The Techrangers Hideout

Linkback: Tech Goes Strong

2011-09-16T23:48:00.002+08:00

Hello there readers! I don't have much time to post anything since the last post, and I apologize for that.

Anyway, going straight to the point, the kind fellows at Life Goes Strong linked to this humble blog of mine, so I'm here to return the favor: Go visit their tech section Tech Goes Strong for more tech news! They cover all sorts of tech ranging from computers, gadgets, and cars.

You can find them here: http://tech.lifegoesstrong.com/

How To Recover, Reset, Or Bypass Windows Passwords

2011-07-18T02:42:00.002+08:00

There were times when you need to use a computer, only to be stumbled into a login screen which locks you out from getting into Windows. To make things worse, nobody else know the password. At this point, some people might already start considering to reformat and reinstall Windows.

Curse you.

But not all hope is lost. Given some knowledge, getting back access shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. And it doesn't really require a lot of computer skills. Any adventurous computer user should be able to do it themselves, provided they pay attention.

NOTICE: THIS LISTING IS PROVIDED AS-IS, AND SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR CRIMINAL PURPOSES. I DO NOT HOLD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE YOU DONE WHILE USING THESE METHODS, BUT REPORTS ABOUT DAMAGES ARE EXTREMELY RARE IF THERE IS ANY, AND I'LL TRY TO HELP IF ANY DAMAGE WERE TO HAPPEN IN THE PROCESS. TRY TO MAKE A BACKUP WHENEVER POSSIBLE TO MINIMIZE DAMAGE.

Method 1: Bypass with Kon-Boot

Fun Fact: The name Kon refers to a character in the popular anime Bleach who took the form of a lion plushie.

Kon-Boot basically lets you bypass the password temporarily, leaving no traces behind. All you need to do is boot Kon-Boot first (via a bootable CD, floppy disk, or USB drive), then load Windows without restarting. Type any gibberish you want in the password field, hit Enter, and voila, you now have access. Restart the PC, and everything goes back to normal.

Kon-Boot comes in two flavors, the free version and the commercial version. The free version (maintained by Piotr Bania) is pretty much the older version, and only works with 32-bit Windows and some Linux distros. The commercial version (maintained by Kryptos Logic) works with both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, but does not work with Linux distros.

You can get Kon-Boot here:

http://www.piotrbania.com/all/kon-boot/ (free version)

http://www.kryptoslogic.com/?area=2&item=2 (commercial version)

Method 2: Reset with Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Okay, just take it slow and you'll be fine.

This small utility will let you reset the password, making it a blank password, or just change it without knowing the original password. However, the utility might seem overwhelming at first, as it was text based, but all the instructions and guides are there to help you. Read them carefully and you shouldn't encounter too many problems. You can see it in action:

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor can be downloaded here:
http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Method 3: Reset with PC Login Now

Finally! Something to click on!

If text-based applications aren't your thing, fear not, this utility have a Windows-like interface which is simple to use. Just select the relevant options and hit next. The only downside is that the file is pretty large (about 60MB) compared to Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (about 5MB).

You can download PC Login Now here:
http://www.pcloginnow.com/

Method 4: Recover with Ophcrack

This is why you need strong passwords.

Ophcrack analyses Windows files and lists out the passwords for you. It does a pretty quick job at it (supposedly under 5 minutes) but will most likely work on alphanumeric passwords under 9 characters. Longer and complex passwords might take longer and is not guaranteed to be able to find the password.

You can install Ophcrack in Windows and Linux, but since you're stuck outside Windows you will need to use their LiveCD instead. They're pretty big, about 415MB (for XP) and 495MB (for Vista/7).

You can download Ophcrack LiveCD here:
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/download.php?type=livecd

Extra: Merging all tools into a CD/DVD or USB drive with XBOOT

You can even put just about anything bootable here.

You can combine all the four tools mentioned above (and many more) into a bootable USB drive or a DVD using XBoot. You will be given options what to boot when you boot the USB/DVD drive. Even comes with a virtual machine (QEMU) to test out the bootable drive.

You can download XBoot here:
https://sites.google.com/site/shamurxboot/download

Just a small note, right after you load Kon-Boot, it will return to the XBoot menu. To proceed to booting Windows, hit Esc, then type (without quotes) "chain.c32 hd1" and hit Enter. If that fails, you might want to change "hd1" to "hd0", "hd2", "hd3", etc. This should work as long as you use syslinux for it's bootloader.

Hopefully this post has been educational for you, but more importantly, useful for you. Drop some feedback please!

Accessing Linux Partitions In Windows

2011-05-30T23:54:00.001+08:00

Lately I've been booting back and forth between Ubuntu and Windows. This time, I installed Ubuntu on a separate partition, instead of using Wubi. However, Ubuntu's default filesystem is EXT3, which is not accessible through Windows.

With the help of 3rd party software, you can. There are many out there, but so far these two works for me.

ext2explore

ext2explore is a standalone program, requiring no installation. Good for occasional use. It will automatically detect your EXT2/3/4 partitions, and can extract files from that partition. However, it's read-only, so you can't copy files into that partition with this program. Very simple to use. You can download it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/

ext2fsd

ext2fsd allows EXT2/3/4 support from within Windows, but like ext2explore, it's read-only. Trying to modify or create files from EXT partitions will generate an error. Still, it works seamlessly, you can copy your files, or open the files in another software without extracting them out. You can download it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

Speed up your Internet: Find a better DNS

2011-05-23T15:30:00.000+08:00

UUOOOO WARP SPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDD

One of the ways you can speed up the Internet, other than just upgrading your subscription, is to use a better DNS. By default your ISP provides the DNS for you. While it's generally not so bad, it's not the best either. So how do we know which one is the best? We have to benchmark them.

Introducing DNS Benchmark.

Graphs makes it easy to see which one works best

The software is in fact very straightforward to use, all you need to do is go to the 'Nameservers' tab and click 'Run Benchmark'. It doesn't take very long to see which one is better, out of the many public DNS out there. In most cases, I find that Google Public DNS is often the fastest.

But after you run the benchmark, you can do a full DNS benchmark, looking for even more DNS to benchmark, including little known ones. It is said to improve your connections even further. By how much, well, that depends on the conditions.

Also, by using a different DNS, you can bypass some filters which your ISP has blocked for some reason. Which is good, I think.

You can get this software for free at this website:

http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm

OK, so I've benchmarked it. What else should I do?

You have to change your DNS settings according to your benchmark results. This site should assist you, just remember to substitute the DNS with your benchmark result:

https://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

shell-fm: Last.fm Radio in Terminal

2011-05-20T00:16:00.000+08:00

Yo GUI so fat it took 250KB of RAM to run

Well, I have been switching between Windows and Ubuntu for a few weeks by now, and I'd like the functionality of streaming Last.fm radios in both systems. On Windows, I have foobar2000. On Ubuntu, the only working client with a GUI here is Rhythmbox. All because it's using the old Last.fm API.

But I'm not talking about Rhythmbox today. Because Linux users just love the Terminal, don't they? If possible, they might want to run everything in Terminal. Because it's awesome. Also, it baffles those who use Windows, further increasing it's cool factor.

Gentlemen, I present you shell-fm!

Simply put, it's your Last.fm client that runs entirely on your Terminal.

Don't mind the tracks I'm listening

It has most (if not all) the functionalities of the official Last.fm client. And using it is pretty straight forward really. Everything is explained in it's handy help menu.

And it runs on the old Last.fm API, you poorfags.

So yeah, to obtain it, here are the instructions (requires git and some knowledge compiling from source code):
http://nex.scrapping.cc/shell-fm/

Alternatives (with GUI, ~~unfortunately~~)
Banshee - http://banshee.fm/
Rhythmbox - http://projects.gnome.org/rhythmbox/
Last.fm Scrobbler - http://www.last.fm/download?showplatform=Linux
Vagalume - http://vagalume.igalia.com/

Oh well, what else can I get for Terminal?

Messing Around With Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Part 1 - Unity

2011-05-09T15:03:00.001+08:00

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal has been out for about a week by now, and it introduced some major changes along the way. Seeing this I decided to give it a spin, right from day one.

When Ubuntu 10.04 LTS was released, the distro dons a new look which is refreshing and elegant, moving from dull brown to more vibrant colors. It is also surprisingly stable for a Linux distro. Now, with 11.04, another big change is applied; the Unity interface. It differs so much compared to the GTK 2.x interface that has been a staple of Ubuntu, the community is split into two distinct groups. Those who love it, and those who don't. I, for one, do love it.

Getting used to the interface really does take time. Initially I'm baffled with the unfamiliar interface, seeing things behave more OSX-like than before. Took me about two days to familiarize. For starters, the top panel in Unity also serves as a menu bar, normally found under the title bar in other OSes other than OSX. Then there was the side dock (called Launcher) which is also like OSX, showing running apps and also serve as the main menu for Ubuntu. It smartly moves out of the way when a window is maximized.

OH SNAP!

Unity also adds a new feature known to Windows users as Aero Snap. Drag a window to the top of the screen and it will maximize. Drag them to the either side of the screen and it fills half the screen. Handy for multitasking or transferring files. Before Unity, Aero Snap can be accomplished in Ubuntu via Compiz, but it's fairly clumsy to work with.

Unity Dislikes Third Party Themes

While Unity can be themed just like GTK 2.x, it appears that buttons are a bit of an issue.

These aren't the buttons we're looking for

This can be fixed, but we got some hacking to do.

Dude, Where's My Scro- Oh.

Not exactly limited to Unity (also applied to the classic GNOME desktop), most of the scrollbars are now reduced to what seems to be a single colored line. Until you put your cursor on it.

Peek-a-boo!

These are called overlay scrollbars, and you can click it to scroll up and down, or just drag it up and down. A nice way to keep things clean on the desktop.

Dashing.

That button on the left side of the top panel opens Dash, which is something Windows users might compare it to the Start menu.

Now with a searchbox!

The guys at Microsoft realized how convenient Googling is, so they applied it into Windows. Now, Canonical was doing the same thing; letting people to type in to search the program they're looking for.

Personally, I wish more customizations are available for Unity Dash, such as adjusting the icon size, changing the number of rows and columns, hide "Apps available to download" section, always let it open fullscreen, and perhaps some other stuff I missed.

I've heard about Unity Lens, which seems interesting but isn't applied by default. Using the exact same interface as above, you can search for *cough*Rebecca Black*cough* on Youtube, without opening Firefox or any other browser. You can see some of the few Lenses in development here.

Finally.

To end my relatively long post today, I'd say that Unity is good enough for daily use, provided you spend enough time to familiarize with it. It still needs some improvements, especially in terms of usability and customizations, so we'll see what Unity matures into.

Also, Unity is very similar to the recently released GNOME 3. Heck, I don't know who copied who, but at least we have options.

How To (Not) Hide Your NSFW Files

2011-04-25T00:16:00.001+08:00

People are so predictable.

Quite a few times I figured out where some people try to hide stuff not exactly for anyone else to see. Not exactly intentional though. But fear not, I haven't spread any of them nor do I have any bad intentions with them. So how did I find it?

Suspicious folders in the wrong place
The easiest indicator to see that a certain folder contains NSFW content is that the name of the folder has something to do with the computer system, such as 'system xp' or 'network', sitting somewhere outside C:\Windows or C:\Program Files. I often check these suspicious folders when I see them, mainly because it might also be some malware lurking around the hard disk. Besides, anyone computer-literate enough can tell the content isn't what the folder says.

Leaving NSFW folders/files unencrypted
These files might possibly been left as it is for convenience sake, but this also mean that anyone can stumble into it wide and open. They might have them out of the usual places people will most likely stumble, but mind that Windows have a search utility. This allows people to find your files within minutes. I'm not kidding.

History wasn't forgotten
In case you didn't know, doing anything on a computer will almost always leave some trace behind. Normally, people can just look up the history on a browser, or look into 'Recent Files' in Windows and applications. Then, "Hey, let's see what's in here- OHNOOO CANT UNSEE".

So what to do?
Don't keep them in the first place. Just delete it. It's not important and it takes up hard disk space. It will also risk you being humiliated. Especially if you're a girl.

Still insist on keeping it? Okay... Use CCleaner regularly to wipe out most of the histories, and encrypt your files using utilities like TrueCrypt or WinRAR. Also don't bother faking computer names, using numbers are much more effective.

But seriously, just delete it. Not worth all that trouble.

Retro Love: NES Screensaver

2011-04-06T07:28:00.002+08:00

I never had the chance to play a real NES before, during the age where 8-bit graphics were all the rage. I started off with the Sony Playstation instead.

Anyways, if you're feeling nostalgic (or simply having a knack for retro stuff) you can get some NES games as your screensaver. And it's not a simple screensaver showing some NES gameplay; you can actually play NES games in it. Provided you have the ROMs, which you can easily obtain (hint: Google).

You can get it from the UberNES website:

http://www.ubernes.com/nesscreensaver.html

Here's a shot of it in action:

Pretty neat huh?

If you don't want to play in a screensaver, you can download UberNES as a standalone emulator.

Why I Hate Laptops

2011-04-05T02:32:00.000+08:00

WARNING: THIS IS A RANT. I WILL NOT HOLD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY BUTTHURTS. ENJOY.

If you know me long enough, you should know that I don't like laptops. Studies show that I curse 476% more when I use laptops*. It's just a major pain to use.
*The study does not exist, but you can make one if you wish.

Here are the reasons why:

1. Freakin' expensive
Everyone knows that laptops are expensive, and even more expensive to get decent one. This also means that getting them repaired will cost the blood of a newborn.

2. Too damn slow
As a power user, I have a relatively low tolerance with inefficiency and slowness. It's really annoying when the laptop cannot catch up with my APM of 3000**. And decent laptops that can handle that are way too expensive.
**Possible with Razer Talon.

3. No spare parts I can buy.
Trust me, with electronics, something is gonna go bad, especially when it is complex and portable. With a laptop, the problem will be amplified further, since you can't do it yourself. Maybe you can do the hard disk and RAM, but other parts are simply not available in your local store. Even then you'll have to deal with warranties, which can get confusing (such as batteries have a different warranty period than the laptop itself).

4. Bad ergonomics.
Laptops have keyboards so small that it hurts the wrists under prolonged usage. Perhaps using a USB keyboard would be better (and protects the laptop keyboard from heavy abuse), but who wants to lug a seperate keyboard along? Not to mention that laptops might burn your lap (or penis).

5. The touchpad.
Sure, grabbing a wireless mouse for the laptop is a no brainer, but at times a mouse is just not available. Many times I can barely feel my fingertips due to the touchpad. It also interrupts typing a lot in case you forgot to disable them.

6. Drivers.
While this isn't limited to laptops, some manufacturers gives a confusing list of drivers to download, as there were variations with the specification of a particular model. Many times I find multiple graphics drivers and wireless drivers of different chipsets, only to find out that only one of them works. Such a waste of bandwidth and time. Why can't they give a different model name for different specifications instead?

7. OEM junk.
Manufacturers give lots of unneeded software which nobody used them, but included by default in their laptops. This wastes resources and time to uninstall all these unwanted stuff.

8. No room for extra storage.
Face it. It's now the era of HD content, and files reaching GBs are not rare these days. Now most laptops offer at most 500GB*** of storage space, and it will eventually become full of junk. Now here's another problem: there is no place for a secondary hard disk. You'll be forced to use an external hard disk or burn them to disks, just to satisfy your insatiable hunger for data. Unfortunately, external hard disks are very prone to problems (Trust me, they can fail at any time, regardless of what brand it is, so have a backup handy at all times), and optical disks (CDs, DVDs, BDs) isn't the most practical way either.
***There are 1TB 2.5" hard disks on sale today, but these are sold separately. I am yet to find a laptop with a 1TB hard disk preinstalled.

Conclusion
Now I might have added more reasons than just eight, but I think that would be enough to argue about. And it will make the whole post a bore (tl;dr). So yeah, don't take this too seriously. Use whatever works for you. That's the important part. Cheers.

Elementary OS released

2011-04-02T02:27:00.001+08:00

No, it's not an april fools joke.

Seriously, you can now download elementary OS 0.1 "Jupiter" via BitTorrent clients from their website: http://elementaryos.org/

Elementary OS is a new Linux OS based on Ubuntu, but focused on simplicity and elegance. You can even install the popular elementary theme in Ubuntu, like I did a few months back. Easy on the eyes, and looks very elegant.

Despite being based on Ubuntu, it doesn't really behave like Ubuntu. For example, you can't place shortcuts on the desktop. And not all of it's proposed features/softwares comes preinstalled. There isn't even a music player in this release! But that can be solved easily by installing any music player of your choice, of course.

It's interesting to play around with this OS, but to make it as a primary OS is going to be a long way ahead. Perhaps we should wait until elementary matures a little more, with all the cool features (Slingshot, Plank, Wingpanel...) available for use. And the release of a 64 bit version as well.

A New Layout

2011-04-01T02:34:00.000+08:00

You might have noticed that this (not-so-active) blog changed its layout, to a much cleaner and lighter one. Well I got bored with the old layout, and saw the new layout tool. It looks neat and modern, but as you see I made a few tweaks myself. Hope you guys like it.

What happened to the other Techrangers? Well I guess they already forgot that this blog exist, leaving me to maintain it alone. Never mind, they aren't really the blogging type either. I have this covered. So stay tuned for more content soon.

Browser Showdown: GPU Acceleration

2011-03-28T20:11:00.002+08:00

With Firefox 4 released just a week ago, and Internet Explorer 9 two weeks ago, I think it's time to get some benchmarks for the main browsers, in the form of GPU acceleration. GPU acceleration has been the main focus of Internet Explorer 9, and other browsers are also adding GPU support lately.

The Setup

For this test I'm using

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
Zotac GeForce GTX 460 AMP! Edition (ForceWare 267.24 Beta)
AMD Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition @ 3.00GHz

As for the browsers,

Internet Explorer 9 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Google Chrome 10 (Stable)
Google Chrome 12 (Canary Build)
Firefox 4 (Stable)
Opera 11.50 (Labs Build)

Safari currently have no GPU support, so it will not be tested here. All browsers are tested with IE9's Psychedelic Browsing test, as that test will give us a numerical figure to measure the results.

Internet Explorer 9

The score above shows IE9 32-bit scores. The test went really well, with the sounds playing and no artifacts appearing. The 64-bit version shows no improvements; the performance is completely identical.

Google Chrome 10

Chrome doesn't have GPU acceleration enabled by default, and from this shot I can see why. The thing is still experimental, and you can see an artifact under the number "9". To enable GPU acceleration, type "about:flags" (without quotes) in the omnibar, hit Enter, and enable GPU Accelerated Canvas 2D.

Google Chrome 12 (Canary Build)

Chrome 12 still doesn't have GPU acceleration enabled by default, so it requires the same treatment as Chrome 10 above. Likewise, the results are completely identical to Chrome 10; even the artifact is still there.

Firefox 4

Firefox 4 fared better than Chrome in this part, and GPU acceleration is enabled by default. However, there are no sounds during the test.

Opera 11.50 (Labs build)

Just slightly below Firefox 4, Opera 11.50 is the only version that supports GPU acceleration for now. The "Labs build" is some sort of experimental version, similar to Chrome's Dev Build.

Conclusion

So IE9 gets the highest score, followed by Firefox, Opera, and Chrome. Even at the slowest they still appear smooth and snappy, which matters the most.

There is no point of arguing which one is the fastest, as these results gives more than enough in terms of performance. GPU acceleration is a step forward to the modern Internet, but for now it's just optional. Most websites haven't implemented any use of GPU acceleration, and I doubt that this will be the next standard in developing websites. Might be good for streaming videos though.

Foobar2000 and Last.fm not working? Solution here.

2011-03-07T01:04:00.002+08:00

Foobar2000 is a great music player, and Last.fm is a great music service. And they can be used together with a foobar2000 plugin called foo_lastfm_radio. Unfortunately, it no longer works as you will get a 403 Forbidden error. At least for those outside US, UK, and Germany, where Last.fm is absolutely free.

The solution is pretty simple.

All you need to do is open foobar2000, go to File > Preferences > Advanced and look under Networking. Uncheck the checkbox "Allow seeking over HTTP" and hit Apply.

Now you should be able to use foo_lastfm_radio. It's that simple.

For those unfamiliar with all these stuff,

foobar2000 is a freeware music player with extensive support for plugins.
Last.fm is an online music tracking service that learns your music preference based on what you hear on your device and generates a radio based on that.
foo_lastfm_radio is a plugin for foobar2000 that allows you to stream Last.fm radios.
To let Last.fm to track your music, you'll need to install foo_audioscrobbler into foobar2000.

Source: Hydrogenaudio forums

CaptchaTrader for JDownloader

2011-03-04T23:52:00.000+08:00

My Anti reCAPTCHA post is by far the most popular post here, proven by Googling "anti recaptcha for jdownloader" itself. However its no longer working since the last reCAPTCHA update, and the author doesn't seem to be progressing either.

Anyway, I was directed to an alternative method called CaptchaTrader (thanks to James). It works by having other users volunteering to type in the Captcha for you while you're away. So its very accurate as its done by real humans instead of some computer program.

To use it:

Register an account in CaptchaTrader. Don't worry, it's completely free.
Head to the plugins page to download their JDownloader plugin.
Install and restart JDownloader.
Go to Settings > Modules > AntiCaptcha. Make sure that 'Disable automatic CAPTCHA' is not ticked.
You can now start downloading something that requires CAPTCHA. You'll get 100 credits for free to start with.
Each CAPTCHA will cost 10 or 5 credits. To earn more credits, you can either buy the credits or solve other people's CAPTCHA for 7 or 3 credits each.
You can also refer other people to join CaptchaTrader to earn more credits.
In fact, you can trade credits for cash. However it costs 10000 credits per each dollar.

While it might seem like pointless at first, as you still need to type CAPTCHAs (albeit not yours), you can download through JDownloader while away.

Be warned that if you ran out of credits, JDownloader will keep on retrying until your IP gets temporarily banned. To prevent this, go to Settings > Modules > AntiCaptcha and tick the checkbox 'Disable automatic CAPTCHA'. From here you'll have to enter CAPTCHAs manually until you have enough credits. Then untick the checkbox 'Disable automatic CAPTCHA' to continue using CaptchaTrader.

Windows 7 SP1 Released

2011-02-28T13:41:00.000+08:00

Pardon me for being a little late. I noticed and even installed SP1 the day it was released. But I didn't even write it here.

So yeah, Windows 7 SP1 is now out and rolling for real, giving a version number of 6.1.7601. You can download them through Windows Update, or Microsoft Download Center (validation required).

For those running SP1 Beta or Release Candidate, you have to uninstall them before installing SP1.

Speeding up apt-get downloads: apt-fast, apt-proz, & apt-metalink

2011-02-21T06:06:00.002+08:00

Ubuntu users often use apt-get to install software. However this means you have to download the files from the repository. It would be nice if you can actually use some kind of download accelerator for downloading the files while also being able to install it within a single command.

apt-fast

It first appeared as apt-fast. It utilizes Axel to accelerate the downloads and then proceeds like normal apt-get. In fact, using it simply requires you to substitute apt-get with apt-fast in the Terminal. Now as it comes with a PPA, installing apt-fast becomes pretty simple. Enter these commands in Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tldm217/tahutek.net
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-fast

Now you can use apt-fast as if it was apt-get.

apt-proz

The second option is to install apt-proz, which is a modification of apt-fast. Instead of using Axel, it uses ProZilla. The author, Damar Riyadi, claims that it is faster than apt-fast itself. You can skip the first line if you have added the repository before. Enter these in Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tldm271/tahutek.net
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-proz

Note that if you have apt-fast installed, you can substitute apt-get with apt-fast. Using apt-proz is exactly like how you use apt-fast; simply substitute apt-get with apt-proz.

apt-metalink

The third option is apt-metalink. However this doen't have a PPA, so the installation would be a bit different. It utilizes Aria2 for downloading, and requires editing sources.list files to add more mirrors. For more information, visit their page: https://github.com/tatsuhiro-t/apt-metalink

After a month being a technician...

2011-02-19T00:17:00.000+08:00

It's been about a month after I started working as a technician at a local computer store. I must say I've learned quite a lot of stuff through the experience, and it's just likely that I'm about to discover more. So far, here's my observation:

1. CoolerMaster GX 550W is a problematic PSU.
More than three were sent for warranties last month, under six months of use. I heard that the whole GX series isn't recommended actually. Good thing I bought a second-hand CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 750W instead of a GX 550W. Good buy too; it's bloody cheap.

2. Power supply testers are very rare.
The only place I saw it was in the store I worked, but then again it's sold out. It is priced at RM39. Simple and handy to have it.

3. Compressed air cans are not sold in computer stores.
Instead you can find it at a hardware store. Compressed air is commonly used to clean up electronics, especially computers, by blowing away dust in hard-to-reach areas.

4. Dell has no service center.
They got an on-site service instead. You're supposed to call Dell first so they can check your stuff at your home/office. More information here: http://supportapj.dell.com/support/topics/topic.aspx/ap/shared/support/dellcare/en/byphone?c=my&cs=mydhs1&l=en&s=dhs

5. External hard disks tops the warranties list.
Not exactly a surprise. Almost everyday goes with someone having issues with the external hard disk. Often it was bad sectors and mechanical failures. As for data recovery, utilities such as Testdisk (included with Parted Magic) are often used.

6. K-World media players were also problematic.
Sure, they have a three-year warranty, but it doesn't really reflect the build quality. It's cheap, but has poor documentation, and many have been sent for warranties. I'd recommend ASUS O! Play series instead.

7. I hate printers.
Yes, I just discovered my (mild) hatred for printers. They are such a pain to set up, especially dot-matrix printers and all-in-one printers. Then I have to repackage it, which is also a pain.

Making Playstation Controllers Work With Xbox 360 Game Ports

2011-02-03T13:54:00.003+08:00

Hello and happy Chinese New Year guys. It's been a while since my last post (as if I post stuff frequently here, duh) so here comes some not-so-new stuff.

Back a few days ago at work, a deaf customer came to me complaining that his new Logitech Gamepad F310 controller behaves strangely when he played Darksiders. The left analog stick caused the camera to be stuck in a really awkward position. The same thing happened to me with my Logitech Dual Action Gamepad, but I just continued playing with the mouse and keyboard, which I'm already comfortable with. I concluded that Darksiders require an Xbox 360 controller to work properly.

In fact, many Xbox 360 games has been ported to the PC, so it might be more relevant to buy an Xbox 360 controller instead of a Playstation controller these days.

That aside, if you still insist on using that Playstation controller, the solution is to emulate the Xbox 360 controller. Enter the x360ce, now with force feedback. It requires you to copy some DLL files to the game directory, so check the readme file first.

You can download it here: http://virusdev.ovh.org/files/

Don't worry about the name, it's just the author's nickname. Click on xinputemu to see the files called "x360ce vibmod 3.*.zip" which you'll be downloading. Extract and follow the readme instructions. Then you can test it out.

Another option is to use Xpadder, but the setup would be more complicated.

On a second note, the Logitech Gamepad F310 supports both DirectInput and the newer XInput (used by the Xbox 360 controller), controlled by a switch on the underside of the controller. I did notice that the XInput mode isn't working on my customer's PC, which is running Windows XP. Turns out you have to download a separate driver for that on XP, despite DirectInput mode works. Damn you Logitech for not providing that driver. Not everyone is on Vista or 7.

So if you're on XP, and using XInput compatible controllers, you should download the driver.

Internet Download Manager and Google Chrome: Getting it right

2010-12-28T01:18:00.003+08:00

I'm loving both IDM and Google Chrome, but they just don't seem to go well together. There are frequent crashes and the lack of a context menu in Chrome is putting people off a bit. IDM integrates far better with Firefox.

But you can get pretty close anyway.

Crash-B-Gone

UPDATE: IDM 6.xx is no longer in beta. You can grab the final version now.

First off, grab a copy IDM 6.xx beta. This resolves most (if not all) the crashes regarding IDM integration with Chrome. I've been using it and never had any crashes since.

If you choose to use the stable version instead, then disable advanced browser integration inside IDM options. However this will force you to manually insert the URL into IDM.

Right-click to download

Next install DM-Bridge extension into Chrome. This is pretty much like FlashGot for Firefox, or oGet for Opera. You need to configure it first before using it. Don't worry, it's pretty simple.

UPDATE: Alternatively, you can use Download Helper by Google. It's simpler than DM-Bridge, but only supports the most popular downloaders. For now you can't even use a custom downloader, unlike DM-Bridge.

And that's pretty much it.

Belkin F5D8053 v3xxx Driver CD

2010-12-20T14:55:00.001+08:00

I own the Belkin F5D8053 Wireless N USB adapter, and it does the job. However, I find out that the drivers provided online doesn't really work well.

Driver version 2.0.0.4 & 2.0.0.8
Driver version 2.0.0.12

So I uploaded a copy of the driver CD image, which works well with me. Keep in mind that there are several versions of the F5D8053, and this one is for v3xxxx.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xtfej1c6nvk1q7q

Well if all the drivers you find doesn't work (including from the ISO provided here), the F5D8053 is based on Ralink RT2870 chipset. This means you can find the driver for RT2870 instead.

ISO files can be burned into CD, mounted on a virtual drive, or extracted using softwares like WinRAR or 7-Zip.

Comparison: Gaming Mice Under RM150

2010-12-09T15:26:00.001+08:00

UPDATE: I ended up buying the first Microsoft Sidewinder Mouse for RM140. Plenty of cool features for such a price, such as changeable feet (plastic/half-teflon/teflon) and weight tuning.

After the death of my old CRT monitor a few months ago, another problem came in: my 3 years old A4Tech X6-60D Glaser mouse refused to work properly anymore. The cables were frayed (I suspect aging and hyperactive kittens biting them) and the left-click button doesn't work. While the double-click button still works, living without a proper left-click button is definitely not cool.

So I'm doing a little research on the options for a gaming mice under RM150, since I'm pretty much a gamer myself, and I have limited funds. So here goes the list:

Logitech MX518 (RM83, Jayacom)
Microsoft Sidewinder X3 (RM89, CZone)
SteelSeries Kinzu (RM79, PC Zone)
Razer Salmosa (RM69, Cycom)
Razer Abyssus (RM119, Cycom)

All of them got positive reviews everywhere, but the thing is a good mouse is rather subjective. I tend to prefer weighty, medium-to-large sized mouse that suits my dual palm/finger grip style. I've got the excellent Razer Goliathus Speed Standard Edition, so the surface is no longer a concern.

Logitech MX518

Dimensions (L x W x H): 130 x 70 x 36 mm

This is by far the most recommended mouse, and I can see why. It's priced at RM80-90, while it offers 8-buttons, 1800 DPI sensitivity, on-the-fly DPI switching and some really wide feet. Build quality is said to be very good too. The only thing that puts me off is the ugly holographic dents. Some said its going to be a selling point (as if they were bullet dents, so its cool) but to me it's just plain ugly. It should look better with glossy plastic or soft rubber instead. The huge logo was also kinda cheesy. A smaller logo should give an exclusive look.

Microsoft Sidewinder X3

Dimensions (L x W x H): 120 x 70 x 40 mm

I tried this mouse before, and I kinda liked it. While the price is similar to Logitech's MX518, it gives you 5-buttons, 2000 DPI sensitivity, on-the-fly DPI switching and wide Teflon feet. The three buttons behind the scroll wheel is the DPI switch, each can be assigned to a preferable DPI setting. The design might be too plain for some, but to me this is superb. No cheesiness here. The 5-buttons should be enough for me, but for those who want 7 or more, then get the MX518. The Sidewinder X3 lacks the BlueTrack technology of their brothers though.

SteelSeries Kinzu

Dimensions (L x W x H): 117 x 64 x 36 mm

SteelSeries is a new player in the gaming market, compared to Razer and Logitech. Being the least known brand here, there aren't many reviews about it. The Kinzu is a very basic mouse; it only has 3 buttons. But it offers 3200 CPI (for Counts Per Inch, basically its just DPI), slip-resistant coating, braided cables, and a comfortable grip (they say).

Razer Salmosa

Dimensions (L x W x H): 115 x 63 x 37 mm

Like the Kinzu, the Salmosa is a basic mouse with only 3 buttons. It offers 1800 DPI sensitivity, the excellent 3G sensor, and DPI switches underneath the mouse. It is designed for the finger grip so its kinda light and small. Design-wise, it looks really plain although the coating does a little justice to it. I heard there was two versions, the regular and the mini. I guess what I saw in Low Yat is the mini, because it looks kinda small. Like 70mm long I guess.

Razer Abyssus

Dimensions (L x W x H): 115 x 63 x 40 mm

The looks is certainly a winner among all the mice here, especially the Mirror Edition. Otherwise, it's just a beefed up Salmosa. It offers 3500 DPI on the 3.5G sensor, and like the Salmosa, DPI switches are underneath the mouse. The size is just about the same as the Salmosa. The pricing is a bit steep for what is offers though.

That said, please don't take this as a review. These are merely my early impressions, and is subject to change. As I said earlier, a good mouse is rather subjective. I'm going to test all these mice for comfort, but it's likely I'm going to pick up either the Logitech MX518 or the Microsoft Sidewinder X3.

Anti reCAPTCHA for JDownloader

2010-11-15T19:05:00.004+08:00

UPDATE: I've noticed that this article gets quite a lot of hits, but for now it seems that this Anti reCAPTCHA isn't working for the current version, 0.2f, ever since reCAPTCHA updated. Still, just check if the author has an update that works, or a workaround, and let me know in the comments. Lord Inglip sure is powerful enough against this system.

UPDATE 2: There is an alternative method called CaptchaTrader (thanks for the comment James). Head to my new post for more information.

UPDATE 3: Apparently the original author didn't seem to be updating this anymore. However this project has been taken over by SONY-TEAM, and does seem to work. Here is the real link: http://antirecaptcha.com/. Other links such as "http://www.anti-recaptcha.com/" is most likely fake and tries to rip off unsuspecting users.

If you're a download maniac, you should have at least heard about JDownloader. If not, then you're not downloading enough. It automates your downloads from various file sharing services, so you don't have to babysit your downloads, such as waiting times, typing in CAPTCHAs, etc. As the name hints, you'll need Java (JRE or JDK) to run it.

Download JDownloader

The annoying thing about downloading a lot of stuff from these file sharing services is that they imply A LOT OF LIMITATIONS unless you buy a premium account. That includes typing in reCAPTCHAs, an anti-bot system. While JDownloader automates most of the stuff, it can't really decipher these reCAPTCHAs. You still have to do this manually.

But hey, some German programmer built an anti reCAPTCHA system, just for JDownloader. And while it doesn't work all the time, it will retry until it gets it right. So you can really leave JDownloader to do it's dirt.

Download anti reCAPTCHA

This thing runs on PHP, so you'll need Visual C++ Redistributable 2008 (vcredist2008) installed.

But still, I got CLI (which is php.exe) error. After realizing that php.exe caused the error, I tried replacing it (as well as other related PHP files) with a newer version from 5.3.1 to 5.3.3 (VC9 Thread Safe). And it works! Now I can walk away with my downloads running happily.

Note that I didn't really install PHP, I simply copied the file with same names in the antirecaptcha folder from the downloaded zip file.

Download PHP 5.3.3

Well I've already informed to the author about this, and he said he'll update it by the end of the week. So you don't have to go through all the trouble I had just now.

Should work best with FileServe, but I heard there were problems with other file sharing sites that use reCAPTCHA. I only tried it with FileServe though.

foobar2000 + Plugins = Awesomeness

2010-10-26T18:23:00.001+08:00

foobar2000 is a lightweight audio player known for its extensive SDK. That means it has loads of plugins that pretty much makes it a popular choice among ~~pedophiles~~ audiophiles. The default interface might not be as pretty as MediaMonkey, Winamp, or even Windows Media Player, but it is no short of features.

Trust me, this is the best audio player for Windows. And it's free.

First off, you can grab a copy here: http://www.foobar2000.org/download

So it plays music. Nothing much special eh? Time to grab the plugins.

Noise Sharpening - Improves the clarity of the sound. The main reason why foobar2000 rocks. Hard.
ALAC Decoder - Support for M4A files, which is usually downloaded from iTunes.
ASIO Output - Allows foobar2000 to directly use the sound card, allowing bit-exact output. The sound card must support ASIO though.
WASAPI Output - Allows bit-exact output and mutes other sounds. Only works on Vista SP1 and above.
Audioscrobbler - Tells Last.fm the song you're playing in foobar2000. This will allow Last.fm to generate a web radio designed specifically for you.
Last.fm Radio - Allows you to play your generated Last.fm radio in foobar2000.
Soft Playlists - Also allows you to play Last.fm playlists.
Win 7 Shell Integration - Adds Windows 7 taskbar features, such as progress indicators, player controls, jumplists, etc.
CUE Playlist Filter - Prevents duplicate songs from showing up, caused by playlists. Also removes lost references.

These are my recommended plugins. If you want more, you can check out these websites:

http://www.foobar2000.org/components

http://foosion.foobar2000.org/components/

Oh, and if you're a bit clueless on how to install:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Foobar2000:How_to_install_a_component

These plugins generally must be configured before use, so check the preference page first. For example, Noise Sharpening must be activated in the DSP preference.

If you can't live with that interface, well there is an alternate interface called Columns UI. Much more customizable, although it can be quite tricky. Some of them might even require older versions of foobar2000, since some components are outdated. You can take a stroll here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=63984

http://browse.deviantart.com/customization/skins/?q=foobar2000

So that's about it. Have fun customizing.

Unboxing the Samsung SyncMaster BX2231 LED Monitor

2010-10-21T13:34:00.003+08:00

My ol' CRT monitor blew up some time ago (like a month already?) prompting me to to get a replacement. Well, it's kinda sad since I loved that monitor despite being huge, have a standard aspect ratio (4:3), and needs some kind of workaround every time I shut it down. On the bright side, color reproduction is excellent, doesn't struggle in bright light, minimal reflections, no dead pixels, no ghosting, looks great even on low resolutions, and a far better viewing angle. But all of that would be useless if you can't really turn it on anymore.

So after a week or so of surveying, I put my prime target on Samsung SyncMaster EX2220X LED Monitor. However, as I arrived at Plaza Low Yat, I can't find it anymore (except for one last shop). Taking a look at the current pricelists, I found a model with almost similar yet better specifications, but pricier: the Samsung SyncMaster BX2231 LED Monitor.

I've set a few criteria for the new monitor:

It must have good color reproduction (since I do graphics and photo editing)
Should be at least as high as my old 17" monitor
Have a resolution of at least 1920 x 1080 (higher than 1024 pixels high)
Have DVI or HDMI inputs (D-Sub is muddy for LCDs)
No speakers (that would add up costs and I already have a good pair)
A response time of at least 5ms (to prevent ghosting)
LED display (so that the contrast would be higher)

Having said that, the BX2231 meets and even exceeds these criteria. It's a 21.5" LED monitor, have a resolution of 1920 x 1080, have two HDMI inputs, no speakers, and a response time of 2ms. I've seen the demo model in the store and color reproduction seems good, just like most Samsung monitors I found.

Now the unboxing.

The box

Contents inside the box. You can see cables and the monitor itself in their wrappings.

D-Sub cable

DVI to HDMI cable

Manual, warranty, microfiber cloth, driver CD, power cable

DC adapter

The monitor outside the white wrappings

Monitor inputs. Note the two HDMI slots and an audio out jack.

Monitor stand

Monitor base with installation manual

Monitor base with stand

The assembled monitor

Uh, something missing? Yep, a HDMI cable. If you're planning on using that, ask your dealer whether it includes it or not before you go home. The manual indicates the optional parts are: a HDMI cable, a DVI cable, a HDMI to DVI cable, and a microfiber cleaning cloth.

So how does it work? Colors seem well done, contrast was superb, viewing angles are good enough and there is no ghosting whatsoever. The monitor can also adjust the aspect ratio automatically, so you won't get stretched displays.

But I do have some gripes about it. The stand is not adjustable. But even worse is the touch sensitive panels. I'm not a fan of it for being too sensitive or not sensitive enough, and this monitor is no exception. Even the power button is touch sensitive. It doesn't work well enough for me, even though the menu is easy to use. Thankfully the bundled software allows you to adjust the monitor settings from within Windows, using your mouse and keyboard. Dynamic Contrast is pretty good, but you'll notice that whenever the monitor displays a lot of blacks, the brightness will go down automatically. I just use custom settings instead.

Overall, its a good monitor (until I find any more issues about it) and I'd be happy to recommend it. Just watch out for that touch sensitive panels.

Firefox 4 - Slim(mer) UI

2010-07-25T06:37:00.007+08:00

UPDATE: Firefox 4 Beta 9 now has the "slim" title bar by default, making this post redundant. It also works seamlessly as well.

I liked Firefox 4 Beta 1... The simplified interface is kinda clean. But many noticed that there were just too many redundant pixels lying around, taking up your browser space. Thankfully, there was a hack that trims down all that unused space, thanks to the guys at DownloadSquad, who took the hack from another guy, who also took it from another guy. We'll go step by step, with my own modified code.

Locate your Profile directory -- click Help > Troubleshooting Information then Open Containing Folder
Now navigate to the Chrome directory
Copy userChrome-example.css into the same folder
Rename your copy to userChrome.css
Open userChrome.css with Notepad (or your text editor of choice) and dump the following code in it:

#appmenu-button-container {
position: fixed !important;
}
#appmenu-button {
padding: 3px 5px 3px 5px !important;
margin-left:5px !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] #TabsToolbar {
padding-left: 83px !important;
padding-right:112px !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="true"] menubar{
padding-left: 85px !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="false"] #TabsToolbar {
padding-left: 5px !important;
padding-right:5px !important;
}
#navigator-toolbox[tabsontop="false"] {
padding-top: 24px !important;
}

Save it and restart Firefox. It should look like the screenshot posted above. Note that the hack isn't complete; it might break under certain conditions, but for the most of it, I think there won't be many problems.

Should you want to revert back to the original interface, simply delete userChrome.css.

Free Games for Cheap Bastards

2010-07-18T13:55:00.011+08:00

I know, a lot of you guys were waiting for newer games to be released, and might just end up buying pirated copies. But there are a few games which are totally free, and doesn't play too bad either. Either way, they can serve as time killers before you get the next game to play. So here goes the listing:

Alien Swarm

This is a new game developed by Valve using the Source engine. It features a top-down view to navigate around the levels, blasting away hostile aliens with 4 player co-op. Valve may haven't mentioned this but it might have something to do with Team 17's Alien Breed series, which is very, very similar.

Oh, being a Valve game, it requires Steam to be installed. And no, it has no relation to Ben 10.

Half Life 2: Deathmatch

This is the missing multiplayer component of Half Life 2. It plays almost exactly like the original Half Life multiplayer game, but with Half Life 2 weapons and maps. The game is multiplayer only, but you can install bots if you like. Oh, you can play as Combine as well.

This is a limited time offer, although I think I've seen this on since last year. ATI users click here and NVIDIA users click here to get it. Again, you'll need Steam to download it.

Frets on Fire X

Basically its an open source Guitar Hero/Rock Band clone, which is also a modification of the original Frets on Fire. Available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Don't be alarmed with the very bare theme when you start it up; the game is highly customizable with themes support, some mimicking Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

And the game doesn't actually come with songs. You will need to download the songs in order to play it. While it might sound like bummer, this way you don't actually have to download the songs that you don't want to play, saving bandwidth. A large collection can be found in the wiki for various songs and Geetar Freaks for songs from Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

The coolest part of this game is probably that it is played by holding the keyboard like a guitar, or maybe just the awesome Jurgen from the tutorial ;)

-------------------------------

So that caps off my post today, I might be posting more shortly. Stay tuned.

Firefox 4 Beta 1 - Interfaces...

2010-07-17T08:25:00.013+08:00

Seems like Mozilla is feeling the heat from its competitors, especially the rapidly growing Google Chrome. As a result, we get to have an early (albeit long-awaited) preview of Firefox 4. Almost two weeks out, I still stick to Google Chrome.

Mostly, it's because the new UI seems to mess up with my copy of Windows 7 x64, terribly. There is no Aero interface, the buttons become very weird when I hide the bookmarks toolbar, and the close, minimize, and maximize buttons were all missing. Well, understandably its a beta release, so Mozilla should be squashing out these bugs for the next release.

Just look how ugly it is.

If you tried it, you might notice there is a Feedback add-on installed with Firefox 4 beta. I think its a good addition, it will be easier for users to provide feedback. However, for now, slightly more than half of feedbacks are Sad (Feedbacks are divided into Happy or Sad). Hopefully Mozilla will take notice of this and build a better browser in the future :D

Oh, and you can view the current feedbacks here: https://input.mozilla.com/

Earlier I mentioned my UI messed up badly. So just being curious, I downloaded the nightly build of Firefox, codenamed Minefield. Minefield is currently version 4 Pre Beta 2. It appears to run fine on my PC, showing the correct UI. And surprisingly, it even fixed my Firefox 4 Beta 1! So yeah, maybe I'll go back and try Firefox 4 again, properly.

Now that looks right.

UPDATE: I finally know the cause of the UI mess; Strata40 theme. While both Firefox 3.6.6 and Firefox 4 Beta 1 (and Minefield 4 Pre Beta 2) are independent installations, they share the same settings. Strata40 is designed for Firefox 3.5+ to mimic the look of Firefox 4 (based on early mockups) and should be used with StrataBuddy. The similarities between Strata40 and the default theme for Firefox 4 caused the confusion. Currently Strata40 is not compatible with Firefox 4. The only way to fix it is to use the default theme, both in Firefox 3.5+ and Firefox 4.

Gforum, Reborn

2010-06-21T21:41:00.005+08:00

In case you didn't notice, Gforum has been nuked by Gempakstarz's site admins. In other words, no more Gforum. The reason behind this is probably because Facebook has took over most of the regular contributors in Gforum, leaving it deserted most of the time.

And so the remains of the forum, seeking refuge in the form of a Facebook group and also an IRC channel.

Fret no more, as a user called Volvagia356 decides to host a proper forum for us, marking the birth of Gforum Mark 2. Many thanks to him. Currently the forum isn't really organized yet, and we are in the process of rebuilding the community as well as setting up the rules.

Note: Volvagia356 never did join the original Gforum; we get to know him mainly through the IRC channel.

And as of the birth of Gforum Mark 2 (I'll refer this as /mkii/ from here), we are no longer associated with Gempakstarz. And currently Techrangers do not exist in /mkii/. We'll see about that in the future.

The Firefox 4.0 Experience: Strata40 For Firefox 3.6+

2010-05-21T10:24:00.006+08:00

UPDATE: Firefox 4 Beta is out. Check it out here.

I am a Chrome user, since Chrome 3. It's minimalistic design and simplicity sets the new standard of how a browser should be. And lately other browsers seem to follow the trend, minimizing the toolbars and maximizing space for the web page itself, as they realized that people just want to surf the Internet, not marveling at what the browser can do with buttons and widgets filling up the top.

So we've seen mockup themes for Firefox 4.0, looking cleaner and less intrusive with the Aero interface for a sense of elegance. Firefox 4.0 seems to be quite a long way ahead (scheduled for November 2010), but we can get approximately the same look now with Strata40, for Firefox 3.6+.

Strata40 screenshot on Windows 7

The theme must be at least coupled with StrataBuddy, which gives you some extra features planned for Firefox 4.0, such as the App Button and the Aero interface (XP users can use the Default/Luna/Royale/Silver interface). Either way, the theme looks very much at home with Firefox, that people can mistake it as the new official theme.

For a fuller experience, install Fission, Tab Progress Bar, and App Tabs as well. Fission gives you the streamlined progress bar under the URL bar, and Tab Progress Bar gives you the progress bar on top of the tabs, both with the help of StrataBuddy. Should it not look like the one in the screenshot above, go to Theme Options (its inside the orange App Button), look under Misc, and check the Progress lines. You may need to disable and re-enable Tab Progress bar in order to get the right look. App Tabs allows you to pin favicon sized tabs, which saves tab space and quite handy for frequently opened websites. It is also a proposed function in Firefox 4.0.

I put on a few more configurations to make it look better (and less intrusive). I've removed the Menu Bar (the App Button replaces it), Bookmarks Toolbar (I don't use it), and the Home button (replaced by the Home tab). Other than that, most configurations are available inside the Theme Options. Go and experiment.

So far I've been using this theme, it doesn't slow down Firefox. Even if they do, its not really noticeable. My verdict? Recommended.

Also: Strata40 Lite to retain compatibility with some other extensions, as Strata40 is known to break compatibility with some extensions. Should be coupled with AeroBuddy for the Aero interface.

Goodbye Jaunty, Hello Lucid

2010-05-01T21:20:00.004+08:00

A couple of days ago, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, codenamed Lucid Lynx, finally hits final release. Seeing it as an LTS (Long Term Support) release, I decided to give it a try. Besides, Lucid looks kinda slick compared to the previous versions, thanks to the new default theme, Ambiance. So I waved my old Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) goodbye, and welcomed Lucid. Installation was pretty smooth and quick, things were up and running in less than 30 minutes.

Among the first things I've noticed is the new theme, which has a dark color scheme. It's a welcome change over the old Human theme, which is mundane brown. Another change is the buttons for maximize, minimize, and close are now placed on the left side, similar to Mac OS X. It might be the most controversial change ever in Lucid, but I have no problems with it. I'm pretty much used to both Mac and Windows, so either way it doesn't feel too awkward. Give it some time and pretty much anyone can get used to it.

The old Human theme (Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope)

The new Ambiance theme (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx)

Add that with Compiz Fusion and it cool enough to put Windows to shame.

Another change is Empathy now replaces Pidgin as it's IM client. I thought I'm going to complain on this at first, but after trying it out, I think it kinda rocks. Its very similar to Pidgin, setting up the accounts were easy, and the buddy list is just as identical to Pidgin. The interface too was simplified yet feels more polished. It even supports Facebook Chat, one up over Pidgin (although Pidgin can connect to Facebook Chat through a plugin or the XMPP protocol).

A not so new addition is the Ubuntu Software Center, introduced in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala. It basically helps users, especially those who were new to Linux OS, to manage and install software for Ubuntu. The Synaptic Package Manager is still there, but is sure to cause headaches to beginners.

Even with all the oh-so-cool improvements, I still find some downsides. First is a bug in Gwibber which doesn't allow me to add my Facebook account. How sad. Otherwise I can just look at my notifications through the desktop. It appears that I'm the only one who is having this problem though. Second is that Lucid still can't play proprietary audio formats out of the box, requiring us to download the necessary plugins. But come to think about that again, even Windows doesn't have all the codecs for common formats out of the box. So in goes VLC media player. Saves a lot of trouble.

And finally, the last complaint is about Linux distros being too reliant to an Internet connection. Without a good Internet connection, it's painful to work on Ubuntu, such as installing softwares. In fact I can hardly imagine having Ubuntu working without the Internet. So yeah, please do make it offline-friendly as well, as the Internet doesn't actually reach every computer in the world.

But alas, Lucid Lynx is a great OS. I've installed a few extra stuffs of my own, such as Flash Player, Adobe Reader, and Google Chrome, and it's working pretty well so far. A few downsides still won't hinder me, and who knows if Ubuntu will really get its place among beginners finally. The Terminal isn't something a beginner would be brave enough to fiddle around, so they would need something more graphical to aid them. I'll be looking forward to see what else will Ubuntu offer in the future :D

Celebrating Birthday with BSODs and Risking a Deep Fired GPU

2010-03-12T03:32:00.003+08:00

March 8th, 2010 marks my 20th birthday. No cakes or whatsoever, since I don't actually find celebrating my own birthday to be something significant. The day just passed on normally, although I do get the occasional wishes as I meet people. And my Facebook page got stormed that day with all those wishes, rapidly filling up my wall. I'd appreciate all those wishes even if I don't give a damn.

Instead here, right on that day the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) makes an appearance on my PC for the first time since I've upgraded to Windows 7. Given the clue, 0x0000007f, I found out that the culprit was the new ZoneAlarm firewall I just installed on 7th. The previous COMODO Firewall appears to be too paranoid even at relatively low security settings that it often interrupts whatever I'm doing. Windows Firewall seems to be the main target for hackers, so I need an alternative. But as I found out that ZoneAlarm has issues with Windows 7 x64, I'll have to revert to Windows Firewall.

At first I thought it was the NVIDIA driver 196.75, which is reported to cause malfunctioning within the cooling fans, ultimately leading to some deep fried GPUs. I installed it right on the day it was released, and the next day my classmate came to deliver the news about the driver. Way more horrifying than all those horror movies I've seen (they failed to give me a real scare), I immediately downgraded to 196.21. I was pretty lucky as my roommate played Dark Sector on my PC with 196.75, and nothing bad happens. Still, can't risk frying my own 9600GT. Guess I've learnt here not to try new stuff on day one. Try it on day ten instead.

Two days later comes those BSODs which horrifies me, given the scary news. But a sigh of relief since I don't have to crack any more money for a new graphic card, and all is well now. Revo wasn't so lucky though, his 8800GT fried, but for a different reason. Probably going for GF100 this time.

Why can't I copy files larger than 4GB into my thumbdrive?

2010-01-30T07:15:00.005+08:00

In today's era of broadband, high quality multimedia content and huge storage capacities, single files reaching gigabytes wasn't uncommon. So it comes to the occasional need to transfer these large files via thumbdrives, flashdrives, pendrives– whateveryacallit.

And Windows simply gives you an error similar to this: "Not enough space in drive G:\". Oddly enough, you obviously have more than enough space, sometimes even double the available space. What the–

For the impatient, here's how you fix it:

Backup all the files inside the thumbdrive.
Right-click at the drive, and select Format...
Select file system as NTFS
Click start.

After formatting, you should be able to copy the large file into the thumbdrive. And remember to copy back the backup files, if you need it.

Now here comes the explanation. The default file system for thumbdrives are FAT32, which has a 4GB file size limit. NTFS, on the other hand, has a 16TB file size limit. For more detailed information, please visit your nearest wiki.

Another option is to select exFAT, however it will be unusable to Windows Vista before SP1, Windows XP before SP2 and update KB955704, Windows prior to XP, as well as devices other than PCs.

Ubuntu on VirtualBox: Some tips/tricks on moving files from the host machine to the guest machine

2010-01-09T01:20:00.008+08:00

Since more and more people are looking at the Linux way, I decided to put up some tutorial that I've learned from my experience of using the Linux OS (Ubuntu to be precise). By the way the following toturial are only for those who are using Ubuntu as a virtual machine, or specifically those who install it in VirtualBox. If you are using other emulation software like the free Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 or VMWare, please take note that the tutorial may or may not work but I can say theoretically they should work fine with those software.

For your info, VirtualBox comes with the VirtualBox Guest Additions (similar to Microsoft Virtual PC Additions) that will allow the seamless system integration between both host and the guest (virtual) machine. This includes functions like taking a snapshot using the PrintScreen key, automatic pointer (cursor) capturing, cut-copy-paste operations, drag&drop file operation as well as folder sharing. Again, theoretically everything should work as intended but the luck is not always on our side. Sometimes most (not all) of them work, some other time none of them are working at all. Thus this tutorial is prepared to overcome those limitations (or if the Guest Additions failed to install) and who knows you would need it when the time comes, right? By the way, this tutorial is about the tricks to transfer files/documents from the host machine to the guest machine only, and not the other way round.

For the following tutorial you will need:

1. Personal web server (I recommend using Apache. In my case, I am using Apache in the XAMPP package).

2. CD/DVD ISO image creator (free ISO creator software can be Googled for. I use Free ISO Creator for this tutorial. Some optical disc burning software may have the ability to create ISO files too).
3. Windows OS as the host machine, where you install VirtualBox in (in this tutorial I am using Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3).

4. and of course the VirtualBox with Ubuntu installed inside (what's this tutorial for if there's no virtual machine to play with, right?)

Trick 1 - Transferring files using the web interface

(Some familiarity with web server management as well as the Windows Command Prompt will give an advantage for this trick.)

1. Install Apache web server. Use only default settings (to use the htdocs as the default web document directory will make the step less trickier)

2. Let the htdocs folder empty (by deleting everything inside especially the file 'index.html' or 'index.php') or alternatively create a new folder inside this directory and name it as 'shared'.

3. Copy all the files you want to transfer into the empty htdocs folder or the newly created shared folder.

4. Go to Start>Run, type 'cmd' in the text box and press 'OK' or Enter to bring up the command prompt.

5. Key-in 'ipconfig' and hit Enter. Write down the IP Address that is shown in the command prompt. Sometimes there will be more than one IP Addresses and any of them should work. However to be on the safe side it is better for you to write them all.

6. Start Apache web server, VirtualBox and your Ubuntu virtual machine.

7. In your Ubuntu virtual machine, run Firefox (the default web browser in Ubuntu). Type the IP address you got earlier in the addressbar and hit Enter. If everything is fine you will be brought to the index page containing the files you copied earlier. Then you can just download those files into your Ubuntu virtual machine just like you download files from a web interface.

Trick 2 - Transferring files using ISO disc image

(This trick would be easier for those who are not familiar with web server management.)

1. Install Free ISO Creator and run it afterwards.

2. Add the files that you want to 'burn' into the ISO image, set the directory where you want to save the ISO image and once you're done then click 'Convert'.

3. Run VirtualBox and start your Ubuntu virtual machine.

4. Mount the ISO image from within the virtual machine (to start go to "Devices>CD/DVD Devices>More CD/DVD Images" and browse for that particular ISO file).

5. Once mounted, copy the files inside the 'disc' into your virtual machine local hard disk and that should do the trick.

Happy 'Linux-ing'.

Upgrading to Gigabyte GA-M720-US3

2009-12-22T10:41:00.006+08:00

Almost two months ago, my PC broke down. After doing some diagnostics, I've determined that the motherboard, abit NF-M2S, a rather cheap board was the culprit. The PC just goes off at certain points, regardless of software. I can't even get Windows 7 installer working.

I decided to buy a new motherboard as soon as I get my money, almost two weeks ago. After a little research, the GA-M720-US3 is chosen for it's price and features. At RM280, its pretty rich in features. A beefy NVIDIA nForce720d chipset, 6 SATA ports, 4 DDR2-1200 slots, supports AM3, AM2+ & AM2 CPUs, a PCI-e 2.0 slot, SPDIF outputs (digital & optical), a couple of IEEE 1394 (Firewire) ports, 8 USB 2.0 ports, and a 7.1 onboard sound system. Oh, and it features Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 3 Classic, which means it has 2oz copper PCB, solid capacitors, and DualBIOS.

The best part though, is that it has the ability to unlock the hidden/disabled cores on Phenom II's X2 & X3 series. It's not mentioned in Gigabyte's website nor in the manual, but reviews do mention about this hidden ability. Should I upgrade my current CPU (Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition) to a Phenom II X2 (dual core) or X3 (triple core), I should be able to unlock those cores to make it into an X4 (quad core), at a cheaper price. There's a little gamble though, where not all Phenom II X2s and X3s have their disabled cores in good condition.

So what's in the box? Pretty much the standard package. The motherboard inside a static-proof bag, a manual, a driver DVD, a backplate, a couple of SATA cables, an IDE cable, a floppy cable, a Gigabyte sticker, and a sponge padding. I wished they gave screws and studs as well, but it's not included. Alas, I have to use the ones from the old motherboard. But the new one is an ATX motherboard, unlike the old one which is micro-ATX, so I need additional screws.

After setting it up, it gets rolling in no time :D

Through the BIOS I find that it has plenty of overclocking options, just what I expect from a motherboard with an nForce 720d chipset. Which is good, as I can now utilize the unlocked multipliers of Black Edition CPUs. Unlocking the hidden cores is done via the BIOS, using NVIDIA Clock Calibration, but then again the option is hidden, until you press Ctrl+F1, not mentioned in the manual.

Now using Windows 7 x64, I've noticed some performance improvements, noted in Windows Experience Index. Initially, when I was using the old abit NF-M2S & Windows Vista x64, my CPU score is 5.1. Now, it gives me 5.6. Oh yeah, this is a really damn good motherboard! Thank you NVIDIA & Gigabyte!

I'd say after using it for two weeks, I'm really happy with this motherboard. It's of good quality, and it performs very well. Pretty much a good gem if you'd say it :D

What If....?

2009-12-05T18:23:00.010+08:00

Sometimes I envision of something in the tech world, and wondered if it really exists. The following will show a few of what I had envisioned.

Windows Audio DSP

Many audio players these days features support for third-party plugins and DSPs, most notably foobar2000, WinAmp, and even Windows Media Player itself. It would be nice if Windows itself would feature these audio-enhancing DSPs, regardless of audio drivers, as it would improve every sound output regardless of software. Of course, the DSPs should be configurable on which application to ignore, or include. A good starting point is to include the basic Balance/Treble/Bass controls, an equalizer, and perhaps my favorite noise sharpening DSP.

Emulated Multi-machine Motherboards

Okay, I admit its a little hard to get what I mean with this. I came up with the idea of a fusion between a multi-boot and virtualization. Multi-boot allows a PC to have more than one operating system (OS), but the OSes cannot run simultaneously. That is, you need to shut down the PC in order to use the the other OS. Virtualization, on the other hand, allows a guest OS to run simultaneously inside the host OS, using a virtual machine. Too often virtual machines can't run as fast as the real machine, and driver support is very limited. Heck, you shouldn't even play 3D games in a virtual machine.

Enter my idea: Make the real machine to work like a virtual machine. Let's say there are two OSes in this machine. I boot the first OS just like a normal boot in the real 'first' machine. Then, with some hotkeys, I jumped into the (still real) 'second' machine, and boot the second OS. After this I would be able to jump any of these machines freely, without shutting down the PC. The motherboard will automatically put the other OS into a save state when I'm using an OS.

Confused? Okay, I'll simplify.

Open PC > Select '1st Machine' or '2nd Machine' > Load OS (depending on what 'machine' you select) > Press hotkey to turn on '2nd Machine' (or '1st Machine', if you select '2nd Machine' earlier) > Load the other OS > Press hotkey to jump to other 'machines'

The advantage to this method is that you'll free up almost all the resources for only one OS at a time, while being able to switch to the other OS almost instantly. But, looking at todays' technology, this seems to be very far away, and possibly won't happen either.

The End Of Ridiculously High Megapixel Compacts

Camera manufacturers, please be honest. Milking your customers from the Megapixel Myth isn't doing much justice to them. Firstly, most compacts are aimed towards the casual point-and-shoot users, who doesn't know much about picture quality. Secondly, it will be very rare for them to print very large pictures (for instance, the poster sized A3 paper), where a lower resolution would suffice for standard prints (3-4MPs are actually good enough). Third, putting in too much pixels in a small sensor (DSLRs typically have larger sensors) will only make each pixel so tiny that it will generate less-than-accurate colors, introducing more noise (or grain, in film terms) to the picture. Fourth, higher resolution will only take up more space, while not giving them significant improvements.

Being a photographer myself, I'd appreciate if the manufacturers would be honest about megapixels. In the long term, people would get better pictures, lowering costs (both camera and storage), and happier moments.

That's all for now, maybe I'll post something else later.

Warriors of the 3 Kingdoms (W3K) Freebies!

2009-12-01T17:47:00.005+08:00

Buying a copy of last month's PCGamer Malaysia, it included a free DVD of Warriors of the 3 Kingdoms (you can download the client at its website for free) along with some freebies codes. As I don't play MMORPGs, I'm going to give off these codes here, in this blog! So come on, grab it while its still hot.

SN: W0001337906
Code: 730F70751G730F7

SN: W0001337907
Code: 0FC1B28D4H0FC1B

SN: W0001337908
Code: AD5F492D0IAD5F4

SN: W0001337909
Code: 6360A3045J6360A

SN: W0001337910
Code: 9521B7572K9521B

To redeem, please proceed to www.w3ksea.com/redemption for redemption details.

Terms & Conditions:

These codes are applicable to W3K(English) only.
The redemption of codes will only start form Open Beta onwards.
The codes will be valid until 30th April 2010.
Each code redeemed will provide 3 items. The items received will vary according to the character class of the player.
Each AP account may only redeem one code once.

Also do note these codes might not work for you if someone has used them first. But its certainly not me :D

Intergrating Avira Into IDM

2009-11-25T10:27:00.007+08:00

I've been using Avira AntiVir Personal since the last 5 years, and I download a heck a lot of stuff from the Internet. I like speedy downloads, so I use IDM. Now here is the problem: downloaded stuff may contain viruses, and like most people we're just too lazy to scan each and every file immediately after the download.

Fret not, there is the way of automation.

Open IDM, and select Options. Then go to the Downloads tab.

Like the image above, look for Virus checking, then click browse for Virus scanner program. Select avscan.exe from the Avira program folder. In the Command line parameters, type '/PATH="%f" /GUIMODE=3' minus the single quote (there is a space between "%f" and /GUIMODE). Click OK, and you're done.

UPDATE: Whoops, a little mistake. Got that fixed now.

Now Avira will automatically scan your files right after you download in IDM. So your files are now secure.

The best thing is, since Avira 9 was released, they added the "invisible" mode, which makes the scanning in the background without any interference, noted by /GUIMODE=3 (1 is the full GUI, 2 is the minimized and simplified GUI). There is a small issue where Avira will always scan the boot sector and running processes first, resulting in a slightly longer scan time, unless you set Avira not to scan them for all scans. But as safety comes first, this is a very small issue indeed.

Oh yeah, you may also try these settings on other programs, such as Live Messenger. Anyways, I bid you good luck.

Techranger: The Testimonial

2009-11-24T21:23:00.000+08:00

Congrats and welcome to kurniasan for becoming one of us Techrangers at /g/. Now we have 4 of us with different sets of tech knowledge & skills to be some sort of help-desk guys for GForummers generally. With the inclusion of kurniasan , we are close to become a standard rangers team (since it usually needs around 5 people to make it complete LOL). Anyways now it's my turn to randomly give some sorta 'testimonial' for all 4 Techrangers so far, including myself.

1. sharif-strike: The one who are acting as the head of all Techrangers (although all of use share the same green tag color LOL). He may not always around at /g/ (since he is a busy student) but he is quite responsible in performing his jobs there. Skills: most notably has access to core hardware like CPUs, graphic cards, HDDs & mobos as well as some 'modern' overclocking.

2. revolutionworks: Have a long time reputation of being the troubleshooting guy for GForummer's PC problems for many years already. Good at looking for solutions for PC problems on the web. Very reliable when it comes to sfinding solutions for strange/weird problems. Skills: More to delicate, detailed technical stuff as well as programming.

3. kurniasan: The latest member of Techrangers. In earlier days he doesn't look like to have interest in PC stuff but then it turns out that he could be of some help most of the time. Skills: A software guy, I must say. Have lotsa experience in quite a number of software that he is able to notice problems that might resulted from conflicting installed software.

4. halfey: yeah, that's me. I joined the Techrangers after I see the announcement that Techranger are having staff shortage as I believe I could be of some help too. The only Techranger with no professional background in ICT (either study or work). It's all from my experience and driven by my enthusiasm towards tech stuff. Skills: Most likely to possess certain amount of knowledge in networking & connectivity, particularly internet , peripheral interface as well as web 2.0. A very enthusiastic guy when it comes to tech toys. Have experiences in PC-modding and 'classic' overclocking.

Now, d'you have any problems in PC or have some curiosities in PC stuff that you'd want an answer for? Logon to our hive at /g/ and don't hesitate to seek help from us there. I'm sure at least one of us would be able to give you what you need.

We have added a new Techranger!

2009-11-23T12:16:00.002+08:00

A gforumer, kurniasan has joined our party recently. It's nice to see a growing number of Techrangers, as things can get a little too hot for one man to handle. Besides, each of us have different experiences (with me being the least experienced actually), so we can combine our heads together as a team to solve all those problems about tech.

But as a reminder, Techrangers doesn't necessarily do tech support all the time. They can also submit reviews and news for a lot of cool stuff going in and out of the tech world.

I hope that our new member here can help us improve /tech/, for all your tech convenience. And to top it off, let's give a warm welcome to kurniasan :D

Wireless Broadband War

2009-11-01T21:17:00.000+08:00

PacketOne Networks, better known as P1 is steadily expanding their WiMAX network coverage in Peninsula. The most recent one is announced in some place in East Coast and Southern area. It is just a matter of time for them to reach East Malaysia, probably by earlier next year if not by the end of this year. I was informed that in Peninsula P1 is not the only player that brought in the WiMAX technology to Malaysian. Even in Sarawak there's already a provider, RedTone who claimed to have a network speed 44 times faster than any other existing wireless broadband service provider. And all that comes with a hefty price; even their cheapest package cost more than MYR100, but in return you get more monthly bandwidth to utilize as well as a fixed IP address, allowing you to virtually host your own web server at home, provided that you are willing to keep it on the whole day of course.

Wireless broadband has gradually maturing in Malaysia, thanks to their initial presence in the from of 3G network since 2006. Soon after that the 3.5G follow suit and now we have WiMAX in the list. Most of us may have known well about both 3G and 3.5G. To sum it up, 3G is the most basic wireless your money can get while 3.5G is nothing but 3G on steroid, and comes with extra price too. WiMAX on the other hand evolved from a completely different path. However, unlike the relationship between 3G and 3.5G, the WiMAX you know today is not Wi-fi on steroid, so to speak. It sure have evolved from the traditional Wi-fi but now it is a completely different technology from its 'ancestor'.

Just like both 3G and 3.5G (which have been existing long before they become accessible to us), WiMAX also has been around since 2005 when Intel first reveal about it on that time. As we already know Intel is one of many tech bodies who pushes the Wi-fi technology to us, thanks to their Centrino technology found in most notebooks. It was also their plan to bring Wi-fi to the next level and Wi-MAX is the answer. However, unlike Wi-fi, WiMAX requires special carrier (service provider) to put the technology into use, thus it is not really an upgraded version of Wi-fi.

Well, you might wonder all this time, if Wi-MAX is not Wi-fi on steroid, then what is? Ever heard about Super Wi-fi? For me that is what I call Wi-fi on steroid. Believe it or not, the one behind this technology is not Intel but Altai Technologies. Rather than working on something new (like how WiMAX was born) their approach is simple; boost and enhance whatever the current Wi-fi today have and voila, you got Super Wi-fi. Unlike Wi-MAX, you don't need special modem to connect to it. Only the access point needs to be change and with that all are set. Hmm, I wish I could experience it myself too but I have a feeling that this Super Wi-fi will be like cable TV technology that never sees it's day here.

Lurk, Lurk - Exploring The Net

2009-10-04T13:06:00.003+08:00

I'm planning to make a new XP installation disk with SP3 integrated, from my existing XP SP2 disk. Things like this are possible for users with the use of slipstreamers, which in my case, I use nLite. This way I can simplify the installation process via automation, removed the unnecessary stuffs, and have the updates installed from the very start. Apart from slipstreaming SP3 into the disk, I've also integrated RyanVM's Post-SP3 Update Pack, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 11, and a few other nice stuffs.

The XP installation disk originally comes in a CD, so at most the size should be less than 700MB. However, I'm using a DVD, leaving me with a lot of space to put in stuff. So I decided to put in a whole slew of useful softwares into the disk, which I don't integrate to the OS but available to be installed from the same disk.

Looking into my software collection, I realized that most of them are old versions that needs an update. Up I go lurking the Internet, scavenging softwares (mostly freeware and open source). Quite a few new gems I found.

Among them is ThumbView Lite, which allows a number of files - PSD, DDS, TGA, and a few others - to have thumbnails just like JPG files in Windows Explorer. Unfortunately it doesn't work in Vista, but I tested them in XP under Virtual PC 2007 SP1, and it works like a charm. Still, it doesn't allow you to open the files to view them, so it's better coupled with an image viewer like IrfanView (with plugins).

Another one is Chrome Frame. This is actually a plugin for Internet Explorer, but it replaces IE's Trident engine with Google Chrome's WebKit engine. The result: IE with a loading speed of Chrome. Yes, a ninefold speed increase. Kinda neat, although you can just get Google Chrome instead. It's still in early stages, so expect bugs and crashes though.

For most of my stuffs, they were merely updates made possible over this rarely good speeds in this crappy wireless service today. Among them are DirectX August 2009, Pidgin 2.6.2, Rainlendar 2.6, Opera 10, and a quite a list of softwares.

No-Sense Websense

2009-09-17T08:30:00.002+08:00

The days of crappy networks in my college seems to be endless, and it just went crapper than ever. Yesterday I was trying to upload a small image (my current avatar in /g/), using my usual image hosting site, imagehost.org. Oddly enough, this site seems to be blocked with Websense by the network admin, under the category "Personal Network Storage and Backup". I wonder what kind of genius is that, it's far beyond my comprehension.

This Websense filtering has been used before over here, with numerous revisions, but it has never been as nonsensical as this. "Personal Network Storage and Backup" supposedly belongs to file hosting sites such as MediaFire, RapidShare, MegaUpload, DepositFiles, etc. It makes sense if they are trying to improve the Internet surfing experience by not allowing the users to leech large files from these sites, thus saving bandwidth.

But why image hosting sites are blocked as well? Many of us rely on these services to upload and view images all over the Internet. And most of these images doesn't go larger than 100MB, due to the website's restrictions over unregistered/free users. C'mon, do us some justice. There's no good reason why image hosting sites should be blocked.

I tried a number of websites and keywords that I expect to be blocked, the results are pretty much weird. Popular file hosting sites were blocked, as well as popular image hosting sites. XS.TO, which I used to upload the image just now, isn't blocked, probably because its less popular. The keyword "porn" is blocked, under the category "Streaming Media". Keywords like "sex", "nude", "warez", "hentai", etc. haven't been blocked, which is indeed weird. So they're stopping us from downloading stuff, which might be important/legal, but allow us to view porn sites?

I can't get YouTube, Metacafe, or Google Video to load though, so I don't know the results for the time being.

Websense is never a welcome addition to me. It just worsens the Internet experience. Now since file hosting sites are blocked, I can't download regular cool stuffs from there anymore. Just throw the web filtering nonsense away and give us better networks instead. We pay for that.

Busting Ghosts - Frame by Frame

2009-09-14T13:51:00.003+08:00

A friend of mine just lend me his copy of Ghostbusters: The Video Game a few days ago. Although most licensed games end up bad, I'm actually looking up to this title, since the gameplay video looks kinda sweet in X-Play.

And so goes to the installation. It was all fine until it said the installation failed in the end. Oddly enough, I found the files in my Program Files folder, and actually able to launch the game. Perhaps it's the crappy installer by those pirates I guess (sshhhh!).

So the game launches, and I reach the main menu. And... it lags like hell. More like a slightly movable slide show. Whatever. I tried to play career mode, regardless of the lag, hoping it would be fine there. It was indeed better, but still unplayable. I set the resolution to 800 x 600, then it becomes playable, but not entirely smooth either.

This mystery of extreme lagging has puzzled me. My rig is a good 2.6GHz dual core CPU, 4GB of DDR2-667 RAMs, and a factory-overclocked 9600GT with 512MBs of DDR3 memory. What could've gone wrong? Vista sucks? Unlikely, since my friend also uses Vista, and his game was really smooth.

I almost gave up playing the game, until I briefly re-played Call of Duty last night. I tweaked the game (Call of Duty) via Nvidia's Control Panel to give the old game justice some time ago. Then I realized, maybe I should check something in that control panel.

Indeed it was. The culprit is the global 3D settings were set in a way that not all games are compatible, perhaps a mistake I've done some time ago (I should set profile setting instead of global, which affects all 3D apps). Reset to default settings, and voila, problem no more. In fact, other games seemed smoother than before.

So yeah, next time, try looking up into the control panels if there was any problem with your games. Perhaps you can find a solution there. Now the only problem is beating up those tough and swarming marshmallow minions. Wish me luck, because it's really hard.

There goes my job interview

2009-08-15T16:48:00.002+08:00

I've been absent for 2 weeks, thanks to my job interview I attended on Friday Aug 7. It was for vacancies of computer technician in various federal departments and I was quite happy to think that if I'm lucky I'll work (and play) with computers.

The interview is supposed to be easy but somehow I screwed up a bit since I don't have time to think, to manage my words but still the interview runs smoothly and everything seems to be fine.

10 questions being asked to me:

1. Tell us more about yourself
This is where I first screwed-up. I shouldn't have talked much about my bio since everything is already in the resume. I should have talked about what I like/dislike, my interest in computers as well as my opinion related to that stuff. Of course i had them planned in my head but they interrupted me before I could go any further.

2. Main component of a computer
This is easy. I explain everything from CPU to GPU, types of monitor and even the development of Terabyte HDD. My only worry is I might have gone too far LOL (too excited?).

3. Ports at the back of a computer
This one is also easy. I listed out everything I know, including the obsolete and legacy ports (PS/2, serial, parallel, etc). Even the graphics ports (RGB, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc) also not spared haha!

4. Types of topological networking
This is where I screwed up again. I was taking too much time to explain about LAN and I didn't have a chance to explain about other types of networking since they interrupted me in the middle.

5. Frequently used ports in networking
This is quite easy also. I quickly learned from my mistake from earlier questions (although it might be too late already) so I just explain things straight forward. What port is used by HTTP, FTP, POP3/IMAP mail, p2p networking, etc.

6. How to prevent virus infection
This is relatively easy since this is what I'm always asked for help in my current workplace, although I'm not a computer technician there. Of course I answered everything about antivirus, firewall, email attachment, etc. Luckily for this question I got time to explain about source of infections, what are rootkits about, worms, trojanhorses, backdoors, keyloggers and many other as well as how to deal with any of these.

7. The diference between RG11 & RG45
Too bad I failed to answer this. I know this is about cable stuff but since I'm lacking of experience in working with network so I don't know much about types of cables & antennas. What did I do then? Well, I just apologized and told them honestly that I don't have much experience in networking in the most polite way I could think of.

8. How many bits in a byte
Simple. I just answered straight to the point because I know time is running out.

9. The differences between 32-bit computing and 64-bit computing
I also don't take much time to answer this so I just told them whatever I have in my head.

10. Ways to connect to the Internet
The most unexpected question comes last! I just managed to answer 2 (fixed-line & wireless) before being interrupted, marks the end of the session.

All that took roughly 20 minutes. The guy before me took longer, almost half an hour. I'm not sure why but that guy possess a diploma in electric-electronic while the 2 guys after me possess a cert in electric-electronic from local polytechnic. I am the only one with only SPM in hand so I was quite surprised to know that my job application was accepted. Not sure about those who are interviewed days before us though.

The limited 'unlimited' 3G network

2009-08-01T22:38:00.007+08:00

limit July 27 marks the 3rd month I am on 3G network. Thanks for the 'cheap' unlimited plan by Celcom, I finally able to enjoy 'broadband' too, which term was made exclusively only for fixed line users in the past. How cheap, you asked? At 68 bucks per month for the so-called 'unlimited' plan, it's only slightly higher than my monthly Astro bill.

Most of you may wonder what's the meaning with the words between those single quotes. 'Cheap' because it is still affordable for me, though I hope it was 50 bucks or less. 'Broadband' because it is peaked at 384kbps, thus allowing me to do some torrenting & listening to internet radio. 'Unlimited' because there is no time restriction, I can stay online for the whole day if I wanted to.

Seriously how 'cheap' this service actually? For me I'm like paying more than I was offered. They said it is 'broadband' but torrenting & any existing p2p network, just like the issue faced by all Streamyx users, are cruelly and mercilessly throttled. Not only I'm not allowed to do port-forwarding, due to the fact that all Celcom 3G client IPs are NAT-ed (Network Address Translation), I'm forced to comply with the monthly allocated 5GB data transfer.

Wait! Only 5GB? I can fill that in no time! I remember in the first month of my 3G subscription, that 5GB limit was reached within 2 weeks only, although I only downloaded 4 anime episodes and 12 mp3s, as well as occasional (weekly) online games session. I learned something on that time; limit the uploading speed for my torrent so other people are not eating my bandwidth too much. Sorry my torrent peers but I'm forced to do so. Celcom is Streamyx by another name after all.

Thank goodness Celcom did not ban the network for exceeding the limit. Instead they throttle everything down to the same level as a dial-up modem! That means I can still do some 'Twitting', 'Facebooking', blogging & emailing but downloading would be a pain. Can you imagine taking 10 minutes to download a 5MB mp3 when we are so used to downloading them in seconds before? Torrenting is a complete no-no when the full throttling imposed. I can't understand why Malaysian ISPs are so mean towards torrenteer? In the US 3G networks are not NAT-ed, allowed to do port-forwarding and even may have fixed IP, allowing one to host a website on a home server!

Oh yeah, I did mention about the so-called 'unlimited' right? The plan I'm subscribing to is indeed unlimited, to certain extent. Although 5GB is the maximum data transfer allowed for me, I can keep continuing for more without extra charges. However, this limitation is close to impossible if I must say. 5GB is too small for an avid downloader like me. Sure there are better but more expensive plan (HSDPA plan with double the amount of the bandwidth plus the 3.6MBps speed) but that would be overkill for me, even if it is only 98 bucks per month.

Digi recently launch their first 3G network but currently only available in the Peninsula. They used to have only EDGE network but only usable on EDGE supporting phone and no specialized modem for it. I'm thinking of switching to Digi 3G once they reach here but for now Celcom is my only/best choice. Well, Digi offers 50GB monthly data transfer how could I refuse? WiMax, on the other hand has made its move in Bolehland as well. Packet One Networks, the nation's first WiMax telco has launched their WiGGY service in May. Now, another provider, RedTone already make its presence in Borneo, offering "48x faster speed than any other wireless technology" as they claimed, premiumly priced at 138 bucks per month. I'd only consider subscribing to any one of these if the price dropped by 50%.

Seriously, I need around 100GB data transfer per month, judging from my usage rate. Using some rough calculation (based on 384kbps speed):
(384kbps)*(60seconds)*(60minutes)*(2hours/day)*(30days/month)=83GB
And that was assuming I on online at average 2 hours per day (though I think might be 4 hours or even more).

Now, comparing the speed before and after full throttling:

Before:

After:

Celcom is sick. Now I'm waiting for them to reset the throttling so I can resume my torrent again (weird? It's already the 1st day of August but it seems like my network is still throttled. They were never this late before). Honestly, the 5GB limit is a little too small for me. It is supposed to be a 'broadband' right? And being 'broadband' means they are geared towards heavy user like me, regardless they are mobile or on fixed line. What's the point of using the term 'broadband' if its usage is limited then.

Attention All Gforumers, We Are Recruiting!

2009-07-23T19:17:00.006+08:00

It comes to my attention that someday, I won't be able to handle all the stuffs in /g/'s Tech section. Well, the time has come anyway, with revo being quite busy with his life, and apparently I'm starting to get busy myself. Being a final year student, assignments are getting heftier, studies are getting harder, and more responsibilities are showing up. Added with the fact that my room no longer has any access to the Internet, I need to find more people to assist me.

So now we're recruiting new Techrangers. Basically, any gforumer can be a Techranger, as long as they will help us in any way possible for them. Just send an application to me and I'll consider your request to be one. You can do it via:
Commenting to this post
PM me in gforum
Posting a reply to the recruitment thread
You'll receive a number of priviledges for being a Techranger. It isn't much, but it may help. So yeah, come and apply, now.

Update: Added another option for applications via recruitment thread.

Update 2: Gforum is gone, and the new Gforum Mark 2 still has no plans on having Techrangers.

Continue the journey, to the master level!

2009-07-16T11:49:00.002+08:00

Last April I finally finish and graduate for Bsc (Hons) Computer Science (Multimedia Computing) from UiTM. Being one of the pioneer of Multimedia Computing degree program at UiTM, I feel so great that I finish my study on time (unlike my diploma that takes 8 semester :P)

While waiting for convocation somewhere on October or November 2009, I take Microsoft Certified Professional course for ASP.NET and .NET Framework. It takes a month of class and 3 exams to pass in order to obtain the certificate.

I flunked the .NET Framework on first try, but I summon all of my spirit and knowledge, and try re-sit the exam for second time. Alhamdulilah, I manage to pass the re-sit exam, with flying colors too ^^

And the result; Im now one of the MS Professional developer for ASP.NET and Technology Specialist for .NET Framework 3.5. As my name and data stored in Microsoft database and also university database, I got a lot, a lot of calls for jobs.

Instead settling down and hunt for jobs, I registered for Master of Science (Computer Science) at UiTM. With lots of job call Im getting, most of them sounds disappointing when I say I further my studies. Some also congratulate me, and they wish I can work for their company someday, wow~ Im moved~

Now I just got to be patience and hording through another 3 semester for my master, and I hope I can strive for it, just what like I did before.

Crappy Wireless, and Some New Hardware :3

2009-07-12T17:58:00.003+08:00

Pardon me for this blog getting a bit slow for updates, and when they do, it lacks pictures. Not fun, IMO. I put the blame to the college wireless services, which is so unstable that even loading /g/ might take forever. Secondly, I've been busy since I've gained some reputation among the higher-ups around here. That said, I've been receiving requests for graphic designs, Flash animations, video editings and computer repairs in a rather short timeframe. Revo, on the other hand is always 'busy' and needs to be poked a bit to get him posting here.

Anyways, yesterday I went to Low Yat to buy something that was ditched from my original plans; the speaker. Earlier I used Sonic Gear Tatoo 303, a rather cheap 2.1 channel speakers for RM35. It was fine, until I cranked up the volume a little higher. It just doesn't sound quite right. Well now, with some money at hand I can now afford a brand new Altec Lansing BXR1121 for RM119, and been loving it since. I'm not much of an audiophile, but listening to quality sound is surely a pleasure. Originally I've been planning to buy this since last year, but was cut short due to financial reasons. Now that I have it, my ears deserves a better place, finally.

Rest In Peace, CM Aquagate VIVA, And A Few Other Stuffs

2009-07-03T01:24:00.005+08:00

Hauling my 'waifu' (my desktop PC) back and forth from my college at Setapak Jaya to my campus (or, my 'office') at Jalan Semarak for like two weeks seems to have some consequences as my 'waifu' is starting to feel 'sick'. And so one day I left my 'waifu' in the 'office' overnight, the next day she 'screams' as I turned it on. The cause: lack of coolant flow in my Aquagate VIVA triggers the safety alarm. After a little fiddling with the internals, I do manage to get it into working state again, for another two weeks, but not without the occasional quick-fixes. Heck I even have to reformat my HDD due to some data corruption from frequent restarts.

In fact I've hauled it to Temerloh, Pahang for a week during a community welfare program, and then for a few more days back and forth from my college to my campus. Think of how much endurance my 'waifu' have to take.

Until yesterday, I decided to put the faulty liquid-cooling system to rest, replaced with the far cheaper CM Vortex 752. I don't do any overclocking due to the motherboard's limitation, so I think that would suffice for now.

Things doesn't go well all the way. Removing the water block caused the CPU to be plugged out by force, which in return caused two of the pins to bend. Fortunately enough I can straighten the pins again, and get it working. Damn I was worried I would have to spend another RM200 just to get myself another Athlon 5000+ BE. The thermal grease made the bond so tight like a powerful suction cup, and with the water block still there, I can't lift the latch which holds the CPU in place. With the help of a screwdriver, I finally manage to separate the water block and the CPU. Whew.

Speaking of damages, my trusty CRT monitor sometimes needs to be plugged off before it can be waked up from standby mode. And my keyboard, Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 also failed me after a simple wash (some drink spilled on it, unfortunately). Fact is, the keyboard is waterproof, or so it was claimed. Splashed it with some water, let it dry, then some keys no longer work. And so comes another dirt-cheap replacement for RM18. At least the only thing which isn't a replacement is a Logitech Dual Action gamepad, which oddly slows my reaction in certain games suitable for a gamepad, like GRID, HAWX, and NFS Undercover. Maybe I'm just not used to it. Devil May Cry 3 works very well for me though.

There goes my salary, RM200 for making a Flash presentation about global warming, and another RM50 for designing graphics for some sort of resume (not mine). A part of it was lended to the Photography Club to repair a faulty Nikon D70s, and another part was spent for pizza.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

2009-06-13T02:50:00.007+08:00

Ah, the refreshing music from Arctic Monkeys plays in my favorite media player: foobar2000. Their music is somewhat unique and catchy, that I don't know which genre it belongs to. Anyways, I'm not here to talk about the album (which is the title of this post).

Out of boredom, I began to type in the keyword "techrangers" and "techranger" in Google. And so I discovered that we're not the only Techrangers out there. Simply put, here's the result:

1. CDWS: Techrangers
They are a division of Course Development & Web Services at the University of Central Florida. Obviously they have nothing to do with us, since none of us ever stepped foot on that university. Their role, however, is pretty much similar: provide tech support.

2. Flickr: Six Degrees of Techrangers
A collection of party pictures, probably related to the first result. Again, none of these pictures have us inside, so don't waste your time looking for us there.

3. High Tech Rangers FC Information
Some football club I guess. From Cheltenham League? Never heard of it.

4. http://techranger.com/
Pure rubbish. It's not even a real website.

5. Tech Ranger
On-site PC support & rescue.

6. Techranger's "just for fun" site
A blog about racing horses. Weird.

7. techranger.com blog
Honestly the blog doesn't make sense to me.

Other than that, it appears that someone is using "techrangers" as his/her username. Oh well...

Jumping Ship! All aboard AMD! :P

2009-06-12T10:54:00.006+08:00

Been playing Empire:Total War and Sims 3 on my PC for a while, at first I been patient enough to withstand the low frame rate and low settings. Even on that settings, the frame rate still stutter and the game perform poorly :(

And yesterday I was reaching a breaking point. Been greeted with 3 times (yes 3 times) blue screen of death is not funny, and worse, it happens when I play the games For the motherboard, I pick Asus M4N78 Pro with GeForce 8300 onboard graphics. Capable of Hybrid SLI, this board sure can accommodate my need for performance.

Inside is pretty much basic stuff, surprisingly from Asus. But it got nice small thing that most motherboard manufacturer didn't see, a small socket call Q-Connector. This small connector organized casing power button, reset button on single connector and just plug the connector. I didn't have to use magnifying glass to see what's written on the board anymore :D

The price? its price RM365, but the seller give me discount RM2.... ^_^;

And for the processor, meet Phenom X3 8650 (OMG! Its AMD!) I know, Im jumping ship as I short on money and need quick upgrade, this is the best I can buy, just for RM275.

In short, my upgrade costs RM638. Not bad, in a few months maybe I will upgrade my graphic card too, currently running on 8800GT 512MB.

Windows Installation nightmare

After assembly and first boot-up, Windows Vista load normally but detect so many new hardware. I decide to repair or upgrade windows installation only, but at that time, its already 1am in the morning.

I left my PC to install Windows and sleep..........

Around 4am I wake up and see blank screen with "Disk read error, press Alt+Ctrl+Del to continue" message. Damn, is it my seagate drive malfunction? Im scared like hell already.

And the windows installation stalled. I dont have a choice but to reformat partition C: from my Seagate drive T_T After clean install, Vista works perfectly but pops out new message.

"Please activate your Vista" LULZ, ok I just go activate. But.... the system said that my key has been activated! Ouch! There it goes my original copy of Vista, >.<

After all drivers installed and system is stable, I install the games. See what triple-core can do compare to my old Pentium 4. And hell yeah! it was a blast. Although I still can't play at max settings (because of my graphic card) at least I can play smoothly on medium or high on 1680x1050 resolution.

Well after done testing, I need to go back study, I had exam today! wish me luck! :)

Windows 7 craze! Microsoft release boxart

2009-06-08T19:18:00.003+08:00

DailyTech website posts up picture on Windows 7 boxart will look like. Seems like Windows 7 will be package in Home Premium, Professional (reminds me for XP Pro) and Ultimate version.

Pick which one you like, as Microsoft plans to release Windows 7 on 22nd October. Buy original! XD

Meet The Techrangers

2009-06-06T20:27:00.012+08:00

Techrangers

is a Gforumer
have green and bolded usernames
have semi-mod powers
is responsible for the Gforum's Tech Section
should be fairly knowledgeable in tech
is constantly in need for new hardware & software (please donate)
somewhat have a dry sense of humor

sharif-strike

leads the Techrangers
is taking Diploma in Computer Science (Multimedia)
still uses CRT monitors
craves for raw power
ventures into 64-bit computing
uses foobar2000 v0.9.5.5 with noise sharpening plugin
likes Google Chrome
plays Zerg
~~uses liquid-cooling system~~ (broken and replaced with CM Vortex 752)
prefers instrumental music
almost immune to moe
is usually stuck in crappy wireless services
also does photography and graphic design
wishes he owns a DSLR (do give me one for free :D)
dreams of driving a muscle car

RevolutionWorks

veteran moderator who been semi-retired by being techrangers :D
Currently studying for Master of Science (Computer Science)
Hold Diploma in Computer Science and Bachelor Degree in Computer Science (Multimedia Computing)
Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD): ASP.NET
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): .NET Framework
runs Windows Vista on an AMD Phenom X3 processor (with 4GB RAM!)
Got 2 free copies of Windows 7 Pro from MSDN AA but still don't upgrade yet.
have 6 fans running inside its NVIDIA casing
plays GDI (Global Defense Initiative)
is known to own a PS2,PSP,PS3 and an X360
rarely watch anime or read manga nowdays
is older than sharif
NVIDIA FTW
is busy "with his master study"
never met sharif face-to-face before

halfey

freestyler (in terms of fashion)
loves extreme music (rock) but classical always own by default
likes to cook and experimenting with new recipes (western food)
shares everything with nobody
gives a damn (LOL)
hates happy-fun anime
wants an Intel Core i5 CPU
wishes to see a true-color pigment-based display technology in his lifetime
needs ridiculous amount of money right now (seriously LOL)
will kill for nothing
hopes everything he dislike will vanish from this world
asks "what's the answer for life, the universe and everything?"
has been on internet forum since 2003
was a lolicon (and still a lolicon LOL)
wonders what would happen if the internet never exist
feels uneasy when the boss is around LOL
thinks equal rights ain't necessary; equal chance is
says "Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit"
is an audiophile

Sorrow Days, and Extra Storage

2009-06-01T15:42:00.007+08:00

Lately it's been a little sorrow for me, since my Chinese grandfather just passed away last Friday. To be honest, I don't know him much, since he was Chinese and lives in Johore, while I live high up in Kedah. Still, it does leave some impact to me. If you're wondering, yes, I share a blood relation with him. He was very old, but yet very kind. Although our cultures and religion might be different, a family is still a family.

Moving on, I've just arrived in KL yesterday, and went straight to Low Yat. I managed to collect enough money to buy myself a new hard disk: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB. Gone now the days where I have to delete something just to get something else in. At least for now. The already cheap drive just got cheaper; mine is priced at RM320, giving an easy 32 cents per GB. A fresh new hard drive waiting to be filled. Yay. Bigger drives generally mean faster drives; each section of data is smaller on the disk, which results in lesser movements required by the read/write head.

On the side note, whenever you buy an extra internal hard disk, plug it in and directly turn on the PC, you won't find the hard disk in Windows even if it shows up in the BIOS. This is because a fresh hard disk has no partitions. So you will have to create at least one partition for your hard disk, using a Windows Setup CD/DVD (just stop at making partitions, you don't need to install Windows). If you don't have one, you can grab a DOS bootdisk instead. If you're going to use DOS, use the command FDISK to create a partition. A menu should appear and it shouldn't be too hard to understand the interface. Formatting the drive in DOS or Windows Setup isn't necessary, the drive will appear in Windows after that. You can then format the drive in Windows, and your new hard disk is good to go.

Getting Things Right, A New Service Pack, and Becoming a Hero

2009-05-27T16:09:00.003+08:00

Finally! After scrolling down carefully on the comments section for this layout, I found this blog which posts most, if not all, the bugfixes for our current layout. Thanks to the author various fixes has been done, such as the missing comment form, the footer now has links to recent posts and comments, and also the ad header, which collapses if an ad blocker is present, has also been fixed. So I suppose that ends all the bugfixes, hopefully, so that I can focus more on blogging instead. Again, please report for any bugs you find.

AimanThe9th has just posted about Vista SP2 now available for download in Tech Talk, an update I have been longing ever since the beta version of SP2. While the x86 version is only 348.3 MB, an x64 user like me will have to download a 577.4 MB file instead. Hefty, but I hope it's worth it.

Yesterday, after the last post, I went on to play Battlefield Heroes beta. It was quite fun, although I didn't do much kills during the session. I chose the soldier class, and joined the National Army, which is the Nazi's in disguise. Eventually I got pwned hard, thanks to my low ranks (currently level 3) and frequent grenade spams. I'm not sure if that was a perk or the specialties of the Gunner class, but it's hellishly effective at lowering my HP drastically. So instead of assaulting the enemies, I focused more on capturing points, which allows me to gain some more experience. The fights were quite tight thanks to a player nicknamed hipstler (you can expect he's a National), who balances the National Army which consist mostly of noobs like me. I'm a hero now. A noob one. Haha.

Major Layout Change

2009-05-26T13:42:00.003+08:00

If you guys stumbled on this blog with broken things here and there, it's because I'm still customizing this blog. You can see now that I'm using a custom layout, and because of that things get a bit complicated.

There are a few things to do to get this layout right, including some bugfixes and some removals to the HTML code. Fortunately, I have resolved most of these bugs but that doesn't mean that it's completely bug-free. Do report for any bugs you find, broken links, etc.

Oh yeah, you may give us some suggestions as well.

A Little Tweak, and The Crave for Banana Milkshake

2009-05-25T12:35:00.004+08:00

Tweaking this blog doesn't seem as easy as it looks, because there are some problems regarding cookies and JavaScript. I have a WordPress blog of my own, and it doesn't cause me so much trouble except for the slow loading page, which is one of the main reasons it's not so active.

After fiddling around, I shut down ZoneAlarm in an attempt to overcome the problem. And voila~, it worked like a charm. So I got happy-feely adding up stuffs to pimp the blog, such as that shoutbox, live traffic feed, and the blogger list based on whoami's Gforum Blogger List v1.6. I also tried to apply a custom theme, but things got messed up so badly that I have to use one of the default themes instead.

The next thing I want is a banana milkshake, or the equivalent of "pisang blended" (doesn't seem to exist though). It's so easy to make that it makes me wonder why this drink is so rare in Malaysia. All you need is some ripe bananas, some milk, some ice, a kitchen blender, and the ability to operate the blender. Sugar is optional. Blend them all together in your blender, and you're finished. Fresh homemade banana milkshake. Oh yes.

First Post, and a Warm Welcome.

2009-05-24T14:24:00.001+08:00

Ahoy there! Starting from today the Techrangers of /gforum/ will have their own official blog. You can expect those techy-geeky rants of ours in this very blog.

So yeah, nothing much for now, but we'll have something up soon. Stay tuned for more updates.

Bon voyage, mon ami!