Engine Problem?

For the past few weeks, driving to work has been different. When the car reaches 50 kph, a louder than usual noise can be heard from the engine. It gets even louder at 90 kph. Strangely the noise dissapear above 100 kph. Checked on the web to see whether I can find something useful. Some spent about RM500 to get the problem fixed. Some have to leave the car at the workshop for a week. Argh!!! This worries me alot as CNY is approaching fast.

Sent to the service center & got it repaired in an hour time & the best part - free of charged, as it's covered under warranty. What a relieve !!! Apparently, the problem was caused by the faulty back wheel bearing. Initially I thought it was the engine problem.

PDF Spam Reemerges

I blogged about PDF Spam in August. They have slow down in harrassing email users of late. But they are back in business. Read more about it HERE.

Got a Pirated Copy of Windows XP ?

It's irritating what a pirated Windows XP can do. You will constantly get a message below.













At the taskbar, you will be seing the below.








There's a solution to this. To remove the irritating messages, go to this site to download a piece of program. Once the download completed, double click the file & follow the step by step instruction. Shutdown & re-start your pc.

Another Free Antivirus

Viruses are pain in the ass!!! Kill them before they kill you. So just how do you protect your computer from this menaces ?

Use antivirus software. Download one free today. Use AVAST HOME EDITION

Free Firewall

Firewall software will stop unauthorised access to your computer. Well, if you are using Windows XP, it does comes with the built in firewall. But that's not good enough.

Try Comodo Firewall, it's free. Yup! They are not kidding when they say it is available for download - free forever! No charges!

Shower Heater Kaput

This shower heater has been serving as well for more than 6 years.

It broke down last week. One of its internal part kaput.

Well, I'm gonna get a new one in 2 weeks time. Claimed a shower heater using credit card points.

Free Dictionary

Try it try it !!! Click here to access the dictionary

How To Get Show Desktop Icon

The 'Show Desktop' will comes in handy if you have many programs opened & you need to toggle in between the programs & the desktop. So how to get that icon back if you have accidentally deleted it ?


No sweat!! Open Notepad. Key in the following lines into Notepad.

[Shell]

Command=2

IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]

Command=ToggleDesktop

OK now, save the file to your desktop as follow

"Show Desktop.scf"

You will need to include " as part of the filename.

The icon should be on your desktop now.

How to Achieve Job Satisfaction?

Found this on online job's site. Worth reading.
---------------------------------------------

How to Achieve Job Satisfaction?

By Anastasia Yvette Lee


Human beings strive to seek satisfaction in every aspect of their life. From satisfying their basic primal needs, hunger, thirst, rest and social interaction, the complex society today has its share of goals and fulfilment that should be achieved by individuals. This set of goals and fulfilment includes securing a good job, preferably with a good pay and hopefully, with job satisfaction.

Why the wishful thinking in the latter part? Is it so hard to achieve job satisfaction?

What is satisfaction anyway? Human beings are known for their nature of being hard to please. It is human nature to be inquisitive and curious.

The insatiable thirst for knowledge and incessant desire and craving for something new are factors which determine the never ending quest of humans striving for "satisfaction" in every aspect of their life.

Just look at the technology today and that of 20 years ago. From the simple telephone, we have now mobile phones in all shapes and sizes, with specifications and features which are unimaginable two decades ago - it is part of the human quest for satisfaction in life.

So, if you are looking for a simple step-by-step guide on how to find job satisfaction, you are in for a disappointment. This article only presents to you the nature of satisfaction and how some people actually find job satisfaction on their own.

However, there is a general rule of thumb - change your mindset and be realistic in your expectations. Try out these tips:

Embrace Changes

Acknowledge Differences

Forgive Yourself

Forgive Others

Be Positive, Discard Negative Thoughts

EMBRACE CHANGES

Accept the fact that things may change - people change and you may also change over time. Embrace changes and you will find that, you just might be a step closer to job satisfaction.

Bear in mind that what brings you satisfaction today may not be so in the future.

There is no one set rule of how to be satisfied with your job. There is also no fixed guideline on how to overcome challenges at work into a motivation for you to achieve job satisfaction.



ACKNOWLEDGE DIFFERENCES

For a gardener with eight mouths to feed at home, the meaning of job satisfaction may be to bring home his daily pay of RM15 and to ensure that his wife has the means to put the needed food on the table. For a top executive with a five-figure salary, job satisfaction is no longer a matter of daily survival - unlike the aforementioned gardener - it may be a matter of fulfilling his own personal goals and meeting other set objectives and aims of his organisation. With such a broad definition and interpretation of satisfaction, we are back to square one - How to achieve job satisfaction?

Can happiness bring you satisfaction? Yes, to a certain extent. Those who are wiser will say that satisfaction equates happiness and contentment. How to be happy then? It is when you are contented and satisfied. And how do we do that - you may ask?

"It is all in the mind" - a cliché which applies to almost everything in life - including in your quest for job satisfaction.



FORGIVE YOURSELF

Be kind to yourself. Most people who find it hard to achieve job satisfaction are normally too harsh on themselves. Do not blame yourself if things do not turn out as you expect them to be. Admit your weaknesses but do not disparage yourself in any way.

Always remember that regardless of what others say about you, they cannot make you feel bad about yourself until you allow yourself to do so.

In other words, forgive yourself for making mistakes because after all, "to err is human". Build up your self-esteem and self-confidence to perform better the next time around.

Once you accept your own shortcomings and come to terms with your limitation, you are on the right path to achieving job satisfaction.



FORGIVE OTHERS

Your quest for job satisfaction is one that should be taken alone but along the way, you need to work with others and answer to your bosses. Hence the need for you to accept the fact that you cannot please everybody.

Learn to forgive others who actually seemed to have tried to sabotage your plans and career advancement. Holding grudges can be a temporary measure to express anger but you should learn how to let go of the feelings of ill-will against those who have wronged you at work and free yourself of the unnecessary stress.

By being angry with others or by being frustrated with your surrounding, you are only subjecting yourself to more hurt and pain while others have almost no inkling of how troubled you are and they might just perform better than yourself while you were still wallowing in self-pity or anger.

This is where you learn to let go of your bruised ego and actually try to accept things as they are and forgive others. Accept the work environment and only then will you strive to improve on things.



BE POSITIVE, DISCARD NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

It can never be overemphasised that being positive and feeling good about yourself are very important - especially in your quest for job satisfaction.

One can choose to look at the bright side of things or choose to harbour negative thoughts whenever a situation crops up at work which may disrupt the daily routine or normal flow at the workplace.

A saying which holds true till today is "Everything happens for a reason - you may not know it know but when the time comes, you will know" which is similar to "It is all fated" - which means that there is little that you can do in these situations.

So you are helpless and can't do anything to change the situation. So what? Knowing that there are things which are beyond your control is a form of strength. Learn to be positive and do not allow negative thoughts to consume your mind.

By acknowledging your limitations, you are not letting yourself down but are accepting yourself for who you are and from there, you can strive to further improve yourself and push yourself to the limit in your future endeavours.

Problems and challenges are two similar yet different situations - be negative and it will be a problem - be positive and treat it as a challenge.

The problem is - do you want to change your mindset? The challenge is - can you embrace your limitations and be happy with them?

Skype Phising

OK, just what the heck is Skype Phising ?

Hacker tries to steal your Skype login id & password. Skype user will be lured to a fake Skype website in which they will be asked to key in their id & password. Just like how hacker steal your id & password on a banking site.

So, beware!

Stay Alert All Time

From the way I see it, crime is on the rise. Kidnap, murder, roberry, rape, illegal racing, you named it. What's going to happened next ?

Which Type Are You ?

If you want to buy something, especially if it involves in huge sum of money, will you actually look at your financial strength / position first before putting your signature on the dots ? Evaluates back what's left of your income after minus off the expenses. Otherwise, how will you get the extra money to pay off the new commitment ?

But there are some people will boldly take up the new commitment & worry of the repayment later. To them, its a challenged. If they never do that, they will never ever get what they wanted. They will put in the extra effort / hard work after they got what they want.

Which type are you ?

Buying A Pc or Notebook ?

Now, there are so many brands & models of pcs & notebooks out there, so which will you go for ?

Firstly, get a pc is don't need a computer to follow you where ever you go. Major things to consider when getting a pc or notebook :-

1. Look at the processor. Recommended to get Intel. Latest one now, the Core 2 Duo model (Quad is also available, but I guess not many people will go for this higher model, unless you are a heavy gamer). If you have some extra budget, the higher clock speed the better, ie: 3Ghz.

2. Get lots of RAM. The latest specs I have seen, computer comes with 1GB RAM. Well, the more RAM installed in your computer, the better it is. Have some cash to spare? Get more RAM.

3. After sales service support. Don't forget to keep the receipt. It will be useful if your computer breakdown within a year. You might also want to do advanced research before buying from the shop. You don't wanna end up going back to the shop & found that it has been closed down for good.

Regardless of what brand or model you get, keep in mind these 3 important things.

World Largest Cargo Ship

Now get ready for this info.:

World's Largest Cargo Ship Get a load of this ship! 15,000 containers and a 207' beam! And look at the crew size (13) for a ship longer than US aircraft carriers, which have complements of 5,000 men and officers. Think it's big enough? Notice that 207' beam means it was NOT designed for the Panama or Suez canal . It is strictly transpacific. Check out the "cruise speed". 31 mph means the goods arrive four days before the typical container ship traveling at 18 to 20 mph on a China-to-California run. So this behemoth is hugely competitive when carrying perishable goods.This ship was built in three, perhaps as many as five sections. The sections floated together and then welded. It is named Emma Maersk. The command bridge is higher than a ten story building and has eleven rigs that can operate simultaneously.

Additional info:
Country of origin - Denmark
Length - 1,302 ft
Width - 207 ft
Net cargo - 123,200 tons
Engine - 14 in-line cylinders diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
Cruise Speed - 31 mi/h
Cargo capacity - 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 ft3 container)
Crew - 13 people
First Trip - Sept. 08, 2006
Construction cost - US $145,000,000+

Gold Plated MacBook

Yup! You seen it right. It's the gold plated Apple MacBook. Plated in 24-karat gold & diamond accents. Customised for Apple's rich & famous customer.

*drooling* Who want this for as birthday gift ?
Yeahhh... dream on! :D

And you are complaining of ???

Take a good look at the pics. What's the first thing that come across your mind ?

Is Success Complete Without . . .

What does the word SUCCESS means to some men ?

Being a businessman ? Making profits all year round ? Business expanding ? Owning big cars ? Luxury house or castle ? Beautiful wives, either legal or black market one.

But are you really sucessful if you can't even treat your family right ? Neglecting your wife & kids ? Showing no respect for family members ?

Think about it. Appreciate them when they are still around & stand by your side.

Remove Spyware, Adware

Surfing the Net ? Then this is a must for your pc. Download Spybot Search & Destory to clean your pc from spywares or adwares infection. As you surf net, this menace (spywares & adwares) crawls into your pc without you realising it. Not only it makes your pc slower, it causes your Internet slow down too.

Pc Slow ?

If your computer is running very slow as time goes, before you head to a computer shop for upgrade or buy a new one, here are something you can do. Sometimes, upgrading the cpu or memory is not helping in long run.

A lot of reasons causes the slowness :-

1. Unnecessary programs are being loaded when Windows started.
   Ok fine! So how the heck do you know what programs are being loaded ? Easy, just download this tool - AutoRuns. Believe me, you will be surprised of what you are about to see. If you still at lost or need help on this, ok lah, I can do some charity work for you. Drop your email on the comment box & I shall revert back to you.
   
   
2. As time goes, there will be more & more files, program or softwares being installed into your pc. These files are scattered all around the hard disk. Just like in a building with multiple floors & blocks, you will need to walk long way, take the lift, going up & the stairs to reach your intended offices. This is what happened in your hard disk. Just imagine how nice if the few offices you will like to go is just a short walking distance, same floor & just beside your office. Ok now, so how to make your files properly organised in a way that, Windows will spent lesser time to search for the files & the files can be retrieve much faster ? Click here for the answer.
   
   
3. Programs not properly configured.
   Some softwares check for updates when you goes online. Not only it slows down your pc by taking some processing power of your cpu, it also steal the Internet bandwidth. Take note of the followings.
   
   
   • Disabled your Windows Automatic Updates. If you really need it, you can always perform the update 2 weeks once.
     
     
   • If you have antivirus or antispyware software installed, ensure the automatic scheduled scanning is not running at odd time. Configure it to run during lunch time or any other time when you are usually away.
     
     
   • While you are listening to music or watching dvd on your pc, the player is quietly pulling updates from its website. When you first install the player, some of it is pre-configured to pull updates automatically. Now the question is, do you really need these updates ? If it's playing fine, why update ? Disable the update.
     
     
   • Some notebook comes with backup & recovery software. At predetermined time, it will auto backup your notebook data. If you turn on the auto backup feature, perhaps the best time to let the backup run is when you are not using the notebook or when you are away.
     
     
   • Some people have lots of instant messaging installed. So kiasu !
     I have seen people have Google Talk, Skype, MSN messenger & Yahoo messenger all loaded automatically when Windows starts. Needless to say, this again, takes longer time for Windows completely load. Some just dont mind to have this set, as they will start up their notebook & go pangsai first. After they back from toilet, Windows already finished loading. Oii !!! Company pay you to work or to chat !!!
     
     
     
4. If you do not have sufficient RAM, there's an alternative. These days, pc comes with huge hard disk. If you have few Gigs of available disk space to spare, increase Virtual Memory. This is how you do it. Locate your My Computer icon. Right mouse click once, select Properties. Click Advanced. Under Performance, click Settings. Click Advanced - Change.
   When you are done increasing the size, click OK all the way. Windows will use the hard disk space as a medium for temporary storage, just like RAM. But of course, RAM is very cheap now, so it's actually worth to upgrade the pc RAM instead.
   
   
5. Clear your browser cache file (temporary internet files).
   If you are using Internet Explorer, go to TOOLS - Internet Options - General - Delete - Temporary Internet Files.
   If you are using Firefox, Tools - Clear Private Data. Yup! Less painful than Internet Explorer.
   
   
6. Clear your pc junk & unused files.
   Click Start - Run. Key in this word %temp%
   Hit Enter key.
   A folder similar to this will be opened C:\DOCUME~1\User\LOCALS~1\Temp
   Delete all the files located here. As you work with your Microsoft Office file, browsing attachments in email, a temporary copy of the files are stored in this folder. At the end of the day, Bill Gates expect to do the housekeeping yourself. Thanks Bill !
   
   
7. Ensure you have an antivirus & an antispyware program installed on your pc. Not just installed, ensure you run the program at least once a week to kill those son of a bitc* viruses. These menaces will slow down your pc. If you are lucky enough, you might not be able to boot up your pc the next day. So folks, go grab a good antivirus & antispyware program which can be found on the right hand corner link on this blog.
   
   

If all fails, the it's time to feed the crocodile in Klang River. I'm sure the crocodiles love to eat your pc. Make sure you don't jump lah. Go to the nearest pc shop & buy a new pc.

Internet Explorer Hanged

Darnit! Right after updated the security fixes from Windows Automatic Updates last week, my Internet Explorer 7 seems to be hanging more frequent. Anyone out there having the same problem ? Any solution for that ?

This makes me just want to forget Internet Explorer & use Fire Fox instead.

You can download Firefox here. Click on this link.

Convert Document into PDF

This is a must have free tool for your pc.

If you answer 'yes' to all the questions, then this is the right software for you.

• Need to send someone a document & prevent them from editing it ?
  


• If the other person do not have Microsoft Office / Lotus SmartSuite / OpenOfffice installed on his / her pc, will you want them to be able to view your document ?
  


• If your document file size is too huge to be emailed out, will you like to convert it into a smaller file ?
  


• Will you like to have a software which is good & free or charge ?
  

CutePDF Writer is the right solution for you. Download it & click here.
CutePDF Writer converts all your documents (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, any document - you named it) into PDF format.

Happy New Year 2008