there.

What Happened To Vanillashare.com ?

I wondered what happened to Vanillashare.com. Tried to access the site this morning but was re-directed to a wallpaper site called cwalls.com (Classic Wallpapers by cwalls.com). I guess it must have been finally closed down by the authorities. Shame as it was really the best forum for money making on the internet. The Money Making section for the forum was one of the best for its kind. It was very informative with daily updates and loads of good stuff to download. I do hope the owners bring it back either in its original form or in some other. I missed the forum very much. Sad to see it go :(

Baby Daughter Walks

My infant daughter finally managed to walk ... all by herself. This defining moment occurred at an unlikely hour - at midnight. From the moment she got up on her legs I could tell she was able to walk by herself as this time she was a lot more steadier than usual. She walked a few steps before falling down.

Tom's Midnight Garden Revisited

I can't recall the last time I read a fictional book on a Saturday afternoon. Must have been way back when I was still schooling. Well, today this Saturday afternoon about 2.30pm I revisited my old time favorite book, "Tom's Midnight Garden". My 14 month old baby daughter has gone to sleep and with nothing else to do I picked up the book, snuggled up beside my baby and started reading. With the soft pouring rain outside, it was all the more enjoyable reading. At 4pm I started to feel hungry. My wife who has been all this time during my reading brewing some duck soup prepared some for me to eat right away (I could not possibly wait till dinner time). With the pouring rain outside it felt really nice to have some hot soup with duck and rice. I told her so: "With the pouring rain and a hungry stomach, this is really what I felt like eating and I'm happy that I'm having it.". When I was eating I had flashbacks of the Saturday afternoons which I would spent at the Kuching Municipal Library and towards the end of the day how the sight of my father in his light blue Volvo to come to pick me up would be such a welcome sight. After I've finished eating I checked on my baby daughter and she was still sleeping soundly. I continued with my reading. The book was as interesting now as it was to me when I was a boy. I never forgot "Tom's Midnight Garden". Its totally enduring.