Tuesday, March 30, 2010

New Blog Spot: JoyMak2010 is formed


It is a great pleasure to announce that I've created a new blog called joymak2010.

So far my current blog (makaround) carries few topics which consists of IT, leisure and personal interest. I guess it is time to do a proper category separation, thus I'll place my leisure and personal interest topics on the new blog space in the future.

As you might notice, the new blog is using the beta blogspot template system which appears more attractive & stylish. For those who has the same interest in creating own blog corner, do try out the new system :)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Fake & Real Facebook Login Page: Do spread the news

Notice the top pic is the fake login page, the bottom is the real page (according to the news)

Just received a post from a friend at Facebook where news stated there are fake Facebook login page with very close similarity tend to confuse users.

According to the news, the fake page will obtain user's detail on user name & password (aka phishing). This info allows the criminal to access user's account, change settings and pretend as user him/herself & perform potential crime or fraud. Such act will cause user lose access to their account forever & accused on things they didn't do.

I hereby hope those who read this post to act more caution in future & spread this info to others for public benefit. Below is the Chinese version of the news (copied from Facebook post):

最受欢迎的社交网站Facebook证实有黑客将矛头对准它的用户群骗取他们的密码。
黑客使用网钓(Phishing)的手法,模范Facebook网站的设计设立了冒牌Facebook网站,骗取用户输入自己的密码。在获取密码后,黑客就可登录用户的Facebook账号,然后再将这个冒牌Facebook网站的连接发送给其他的朋友再进一步骗取他们的密码。就这样一传十,十传百的传播开来。

有鉴于此,Facebook 决定采取行动,一旦发现形迹可疑的账号(例如发送大量讯息给其他朋友等等)就会向用户确认身份。如果发现账号已经被黑客所控制,甚至会终止账号。除此之外,Facebook 发言人也劝告用户必须时时小心,确保自己所登录的是真正的Facebook网站才输入密码。

Friday, March 19, 2010

What I might Buy in PC Fair

PC Fair, a common term for all IT fans in Malaysia which held 3 times yearly where you have the chance to obtain some good IT offers. Some said the local fair is nothing but a chance for manufacturer to obtain cash by selling not so advance tools, yet you might get what you want within your budget. Although it used to be very crowded, I still like to pay visit when I'm free. 

The next PC Fair event should be held on April 2010 and will be a 3 days function as usual. So what might be the good bargain you can get? Let me comprise my favourite here:

1. Notebook / Netbook
Most of the participating notebook manufacturers offer attractive deal like new model with advance features & extended warranty period. If you plan to buy a notebook @ netbook, don't miss this chance.

2. LCD / LED Monitor
The price offered might not differ much, but chances you might get more freebies where you are not offered usually. The only drawback is you need to carry the big box & walk the distance......

3. Speaker set with sub Woofer
All the branded manufacturers display their products at the dedicated corner with extreme loud boom boom sound...... For the sake of your ears, make sure you don't spend too much time there :)

4. Antivirus
Promotions offered target on group users such as family pack which consists 3-5 users with low price.

5. Data Storage Device (Thumb drive, flash card, mobile hard disk etc.)
Some brands offer simple contest & lucky draw.

6. Digital Camera
Attractive offer with low price & lots of useful freebies, eg. memory card, spare battery, tripod......

Of course there are other accessories with low price as well, so make wise choice & enjoy shopping!


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Great Mission Accomplished: Recover Unbootable Windows 7


Just received a PC unit which unable to start last Sunday night. Based on the info provided, my initial thought was the graphic card might be causing problem. However after detailed inspection, it seems the system can start up till BIOS then remain black. 

That means several possibilities: The PC might be virus infected, the Windows 7 is crashed (coz can't even enter safe mode), the boot up segment is corrupted. After isolate chances of hardware faulty, I proceed with caution as Windows 7 is still very new & I believe not many has on hand experience on handling such case. 

After 2 days of technical research & attempt, the system is finally back to normal with all data & files remain intag (the just rectified unit is still next to me when I wrote this post). However I must admit the remedy process took hours & is a hassle journey. To keep it short, it requires you to have a Password Reset Tool as the system was locked after corrupted (lucky still able to access), a Recovery Tool to generate new start file, and finally Windows 7 Repair Tool to run a detail repair sequence.

So next time if anyone of you need my help on similar situation, do let me know (Charges may be applied though :) )

Thursday, March 4, 2010

3 Cases

 

It has been quite busy weeks since Chinese New Year where I am glad to be in more business tasks. However I also experienced couple of odd IT cases. I hereby finalized in 3:

1. A notebook was handed to me before CNY where client complained the system tend to hang quite frequent if left unattended. Since client has nothing important to backup, thus I proceed to recover it to its default factory condition & tested it for few hours. The result seems fine so I passed it back to the client. However not for long the client mentioned the same problem occur. This time I observed the incident myself where Vista hang just after 20 minutes...... Hmm, where could be wrong? The best conclusion I managed to find (and agreed by client) is that probably the notebook used to reside in the room with 1 house use stand fan thus the heat generated by the Duo Core system can't dispersed properly. 

Solution? I advised client to allow me to deliver the unit back to the service center for detail inspection since the unit is roughly 1 year.

2. One of the P4 machine declared motherboard faulty. After replacing it with one new motherboard with similar chipset, it seems fine overall until I noticed 1 weird thing - There was no sound even I'm sure I've installed the sound driver properly. This is very rare as it is very seldom new component not working for the 1st time (in Chinese it is called "衰 SUI" if you experienced it). I tried many approaches to rectify the issue but no vail. Finally thanks to internet I managed to find the solution, the problem was cause by the Registy setting in Windows. The way to solve it was quite tricky & messy but gladly it works at the end where I managed to deliver it back to client on time.

3. I was handling a brand new Belkin N router. I'm sure I made the correct approach where I did my reading before I start operate it. So far I noticed the new model is different from the previous kind where the auto detect & configuration feature is no longer available. The new one requires you to follow the step by step setting using the CD provided. However this is also where I was stuck - The process keeps failing in the initial stage where it keeps stating it can't detect any successful network connection between the notebook & the router. I've double checked the brand new network cable & confirmed it is under good state. So what else could be wrong? 

After 1 hour plus of trial, I declared "this is it" & decided I need further testing with this unit. The result of testing was pleased as I managed to proceed to the last setting process & makes the wireless network worked as plan. Suddenly I realized something could be the cause of the issue. The notebook I was using earlier is a Windows 7 which carries mild but not less security restrictions compared with Vista.

I am glad to have chances to deal with these cases where once again I gained more knowledge & realized some new facts. I'm sure I know what to do in future if similar incidents happen again (at least I can pretend to act like pro :) ).