During July 18 to July 23, there was a hacker conference called Hope held here in the city. Unfortunately, I was involved in some other personal business, cannot attend it.
The conference was organzied by 2600, the famous hacker magazine.
Here is the web site of the conference, and hopefully I can download some of the speeches and discussions.
Link:
This morning, I discovered that I cannot start Automatic Update Service of my Windows machine. It’s running XP SP3. I went to services.msc, and cannot start the Automatic Update service. Every time I try, I got an Error code 1058, whatever that means.
Some googling reveals that most likely it is a Trojan horse run amok. Downloaded a copy of Trojan Remover from Simply Super Software, and lo and behold, Trojan Horse!
***** TROJAN REMOVER HAS RESTARTED THE SYSTEM *****
6/8/2008 11:35:15 AM: Trojan Remover has been restarted
C:\WINDOWS\system32\geBQKASk.dll has been renamed to C:\WINDOWS\system32\geBQKASk.dll.vir
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nTCKkkkj.ini - HIDDEN and SYSTEM file attributes removed
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nTCKkkkj.ini has been deleted
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nTCKkkkj.ini2 has been deleted (if it existed)
C:\WINDOWS\Temp\asat0000.tmp has been deleted
=======================================================
Removing the following registry keys:
HKCR\CLSID\{54018E98-10E3-46C6-9673-2999253F9C65} - removed
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\Notify\geBQKASk - already removed
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{3022870A-9E4F-4C6C-B05A-16662A69A9AA} - already removed
HKCR\CLSID\{3022870A-9E4F-4C6C-B05A-16662A69A9AA} - already removed
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{54018E98-10E3-46C6-9673-2999253F9C65} - removed
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{AF703823-75EA-4C2C-9E5A-7BBBF9AB12A7} - removed
HKCR\CLSID\{AF703823-75EA-4C2C-9E5A-7BBBF9AB12A7} - removed
=======================================================
=======================================================
Deleting the following registry value(s):
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ShellExecuteHooks\[{54018E98-10E3-46C6-9673-2999253F9C65}] - deleted
=======================================================
The Lsa Authentication Packages registry entry has been reset
Trojan Remover forced a System Restart by terminating WINLOGON.EXE.
The Cleanup Utility was used to remove locked registry keys.
6/8/2008 11:35:17 AM: Trojan Remover closed
************************************************************
After removal, Windows Updates went back to normal.
I’m happy that last night I discovered the utility software I’m searching for. The story goes like this:
I have a Windows Mobile GPS unit, the model is Mio RS168, which is a Pocket PC runs on Windows Mobile 2003SE. I mostly use it to navigate in unfamiliar territories, but from time to time, I also use it to read ebooks with eReader and MobiPocket Reader software. I also took notes with the built-in Note application and sometimes Pocket Word.
Sometimes, if I mess up too much, I end up with a dead gadget. The only way out is a total hard reset, reversing everything back to the factory default setting, which means I lost all my customization, all my data, and all the applications I have installed since, including the ebook readers. Fortunately, the GPS map software, the Microsoft Mobile Office software are stored in the ROM, they will always be there even if I had hard reset the unit.
Also residing in the ROM is a backup utility. With it, I can save an memory image of the device on the storage card, so after a hard reset, I can restore all my customization and data from the storage card.
The beauty of this ROM backup utility is that I no longer need my PC to restore the mobile device. For example, I drive to somewhere unfamiliar, with the guidance of the GPS. However, somehow, I mess up the GPS device, with no other choice, I must hard reset the GPS. But by doing that, I am going to erase my stored favorite locations, which happen to contain my next destination. Without the PC and ActiveSync software, I am about to panic. But if I already have a backup image file on the storage card, then, nothing to worry about: just go ahead to hard reset the GPS, after that, launch the ROM backup utility, restore the system from the backup image on the storage card. Now I will have a working system with all my customization and data. I probably will lose some of the data since my last backup, but hey, now I will able to go to my next way point! Of course, if I sync frequently enough with my PC, I may even minimize this kind of data loss as well!
So from this scenario you can see how essential I deem a backup utility: when I am caught without my Windows PC, how big a difference it can make!
Unlike my Mio RS168 GPS, my smartphone runs on Windows Mobile Smartphone, which differs from normal Pocket PC by missing the touch screen and the system wide copy and paste capacity. Other than that, both are quite similar. However, on my phone, there is no built-in backup utility. This fact makes me nervous when I need to go out a couple of days without my Windows PC.
With some intensive internet searching and forum sifting, I discovered a wonderful third party backup utility: Sprite Backup. It’s quite similar to the Mio backup utility on my GPS, with many additional features. It’s a wonderful finding, that means I can now travel with my smartphone alone, leaving my laptop at home, at least for short travels, with confidence. Not unlike this guy traveling with only his iPhone, left his laptop at home. Of course, I can only do this knowing that I can restore my system. Sprite Backup is exactly what I need.
On my Windows Media Center PC, from time to time, Windows Explorer will be closed by DEP (Data Execution Prevention). I am pretty sure that my computer is virus-free, and I updated my Windows quite frequently. I just updated my Windows to SP3. Other than the Windows Explorer randomly being closed by DEP, everything else seems normal.
I tried to disable DEP for Windows Explorer, but after I disabled DEP, Explorer will close by itself without the warning message, which is more troublesome. At least before I disabled DEP, I can choose to delay the closing, so I can wait for the completion of copying or moving operations; but when the Windows Explorer crashes by itself, all the copying and moving operations will be terminated, leaving the files in uncertain state. For me, DEP closing Explorer is just a nuisance, but disabling the DEP made it a real problem.
After some extensive internet search, I believe that the problem is caused by some third-party Windows Explorer shell extension. During the years, I installed and un-installed tons of software, along with them, countless shell extensions. Maybe some of them are the culprits?
To remove those third party shell extensions, I need some tools, I discovered two tools useful for this purpose:
and
Microsoft’s AutoRuns for Windows
Somehow, I suspect that Mediafour’s MacDrive 6 may cause the problem, but I am not sure. Since this software is very important for me, I cannot afford to remove it from my system. However, it seems the Windows Explorer crashes less after I remove all other third-party shell extensions.
Some software provides the option to remove the shell extension or shell integration, such as WinRAR, WinZip, but others don’t, such as yenc32 or Symantec anti-virus. Anyway, with AutoRuns, I can remove all the third-party shell extensions I want.
Of course, it helps to clean the registry with Eusing Registry Cleaner.
Since Spring of 2004, I started to show symptoms of allergy: running nose, sneeze, red and itchy eyes. It seems that the symptoms are getting worse each year. This allergy season is the worst, and I hope it will not getting worse next year.
This year, my allergy started on 4/25/2008, and now it is tapering off, and today is 5/19/2008, about three weeks. The end of April till the middle of May, are my worst three weeks of the year. I guess I am allergic to certain tree pollens, but without consulting an allergist, I will never know for sure which species makes me allergic. Next year, if my situation gets worse, I am going to consult an allergist, maybe try something called de-sensitization therapy.
I tried both Claritin-D (Loratadine + Pseudoephedrine) and Zyrtec-D, with limited success. Loratadine and pseudoephedrine can control my running nose and sneeze, but cannot control my itchy eyes. It feels terrible. I am glad the allergy season is gone, at least for the year 2008.
I have a Canon PowerShot SD 1000 Camera. Recently, I discovered that there is a hacker tool, called CHDK, can be used to provide extra functionalities to the camera, such as RAW format, etc.
I began to use the ebooks web site of New York Public Library a couple of years ago. Interestingly, when you access this site with a desktop computer, it will show a desktop version of the website. However, if you access it with a mobile device, it will automatically swich to the mobile version, which is much easier to navigate on a mobile device.
This is very good. However, I just hope they can make their main site behave similarly. It would be very nice to be able to renew normal books through a mobile device. I tried my mobile Internet Explorer, it cannot pass the log on screen. Without a computer, the only option is to call Leoline 212-262-7444 to renew. However, it is not as convenient as online transactions.
I am a fan of David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) method. For a vide introduction to his GTD method, see the following video link:
David Allen: Getting Things Done Video Introduction
The simplest way to implement his GTD methods, at least for me, is using the Palm Task application and it’s categories. Actually, David Allen himself suggested Palm Task method is his method of choice on a mobile device.
Since recently I obtained a Windows Mobile Smartphone, a T-Mobile Dash, I was pondering doing GTD on Windows Mobile. After all, the qwerty keyboard is much easier to use than the on-screen vitual keyboard of my Palm Tungsten E. However, the way Windows Mobile organizing the tasks does not render it easy for GTD way. With some internet search, I discovered the following method to implement GTD with Windows Mobile:
This method makes more sence on a Pocket PC, which has touch-screen, and has the ability to create categories on the mobile device. On my Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone, which does not have a tough screen, and it does not allow me to create categories on the mobile device, this method is not very practical.
Of course, if you have internet connection most of the time, and you have access to a desktop or laptop computer, the online application Nozbe should be a very good way to implement the GTD method.
I read some review on Nokia N95 phone. Since I have a T-Mobile Dash, I can’t help comparing them.
Both are very powerful smartphones, Dash runs Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone edition (no touchscreen), and N95 runs Symbian. N95 has GPS and a 5 Mega pixel camera, Dash does not have GPS, and has a 1.3 Mega pixel camera. Both have QVGA display (320x240). Both have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., those usual suspects.
It seems that N95 is a better gadget, but there is a problem: N95 has only numeric keypad, using T9 to input text into the gadget. Dash sports a qwerty keyboard, which is very handy when entering web addresses, email addresses, and names. Without a qwerty keyboard, you cannot do much with a smartphone. On my previous phones (a Motorola SLVR L7 and a Sony Ericsson T610), I used T9 and iTAP (a Motorola version of T9). I can type pretty fast with both predictive input methods, but they are not good when entering people’s names, web addresses, and email addresses. For normal text, they are OK. But a qwerty keyboard is much easier to input, especially when used with XT9, a predictive input methods for qwerty keyboard. It can shorten input time significantly.
I don’t travel a lot, so I don’t really need a good travel-sized sub-notebook computer. However, it would be nice to have a computer light enough to carry around. It seems there are only two serious contender for this niche:
and
It seems to me that EEE PC is more attractive, cheapter, smaller, easier to carry around. However, HP 2133 has a better keyboard (easy to type, 92% of full-sized keyboard). But, as the reviewer of Ars Technica mentioned, after a couple of days practice, it is OK to type on the smaller keyboard of EEE PC.
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