linux, microsoft, dos and other software

Here is the way to solve Asus K61IC screen flickering

2011-02-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, here is a solution for the problem that annoys you so far. I thought to write this post because I personally suffered from that. And I thought for a while I will never buy expensive laptops again.

So here are the symptoms I experienced during screen flicking period. This screen flickering happens 5 months after I bought the laptop. It is very random and sometimes screen flickers so that you 2-3 times a minute and sometimes few times for an hour. Screen becomes black/vertical lines as it flickers. And I noticed that it gets worse when it is on battery power.

I was able to figure out this as not related to software/driver issue. So it is basically a hardware problem that caused it.

This is how I solved it.

1. Unplug A/C power

2. Remove the battery

3. Remove back cover carefully (cases which cover hard drive and processor).

4. Now you can see processor (CPU), rams and graphic card (GPU).

5. Blow away all the dust in chips and then in cooling units of cpu and gpu using a blower. (never touch chips, soldering with your hand)

6. Adjust cables which have hinges and connectors just to verify them successfully connected.

7. Now replace the covers and you're done.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Study Centre :: Climate Change Knowledge Base

2011-02-11T12:01:00.000-08:00

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Study Centre :: Climate Change Knowledge Base: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

How to prevent your computer from virus

2009-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

1. Install a good antivirus and internet security software.

2. Disable autorun feature in windows (for removable media). Virus commonly use autorun.inf to initiate infect to your computer. So it is recommended to desable this feature by means of a software or editing windows registry. (Please back up your registry before editing it if you are not famaliar with it.) Type regedit in run to open registry editor.

To Modify these Registry Settings, Use Regedit and navigate to the following Key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
-> Software
-> Microsoft
-> Windows
-> CurrentVersion
-> Policies
-> Explorer
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"

The default value for the setting is 95 0 0 0. Change the first two digits to 91. Restart the computer to make the new setting take effect.

3. Start using Linux as dual boot (windows and Linux in one computer). Only a few viruses are there and that too does not work in latest Linux editions and you can manually delete virus when you are in Linux. (You can also use Linux live CD if you do not wish to have linux installed on your PC)

4. Update your Operating system for security updates. The OS company generally releases security patches regulary and these patches will really protect you.

5. Use strong passwords for your user accounts and try to work in limited account mode(virus cannot always start in these accounts, they need administrator account)

Eg: Do not use this kind of passwords; hackers already know them
explorer, exchange, customer, nobody, codeword, codename, changeme, security, secure,public, office, supervisor, superuser, secret, computer, nothing, nopassword,nopass, love123, boss123, work123, home123, mypc123, temp123, test123, qwe123, abc123, pass123

6. Avoid using any softwares from some piracy sites or free sites or file sharing sites. The softs on these sites are generally coming with viruses attached to them.

7. Use Firefox for browsing, it is safer, faster than IE.

New operating system from google (Google Chrome OS)

2009-07-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

According to Google blog, "Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work."

Google is unlikely to charge for Chrome OS. The company wants you to get online fast, have a whale of a time... and use as many Google services as you can: from search to email, social networking to photo sharing, word processing, to watching films on YouTube. It is yet another incarnation of the company's "Google everywhere" strategy.

According to my experience, there is no exception for searches and mail other than Google, but Google Chrome the web browser is not popular and few people knows about there is application like Google Doc. And I hope new kind of OS will be here in the near future and hope it would be genius like mail and search.

Robotic Therapy Holds Promise For Cerebral Palsy

2009-06-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

"Robotic therapy can potentially help reduce impairment and facilitate neuro-development of youngsters with cerebral palsy," says Hermano Igo Krebs, principal research scientist in mechanical engineering and one of the project's leaders.

Krebs and others at MIT, including professor of mechanical engineering Neville Hogan, pioneered the use of robotic therapy in the late 1980s, and since then the field has taken off.

"We started with stroke because it's the biggest elephant in the room, and then started to build it out to other areas, including cerebral palsy as well as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury," says Krebs.

The team's suite of robots for shoulder-and-elbow, wrist, hand and ankle has been in clinical trials for more than 15 years with more than 400 stroke patients. The Department of Veterans Affairs has just completed a large-scale, randomized, multi-site clinical study with these devices.

All the devices are based on the same principle: that it is possible to help rebuild brain connections using robotic devices that gently guide the limb as a patient tries to make a specific movement.

When the researchers first decided to apply their work to children with cerebral palsy, Krebs was optimistic that it would succeed, because children's developing brains are more plastic than adults', meaning they are more able to establish new connections.

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A Robot That Reads Your Intention?

2009-06-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

The walking, talking, thinking robots of science fiction are far removed from the automated machines of today. Even today's most intelligent robots are little more than slaves – programmed to do our bidding.

Many research groups are trying to build robots that could be less like workers and more like companions. But to play this role, they must be able to interact with people in natural ways, and play a pro-active part in joint tasks and decision-making. We need robots that can ask questions, discuss and explore possibilities, assess their companion's ideas and anticipate what their partners might do next.

The EU-funded JAST project (http://www.euprojects-jast.net/) brings a multidisciplinary team together to do just this. The project explores ways by which a robot can anticipate/predict the actions and intentions of a human partner as they work collaboratively on a task.

Who knows best?

You cannot make human-robot interaction more natural unless you understand what 'natural' actually means. But few studies have investigated the cognitive mechanisms that are the basis of joint activity (i.e. where two people are working together to achieve a common goal).

A major element of the JAST project, therefore, was to conduct studies of human-human collaboration. These experiments and observations could feed into the development of more natural robotic behaviour.

The researchers participating in JAST are at the forefront of their discipline and have made some significant discoveries about the cognitive processes involved in joint action and decision-making. Most importantly, they scrutinised the ways in which observation plays an important part in joint activity.

Scientists have already shown that a set of 'mirror neurons' are activated when people observe an activity. These neurons resonate as if they were mimicking the activity; the brain learns about an activity by effectively copying what is going on. In the JAST project, a similar resonance was discovered during joint tasks: people observe their partners and the brain copies their action to try and make sense of it.

In other words, the brain processes the observed actions (and errors, it turns out) as if it is doing them itself. The brain mirrors what the other person is doing either for motor-simulation purposes or to select the most adequate complementary action.

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Bringing Boys And Girls To Computer Science With 'Alice'

2009-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

With support from the National Science Foundation, she and collaborators nationwide are using the power of storytelling to draw younger students into programming. An animation program called "Alice," invented by the late Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University, allows student programmers of all ages to create their own worlds without realizing they're actually writing code.

Rodger recalled the rush of introducing fourth-to-sixth graders to Alice during an annual event that brings elementary school girls to the Duke campus to meet with female professors.

"They learned Alice for half an hour, and then they got to create a world with it," Rodger said. "'Oh, wow, look!' they told each other. 'Come here. Show me. Look at this!' They were creating little stories with Alice, and in the process they were programming. They didn't know they were doing programming, but they were."

At Alice summer camps for middle-schoolers at Duke, "students were very engaged with Alice and were always asking for more time to work on their own worlds," Rodger reported at the March 2009 Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education in Chattanooga, Tenn. "After five or six hours of Alice each day, we still had difficulty getting them to stop, turn off their Alice worlds and logoff at the end of the day."

A trojan is collecting FTP information from popular websites such as Amazon, the BBC, Symantec,

2009-06-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

According to Jacques Erasmus, the CTO of security tools firm Prevx, he recently came across the "biggest compromise of its type," referring to a "cybercrime" server where a trojan is uploading FTP login information captured from infected machines. What makes this particular trojan so spectacular is the source credentials it is stealing: Amazon, Monster, McAfee, Symantec, and thousands more high profile sites, comprising a list of more than 68,000.

Earlier today, Erasmus told The Register that this type of breach would be bad news for the compromised sites, as hackers could upload drive-by download scripts and other harmful applications. The company's initial investigation showed that the FTP information was collected over the past few weeks, and that some of the information remains valid. Previx has contacted many organizations already including Bank of America and more.

Read more

Vista buyers to get free Windows 7

2009-06-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that prices for the Windows 7 computer operating system are largely in line with those for Vista, and that people who buy PCs before the new system goes on sale in October will get free upgrades.

To drum up demand among people who aren't in the market for a new PC, Microsoft also said it is taking limited pre-orders for Windows 7, selling some for as little as $50.

People who buy Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate computers starting Friday can contact their manufacturer for a free upgrade when Windows 7 becomes available on Oct. 22.

As a result, Microsoft said it will defer recognition of an expected $200 million to $300 million in Windows revenue until later quarters.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said it will cost people $120 to upgrade their existing machines to the Windows 7 Home Premium version, $10 less than the comparable Windows Vista package. Upgrades to the Professional and Ultimate versions will cost $200 and $220 respectively, the same as Vista.

The cost is identical regardless of whether the upgraded machine was running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Versions meant to be installed from scratch on a computer will cost $200, $300 and $320 for Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate.

By comparison, Apple Inc. said in early June that upgrades to its newest operating system, called Mac OS X Snow Leopard, will cost $30.

For customers buying new machines, the cost of the Windows software is typically included in the purchase price. The prices announced Thursday are for people who buy Windows separately or upgrade from older versions.

GOOGLE FUN / Magic ......... Really amazing .........

2009-06-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

I found this code from an email which I received from a friend. So I do not know person whom I

Try this …

It's really cool...

1. Go to Google

2. Click images

3. Type 'flowers' or any other word.

4. You will get a page which is having full of images

5. Then delete the URL from the address bar and paste the
below script:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI= document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; ix3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0)

6. See the magic of programming

Microsoft is poised to start giving away security software

2009-06-13T03:54:00.000-07:00

The company is reportedly trialling free anti-virus software internally and said the beta version would be released "soon".

Called Morro, the software will tackle viruses but lack the broader range of utilities, such as parental locks, found in paid-for security suites.

Morro will be Microsoft's second venture in the highly competitive security market.

Microsoft's first attempt revolved around the Windows Live OneCare service that did not succeed in turning many customers away from rivals such as Symantec and McAfee.

Microsoft plans to discontinue Live OneCare once the Morro software is ready.

No specific date has been given for when Morro will be released, but in the past Microsoft has said it would be out by the end of 2009 at the latest.

Microsoft said Morro would tackle viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Janice Chaffin, Symantec's president of consumer products, said customers wanted more than just basic protection.

"A full internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected," she said.

Security software for home PCs typically cost around £30-40 and often allow users to install protections on more than one computer.

Other companies, such as AVG and Alwil already produce and distribute free anti-virus products. Read more at BBC

Virtual police patrol China web

2009-06-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

Chinese authorities are to send two virtual police officers to patrol the internet, in a bid to combat "illicit activities", state media has reported.

The animated figures, a man and a woman, will appear on users' screens every 30 minutes "to remind them of internet security", China Daily said.

They will appear on news portals from Saturday and then on all Beijing sites and forums by the end of the year.

The Chinese government censors all internet and media content.

It blocks content it deems politically or morally threatening, but some users have found ways to circumvent government controls.

'Protect netizens'

The virtual officers will appear either on foot, on motorbikes or riding in a car.

They would "be on watch for websites that incite secession, promote superstition, gambling and fraud", the China Daily said, citing Beijing's Municipal Public Security Bureau.

"It is our duty to wipe out information that does public harm and disrupts social order," the newspaper quoted the bureau's deputy chief of Internet surveillance, Zhao Hongzhi, as saying.

He said the virtual police officers would protect "netizens" from harm.

Users will be able to click on the icons to connect to the bureau's Internet Surveillance Centre, where they can report illegal activities, Mr Zhao said.

China has experienced an internet boom in recent years. It is thought there are more than 120 million web surfers, a figure second only to the US.

The Chinese government has tens of thousands of real security officers monitoring the web and it regularly jails activists who have posted online messages criticising the government.

China's computers at hacking risk

2009-06-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Every PC in China could be at risk of being taken over by malicious hackers because of flaws in compulsory government software.

The potential faults were brought to light by Chinese computer experts who said the flaw could lead to a "large-scale disaster".

The Chinese government has mandated that all computers in the country must have the screening software installed.

It is intended to filter out offensive material from the net.

The Chinese government said that the Green Dam Youth Escort software, as it is known, was intended to push forward the "healthy development of the internet" and "effectively manage harmful material for the public and prevent it from being spread."

"We found a series of software flaws," explained Isaac Mao, a blogger and social entrepreneur in China, as well as a research fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

For example, he said, tests had shown that communications between the software and the servers at the company that developed the program were unencrypted.

Mr Mao told BBC News that this could allow hackers to "steal people's private information" or "place malicious script" on computers in the network to "affect [a] large scale disaster."

For example, a hacker could use malicious code to take control of PCs using the software.

"Then you have every computer in China potentially as part of a botnet," Colin Maclay, also of Harvard, told BBC News.

A botnet is the name given to a network of hijacked computers that can then be used to pump out spam or launch concerted attacks on commercial or government websites.

No one from Jinhui Computer System Engineering, the company that developed Green Dam, was available for comment.

Restoration of Windows operating system and solve problems

2009-06-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

Restoration of windows operating system or back dating of windows setting is a good tool to overcome some critical problems. According my experience, many problems lead to restoration is caused by computer malwares. These malicious programmes corrupt, change or delete some important files of the operating system which lead to error messages, slow down speed, non responsiveness etc. So we can undo this by restoration of the system.

First boot in to safe mode by hitting F8 when system boots and log in to a admin privileged account. In accessories -> system tools -> system restore you can enter in to the restoration wizard. Then select a previous date that highlighted as "system check point" as well as before your computer last had a healthy time and continue with that date. The computer will take some time then restart. And please don't remember to enter into safe mode again when system restarts.

When you are in safe mode you can delete malicious softwares in your computer hard drive and prevent them from reinfecting after restoration. These are normally hidden and you can fin d how to view them in my blog (another post).

Windows Safe mode is intended for maintenance, not functionality

2009-06-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

Windows operating system in safe mode will have reduced functionality, but the capability of diagnosing problems is easier because many non-core components are disabled (turned off). You have to boot into its safe mode when it has a major problem, such as disk corruption, uninstallation of some software that cannot be done in normal mode, the installation of poorly configured software that prevents the operating system from successfully booting into its normal operating mode.

In order to access the Windows' safe mode, you have press F8 key when the system boots. Also, in a multi-boot environment with multiple versions of Windows and Linux installed side by side, the F8 key can be pressed at soon after selecting the operating system.

Though it varies by operating system, typically safe mode loads as few executable modules as possible and usually disables devices, except for the minimum necessary to display information and accept input. Safe mode can also take the form of a parallel "miniature" operating system that has no configuration information shared with the normal operating system.

Safe mode typically provides access to utility and diagnostic programs so a user can troubleshoot what is preventing the operating system from working normally. Safe mode is intended for maintenance, not entertain, and provides minimal access to features which often frustrates users who are only aware that their computer "isn't working, but safe mode works".

As safe mode is a troubleshooting method, you can use safe mode to remove drivers and software that are not accessible in normal mode. Delete files that are also non accessible due to many reason like malware and registry errors.

Google Wave Begins

2009-06-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Google Wave is a browser-based tool that mixes e-mail, with Instant Messaging and real-time online collaboration elements. Google Wave co-creator Lars Rasmussen wrote on the official Google blog: "A wave is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more".

"In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly".

According to developers, they describe it as twenty first century email. And it currently opened only for developers and they stated that it is open source. It has a powerful spell checker as well, as seen on their released video of Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009. It is a great development and I am waiting for it. Good luck Google.

Clean Development Mechanism (Carbon Credit)

2009-05-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Kyoto Protocol

Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement that arose out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to respond to climate change through a reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.

Clean Development Mechanism

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a mechanism defined under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol. It is expected that CDM will assist Parties not included in Annex 1 in achieving sustainable development. CDM will assist Annex 1 Parties in achieving compliance with their quantified emission limitations and reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

What is CER?

Kyoto Protocol allows Annex 1 parities to acquire Emission Reduction Units from projects aimed at reducing emissions of Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) or removal of GHG emissions by sinks. Once these Emission Reduction Units are certified by Designated Operational Entities, they become Certified Emission Reduction Units (CERs), which can be traded in the open market. A project that helps to save 1 tonne of CO2 per year, can claim one CER. Such a CER signifies that the project in developing country has reduced green house gas emissions by one tonne of carbon dioxide per year.
Source: www.cdmlk.co.cc

HSDPA modem in Linux operating system

2009-05-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

There are many posts in forums asking how to connect internet in Linux using HSDPA modems. I am using E220 Huwei HSDPA modem and were able to surf internet using Linux. I should first tell you that I had tried using ubuntu 8.04 but I failed. So I installed Ubuntu 8.10 and were able to do that quite simply; no coding, no editing files. Followings are the steps that I followed. First of all connect your modem and continue.

step - 1
Select configure VPN

step - 2
Follow the wizard

step - 3
Select country and service provider with correct subscription package. If your service provider is not listed here just select anyone and proceed. You can later edit this.

step - 4

step - 5

After wizard is complete select service provider to edit it, if it is not the your expected one.

step - 6

Give a name for your connection then edit APN (Access Point Name) and the number. You can obtain them from your service provider. Enjoy :)

Linux :: I will tell you how to connect to internet using Huwei E220 hsdpa modem in linux

2009-04-26T09:38:00.001-07:00

I am writing this blog to help people who are willing to surf internet while they are in open source operating systems like linux. I am using a Huwei E220 HSDPA modem and I have noticed that many people ask how to configure linux to use E220 modem. I had tried using ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10 where latest version of Ubuntu (8.10) has all the required settings for the modem. Even I did not need to enter dial number and the APN. So if you've got ubuntu 8.10 installed, only thing you have to do is just click on network connection icon and select mobile broad band and just follow the wizard.
Click here to proceed

How to recover hidden files and folders in flash drive, hard disk etc

2009-04-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

You have had faced this problem many times and some people can easily get out of this problem. When you are working with windows operating system, you identify that the files and folders in your flash drive or hard drive are not available. Don't be worry, check properties of your pen drive and you seem that capacity is still the same. So files of your flash drive is really their and probably they are hidden. They cannot be recovered by setting windows explorer to show hidden files. This is most of the time caused by computer malwares. Sometimes they hide your folders and show pseudo folders with the same name, but they not open by clicking on. They are executable files and may infect your computer once clicked (no need of clicking all the time). If you arrange your files on flash drive by type these pseudo folders are in a group like application. So beware of them don't click :).

You can use following codes to recover your files and folders.

1. Go to run and type "cmd". It will open command prompt.

2. Then type "cd\" and press enter to return to root of the drive c: (where you have installed windows in)

3. Then type "cd G:" G is referred to your flash drive letter. Type your flash drive letter there and press enter.

4. Finally type "attrib -a -s -h -r * /d /s" and press enter and wait until it will recover your files. Good luck.

Definitions of DOS commands :-

BlogUniverse

attrib means attribute of file or folder

h means hidden
r means read only
s means system file
a means archived
* means all
/d means directory
/s means sub directory
cd means change directory
cd\ means change directory to root of the drive (back to root of the drive)