Remove Antivirus 2008 Spyware

Well, it said "Your computer is infected. Click to install and clean now". That too with a nice image, tempting my little brother to do a click. He was so happy after that, called me and told.."I installed a nice antivirus tool to remove viruses..that too for free". Great! what is that tool..I was wondering..He replied back telling "Antivirus 2008".....My boy! what have you done.! Do you think it is an ANTIVIRUS software? Not at all! It is a malware in itself!

So, how to go ahead and remove it...? Let us learn something about this Antivirus 2008 before trying to remove it..

Antivirus 2008 is a rogue anti-malware software that displays fake results and requires you to purchase the software. Antivirus2008 will scan your computer and list a variety of infections found on your computer. It also has the capability to download and install further infections to your PC. It will open the doorway to a lot of other infections..


Some sites instruct the user to delete the files

AntiVirus 2008.lnk
Uninstall.lnk
AntiVirus 2008.exe
AntiVirus 2008.lic
AntiVirus 2008.dll
Uninstall.exe

The worst part it the user will not be allowed to delete the files..It copies itself so quickly that it will be really difficult to delete the files..

I would recommend going for Spyware Doctor to remove this. The most trusted antispyware software. It really cleans and remove all the traces of this spyware. It also helped me in removing virtumonde. A one time investment that will always make sure your PC is safe and secure.

Also, do not get misled by some rogue spyware removal softwares, pretending to clean this one. They are brothers of this malware....

Asia Cup 2008 Pakistan Vs SriLanka Highlights

Some links that I found in the web for the highlights of the match, played between Pakistan and Srilanka, during the Asia Cup 2008. Here are they..

Pakistan Innings

Srilanka Innings

TO_YMINTERVAL Date Manipulation

Today, I got introduced to a new function in Oracle. This function, TO_YMINTERVAL was introduced from Oracle 9i onwards and it converts a string to INTERVAL YEAR to MONTH type. This can be understood in a better way with some examples.

First, let us get the current date value from the DUAL table. This is only for comparison purposes.

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL
2 /

SYSDATE
-----------
29/06/2008

Now, when I give '02-02' in TO_YMINTERVAL, it increments the sysdate by 2 years and 2 months.

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE + TO_YMINTERVAL('02-02') FROM DUAL
2 /

SYSDATE+TO_YMINTERVAL('02-02')
------------------------------
29/08/2010 7:01:53 PM

"SYSDATE -" helps in knowing the date 2 years and 2 months before..

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE - TO_YMINTERVAL('02-02') FROM DUAL
2 /

SYSDATE-TO_YMINTERVAL('02-02')
------------------------------
29/04/2006 7:02:15 PM

Arithematic logic. - * + is '-'. It does the same thing as shown below..

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE + TO_YMINTERVAL('-02-02') FROM DUAL
2 /

SYSDATE+TO_YMINTERVAL('-02-02'
------------------------------
29/04/2006 7:02:50 PM

This one is tricky. When I give 'SYSDATE -' and give a negative value in TO_YMINTERVAL it will add the result from the current date. Hence, we end up in the date that is 2 years and 2 months ahead from now.

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE - TO_YMINTERVAL('-02-02') FROM DUAL
2 /

SYSDATE-TO_YMINTERVAL('-02-02'
------------------------------
29/08/2010 7:03:15 PM

Asia Cup 2008 India Vs Bangladesh Highlights

Highlights of the match played between India & Bangladesh, during Asia Cup 2008. I found some links. Here are them..

Bangladesh Innings.

India Innings :

Interview Questions - PeopleSoft

Some of the questions that can be asked during a PeopleSoft Interview.

1) What is the difference between Access ID, Connect ID and Operator ID in PeopleSoft?

2) What is the advantage of writing the peoplecode at component record level?

3) When should a sub-page be used? How is it different from a page?

4) What is 'Change Control Locking'? How is it accomplished in PeopleSoft?

5) How can you set dependency between the process that are running in the process scheduler?

6) What is the difference between SQLEXEC and CreateSQL?

7) What is the advantage of writing peoplecode inside an application class?

8) What is a Rowset Cache object?

9) What are the different ways to send email from PeopleSoft?

10) What are the objects that 'people' user will access? How does an authentication take place in PeopleSoft GUI?

11) When would you use a Rowset cache object?

12) What is the difference between FieldChange and FieldEdit event?

13) When would you go for writing PeopleCode at the Component Record Field level?

14) Can you catch the exception that occur during executing SQLExec?

15) How will you set up single sign-on in PeopleSoft?

Remove Trojan.FakeAlert

Another one this time. A Trojan that infected my laptop...Mr.Trojan.FakeAlert..Before even trying to fix it, I was little curious to know what this Trojan will do..

PC Tools gave a nice description for this threat.. It says

Trojan.FakeAlert will hijack the desktop background with an image alerting the user that their computer system has been infected with spyware. It also changes some settings of windows which include:- disabling permissions for the user to change the background image and setting the active desktop to 'show web content'. It is usually installed in conjunction with a rogue anti-spyware application.

And this is what exactly happened in my laptop as well. I was not able to do a right click and change the background image for my desktop. In fact, the task manager was also blocked. Frequent alert that your PC is in high risk or infected with Spyware..At time, when I tried a 'netstat' on my PC, I found a lot of network connections open. Balloon kind pop-up messages from the system tray in the form of icons. I was even not able to open some of the EXE files. The symptoms were almost matching and I decided to get rid of this Trojan.

A problem with this Trojan is that it copies itself to a lot of files so fast. I don't have any manual instructions to remove this. But the best way would be go with spyware doctor. A round of scanning with Spyware doctor ensured that this Trojan no longer exists in the PC. Spyware doctor had also helped me earlier to remove Virtumonde, Antivirus 2008 spyware and this one. The best anti-spyware to have..



Asia Cup 2008 India Vs Pakistan Highlights

Highlights of the Asia Cup 2008 match played between India Vs Pakistan. I found some links for that..Here are they

Pakistan Innings

Sehwag Chat

Complete Highlights here

Bad Coding Practices

Here are some bad coding practices that are generally followed and needs to be checked and controlled to ensure a quality deliverable.

1) Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V of code without even understanding what the code does. This often results in problems as some more modifications might be needed post Ctrl+V.

2) Failing to do unit testing of the code. Delivering a code without testing. Sometimes, the defects just go unnoticed till production and come up as critical ones later. "If only I have tested it atleast once"..

3) Writing series of SQLs when the value(s) can be fetched in a single SQL. This is however language specific. For example

a) select F1 from T1
b) select F2 from T1
....................
..................
c) Select F3 from T1

Better to code like Select F1,F2,F3 from T1 -> right?...Minimises the number of database calls.

4) Writing a for loop and assiging a static value to a variable inside the loop. Boss, can't you declare that static variable outside the loop?

5) Pass NULL or BLANK values to bind variables in a SQL. Can't you filter it before running the SQL? This will prevent your DBA from screaming..

6) Failing to handle exceptions in code..It is always good to have an exception block..It helps..

7) Failing to write comments..Do you think you will be working in the same code forever...? Write clear comments. That is the best sign for a developer.

8) Writing obfuscated code. Do that in any code obfuscation contest..Not here.

9) Doing comparision of Boolean variable to '=TRUE' or '=FALSE'. Again this is language specific; If looks better right..

10) Writing SQLs without using Bind Variables. Use Bind Variables. It really helps in improving the performance.

PeopleSoft Interview Questions

Some of the questions that can be asked during a PeopleSoft Interview. Part I of this series..

1) What is the difference between Access ID, Connect ID and Operator ID in PeopleSoft?

2) What is the advantage of writing the peoplecode at component record level?

3) When should a sub-page be used? How is it different from a page?

4) What is 'Change Control Locking'? How is it accomplished in PeopleSoft?

5) How can you set dependency between the process that are running in the process scheduler?

6) What is the difference between SQLEXEC and CreateSQL?

7) What is the advantage of writing peoplecode inside an application class?

8) What is a Rowset Cache class?

9) What are the different ways to send email from PeopleSoft?

10) What are the objects that 'people' user will access? How does an authentication take place in PeopleSoft GUI?

3 Famous riddles

Here are 3 famous riddles...crack them if you can...

1) A woman is carrying a basket full of chocolates..While she was trying to board a bus, the basket falls on the ground.All the chocolates fell out from the basket..scattered all across the bus...Now she begins to order them and put them back in the basket..
  • If she orders them as a set of 2, she has one chocolate left.
  • If she orders them as a set of 3, she has one chocolate left.
  • If she orders them as a set of 4, she has one chocolate left.
  • If she orders them as a set of 5, she has one chocolate left.
  • If she orders them as a set of 6, she has one chocolate left
However, if she orders them as a set of 7, she does not have left overs. If this is the case, and she has more than 1000 chocolates to start with, what is the exact count of chocolates she brought with her?

2) There are two bottles of water. One is at 15 C and the other one is at 15 F. If a boy drops a coin into each of the bottles, in which bottle the coin will come to the bottom first?

3) There are 3 coins lying on a table. Two coins are touching each other. You have to place the third coin exactly in between these two coins. However, you cannot move the two coins in the process. How can this be accomplished?

Batch File Programming

Very limited resources are available across the web, that teaches how to write a batch file in Windows. Here is a neat link that describes about 'Batch File Programming'. Once you read this, you should be able to write and execute batch programs in Windows with ease. Thanks to the person who uploaded this in in scribd.

Read this document on Scribd: Batch File Programming

Pietersen switch-hit

The reverse slog sweep shot executed to perfection by Pietersen..A nice innovation...Found this video on the youtube..

Check out this article in cricinfo as well..

A video about the reaction given by Scott Styris is here.

The original video was here.

Vedic Mathematics - Video Tutorials

The best of the video tutorials available in the the web to learn Vedic Mathematics. I found them while surfing across the web. If you really want to excel in mathematics, make sure you have a copy of them and get going.

CD1

CD2 - Part 1
CD2 - Part 2

CD3 - Part I
CD3 - Part II

The original page from where I found them is here.


The Worst Interview Questions

The worst interview questions collection.. Found in Scribd. A nice one to go through..

Read this document on Scribd: The Worst Interview Questions

Classic Lateral thinking puzzles

The best of the lateral thinking puzzles found in the web..A nice compilation. If you really love solving lateral thinking puzzles, check out this for sure...you will not be disappointed..


Read this document on Scribd: Some Classic Lateral Thinking Exercises

Vitrumonde and automatic updates - fix

In my previous blog , I had described how my automatic updates were blocked due to Virtumonde. In order to fix Virtumonde, I tried scanning my laptop with the following softwares:

1) McAfee Antivirus / Antispyware -- McAfee always reported my PC to be free of any infection, even if I have one!

2) Webroot spysweeper :- Webroot spysweeper was able to detect the presence of Virtumonde;but it was not able to fix it completely.

3) Spybot :I'd earlier mentioned that Spybot fixed my problem.Sorry, I was wrong. It was still persisting after scanning and removing with Spybot.

Finally, I turned towards Spyware Doctor - the real doctor. It scanned and fixed the problem in a flash. So, I recommend using Spyware Doctor, to get rid of Virtumonde. It really works!

GABRIEL CHRISTOPHER Scam

Here is an interesting Scam which google could not identify and got into my inbox today..

ATTENTION: Winner

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Nine Hundred Thou sand Dollars (US$900,000.00 ) in the YEAR 2008 YAHOO/GOOGLE AWARD promotion which is organized by YAHOO/GOOGLE INC. for the introduction and Launching of the new YAHOO ! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! as well as all other subscribers are required to switch to.

This is to encourage both Yahoo and non Yahoo users to start using Yahoo ! Contact our Fiduciary Agent, George Grants for claims at his personal email address: grantsgeorge2@ssssss.com.

Send your Identification Numbers/Your Personal Information to him so that he will proceed with filing for your claims at the paying bank in London where your file is located.

Fill in your personal information thus: 1. Name: 2. Address 3. Marital Status: 4. Occupation: 5. Age: 6. Sex: 7. Nationality: 8. Country of Residence: 9. Telephone Number: 10:Fax number:

WARNING : ANY PRIZE NOT CLAIMED WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF NOTICE WOULD BE FORFEITED

Sincerely,

Sir Gabriel Christopher.
Online Coordinator for Yahoo Lottery

I have to really laugh at this mail..Offering a money for a non-existent award and asking for Fax number and other redundant details for the award....

Beware of such scams...

Scribd - The Streaming Paper Technology

I got introduced to this website couple of weeks back. That too through Digg, when I was trying to open a post. The official website of scribd is http://www.scribd.com/. I got extremely fascinated with the site and the way it allows the user to read a document. Scribd looks like a hybrid combination of esnips, google docs, skydrive..Here are my reasons for liking the site and the underlying technology

1) Scribd accepts all major formats like doc, docx, ppt, pptx, pdf, ps, open office formats. You can learn more about the supported formats here.

2) Scribd is a lightweight solution and does not slow down or hang your browser. It sails so smoothly giving a pleasant reading experience. I've embedded some of the documents that I saw in scribd in some of my previous blog posts.

3) Virtually unlimited space to upload your documents. A decent approval mechanism.

4) You can embed any document that you upload to any other website on the fly. User based control to prevent embedding of documents.

5) Analyze the document viewers by location and more..

6) You can automatically convert published content to PDF, MS Word or Text format.

7) An integrated community to share and receive feedback.

8) A dedicated URL for each and every uploaded document.

9) Option to flag offensive content and take immediate action.

10) Strict account termination policies for those who violate content policy.


Load Runner Materials

I found this nice book in scribd towards learning Loadrunner. If you are looking for some materials on the web, check this out.

Windows XP Performance Problems

If you are experiencing performance problems with Windows XP, then you need to tweak Windows XP to improve the performance. A lot of standard approaches can be followed for this. This document lists how to get rid of the services that consume a lot of memory and keep windows preoccupied. After going through this document you will be able to shut down services that are not required and you will see a definite improvement in your system performance.

Funny English!

Class teacher once said :

" pick up the paper and fall in the dustbin!!!"

*******************************************

once hindi teacher said...."i'm going out of the world to america.."

*******************************************

"..DON'T TRY TO TALK IN FRONT OF MY BACK.."

*******************************************

dont..laugh at the back benches...otherwise teeth and all will be fallen down.....

*******************************************

it was very hot in the afternoon when the teacher entered.. She tried to switch the fan on, but there was some problem. and then she said
" why is fan not oning" (ing form of on)

*******************************************

teacher in a furious mood...
write down ur name and father of ur name!!

*******************************************


"shhh... quiet... the principal is revolving around college"

*******************************************

My manager started like this
"Hi, I am Madhu, Married with two kids"


*******************************************

"I'll illustrate what i have in my mind" said the professor and erased the board

*******************************************

"will u hang that calender or else i'll HANG MYSELF"

*******************************************

LIBRARIAN SCOLD ," IF U WILL TALK AGAIN , I WILL KNEEL DOWN OUTSIDE"

*******************************************

Chemistry HOD comes and tells us...
"My aim is to study my son and marry my daughter"

*******************************************

Tomorrow call ur parents especially mother and father

*******************************************

"why are you looking at the monkeys outside when i am in the class?!"

*******************************************

Lab assistant said this when my friend wrote wrong code..

"I understand. You understand. Computer how understand??

********************************************

Seeing the principal passing by, the teacher told the noisy class..

"Keep quiet, the principal has passed away"

********************************************

You go and understand the tree..(to tell the student to stand under the tree)

********************************************

Tomorrow, I want your Mummy. (To tell the student to bring his Mummy towards complaints)

********************************************


How to Get More Diggs - Not Recommended Approaches

1) A common notion that Digg is all about fascinating caption. If you have a caption like, ’10 best ways of….’ Etc it will catch the attention of the user. This is not true always. Never think that you will get 1000 Diggs if you prepare an article like that and post it in Digg. It is the quality of the article that matters.

2) Avoid plagiarized content in Digg. Somehow, it does not attract people and help you in getting more Diggs.

3) Somewhere in the web, I read that if you write best about Firefox or write bad about Microsoft, you will get more Diggs. I suspect if the writer is against Microsoft for some reason. Again, throw such notions off. They will hardly help you in getting more Diggs.

4) No spam post. Pretending to convey an information, and conveying something in the actual page. Remember, there is an option to ‘Bury’ your post in Digg.

5) Do not give repetitive links to the same video and post it again in Digg. This is similar to taking something from Digg and posting it in a different blog and submitting it again to Digg.

6) Don’t beg to get Diggs. Give a quality article and you are sure to get Diggs. Just focus on quality and you are done.

7) Do not create multiple logins and use it to Digg your posts.

Doubling Firefox speed

My PC was too slow with Windows XP running on 256 MB RAM. I can't even imaging opening IE in the machine. Firefox was good, but was again slow when I tried multiple tabs. I started searching in the web to tweak Firefox to increase the speed. This document in scribd helped me to get a decent enough speed. Check this out. It might help you also.


Read this doc on Scribd: [TUTORIAL] How to Double Firefox Speed

Toughest Interview Question

A nice book found in scribd to answer the toughest interview questions.


Tales of Panchatantra

I found this document in scribd today. 'Tales of Panchatantra'. Very popular book in India. Moral based stories providing nice morals to children.

Java Interview Questions

Common Numbering Problem Faced in MS Word 2007

The most common problem that almost 70% of the MSWord Users face can be described as provided below. Suppose that I’ve sections like this in my word document
Heading1
Heading1.1
Heading1.1.1
Heading2
Heading2.1
Heading2.1.1
Now, with the text provided above, it is required to get the numbering in this order.
1 Heading1
1.1 Heading1.1
1.1.1 Heading1.1.1
2 Heading2
2.1 Heading2.1
2.1.1 Heading2.1.1
But in reality, most of us will have problem in creating such a list and will end up with a list like this
1 Heading1
1.1 Heading1.1
1.1.1 Heading1.1.1
2 Heading2
1.2Heading2.1
1.1.2 Heading2.1.1
I’ve highlighted the erroneous ones for easy viewing. I thought I will provide a cleaner solution for this using Multilevel list in Office 2007. This tutorial is specific to office 2007 and not with other versions.
So, how do I go about to solve this problem? The best way is not to associate any ‘numbered’ style to your headings. Just have the headings and then specify a multilevel list to get the job done.
So, click on ‘Multilevel list’ and then click ‘Define New Multilevel List’. Following window appears
Choose ‘1’ under ‘Click level to Modify’and leave all other parameters as it is.


Now click on ‘2’ under ‘Click level to Modify’ and follow the steps as provided below
  1. Choose ‘Include level number from’ as ‘Level1’
  2. Now, choose ‘Number style for this level’ as 1,2,3..
  3. You will get a screen like this




Note that if we want the numbering to come as “1.1” then we have to place a ‘dot’ between the two ‘1’ under ‘Enter formatting for number’.
We are not done yet. Click on ‘3’ now under ‘Level to Modify’. This time choose both Level 1 and Level2 in the same order for ‘Include level number from’ drop down . After this, select the number style as 1,2,3.. As in the previous case, a dot needs to be placed between the numbers manually. We will get a screen like this
Now type a ‘tab’ separated level text as show below
Heading 1
Heading1.1
Heading1.1.1
Heading2
Heading2.1
Heading2.1.1
Select the text as a whole and select the multilevel list pattern that we have just defined. Alas! See what you get now!
While, defining the list you can specify the text indent position to make sure that you get the correct number format.