Mobile Stories 3 – Advanced Post

Ever since the 5 paise per message scheme was brought into implementation, everyone started not sending messages to anyone. Worse, when the service providers decided to charge extra amount during festival days, every wishes came right before the day. There was a recent festival when I received almost no messages that day because I already got advanced wishes before the day itself.

Some smart service providers decided to charge 50 paise on and before the festive day. Damn! These service providers don’t want people to wish anyone. Every wish became advanced wishes! From Advanced Pongal to Advanced Diwali wishes.

Even a call to a local mobile cost only up to Re.1. That equals the cost of sending two messages on the festive day. So which choice would anyone prefer? It is better to call and speak for a minute than sending two short messages.

This scheme reminds me of something that a friend of mine, who is currently in Singapore, said – that in Singapore, watching a movie on a weekday is more expensive. The reason behind this is that there would be lesser number of visitors during weekdays. But in this 50 paise festival scheme, it is just the reverse. People stopped sending messages just because it is expensive (atleast per 100 messages).

Anyways, wish you all Advance Happy New Year!!!

Viruses: A Pen Drive story

Last semester, a lot of viruses have been spreading in pen drives and it didn’t take longer for a virus to find a seat for itself in my pen drive. The first being the Orkut virus (didn’t know the exact name)

Virus 1:

Affects: Prevents Firefox from opening and also some sites such as Orkut and Youtube,

Harm: Virus created for prank.

I got this virus from a system in my college library. I don’t know how it got into my system but I realized that it is in my system when I tried to open Firefox. It resulted in a dialog box that said

“Use Internet Explorer you dope or else”

Later when I tried to open Orkut using IE, I got another dialog box saying

“Orkut is banned you fool, The administrators didnt write this program guess who did?? MUHAHAHA!!”

The first thing that came into my mind was to google to find out more about the virus and how to delete it. Here is a blog that could help you to delete the virus.

http://my.opera.com/krishnan/blog/index.dml/tag/%22Orkut%20is%20banned%20you%20fool

Virus 2:

Affects: Creates a folder called ‘New Folder.exe’ in your pen drive and creates a copy of every folder in itself with the same name (which is actually a .exe file). For example, if you have a folder called ‘example’, you would find another folder called ‘example.exe’ inside the ‘example’ folder.

Harm: Doesn’t seem to be any harm until you accidentally tried to open the ‘New Folder.exe’ or any of the replicas. If you had done that,

1. you would not be able to open the task manager.
2. you would not be able to open registry editor
3. System slows down.

Symptoms:

1.A folder named “New Folder.exe” created in your pen drive.

2. Right Click on your pen drive. If you find any gibberish language, there is a 99.99% chance that the pen drive is infected with virus.

3. There is a replica of a folder inside each folder.

I didn’t know from where I got this virus, but the first time I found it was in my lab where the system had automatically shut down itself in order to prevent the virus from doing any more damage. It also saved me from the lab session, as I was not able to show my output. Thanks to the virus, cause I was not ready with the output.

The first thing that my friend and I tried to remove the virus was to delete the “New folder.exe” virus and also the replicas. There were more than 200 replicas. Thanks to Search feature in Windows! But the “New Folder” is created once again everytime the pen drive is loaded.

To remove the infections:

Just restore the system to a earlier date when the virus was not there. That will do temporarily to keep the system away from the virus. Now you can reopen the task manager (doesn’t work if you had tried to open “New Folder.exe” before). Beware that the infections come again if you try to load the pen drive again.

To remove the virus:

There are removal tools for this virus. One of the removal tool I came across is

http://technodigits.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/new-folderexe-sohanad-virus-removal-tool/

(Cautious Note: Use the above removal tool at your own risk)

OR

View the Idea of the Month in the post ‘On your March…” to see how to get rid of the Virus in an easy way. (Updated March 7th, 2008)

Virus 3:

Affects: Hides the original folders and replaces it with the replicas of the same folders (but these are .exe files which look like folders)

Harms: Slows down the system. Some devices will be unable to read the memory card if plugged in through USB.

Symptoms:

1. Right Click on your pen drive. If you find any gibberish language, there is a 99.99% chance that the pen drive is infected with virus.

2. Right Click on any folder in your pen drive. If you can find “Run as”, the folder is a virus as no folder can be run as an application.

The important thing to note about this virus is that you wouldn’t even know it actually exists in the pen drive. Neither did I. When I was wondering how I managed to delete Virus 2 in my pen drive, I didn’t even know that another virus was actually in my pen drive.

When you click on the folder, you would feel as if you are opening an exe file but the resultant would be the contents of the folder (I hope you get what I mean). But that is not easy to detect, is it?

What confirmed that the virus was there in my pen drive was when I plugged in a mobile through USB to load songs. But the mobile phone didn’t find any song, as it was unable to find any folder as all it could see was .exe files. I tried to create a new folder and store the songs in it, but the virus’s algorithm is to find any folder (if existed), hide it and create a replica .exe of it. So there was no use doing it.

Cure:

The above sohanad removal tool will work for this virus too.

I deleted them using a Antivirus. But then still the actual folders were not visible. To view the folders, follow these steps.

1. Click on Start -> Run.
2. Go to the command prompt by typing “cmd” (without quotes).
3. Go to the pen drive. For example, if F is your pen drive, type F:
4. in F drive, type the following

F:>attrib –s –h /s /d

5. Wait for sometime and the hidden folders would be automatically restored.

I hope you find all the above information useful. Good luck.

Viruses: A Pen Drive story

Last semester, a lot of viruses have been spreading in pen drives and it didn’t take longer for a virus to find a seat for itself in my pen drive. The first being the Orkut virus (didn’t know the exact name)

Virus 1:

Affects: Prevents Firefox from opening and also some sites such as Orkut and Youtube,

Harm: Virus created for prank.

I got this virus from a system in my college library. I don’t know how it got into my system but I realized that it is in my system when I tried to open Firefox. It resulted in a dialog box that said

“Use Internet Explorer you dope or else”

Later when I tried to open Orkut using IE, I got another dialog box saying

“Orkut is banned you fool, The administrators didnt write this program guess who did?? MUHAHAHA!!”

The first thing that came into my mind was to google to find out more about the virus and how to delete it. Here is a blog that could help you to delete the virus.

http://my.opera.com/krishnan/blog/index.dml/tag/%22Orkut%20is%20banned%20you%20fool

Virus 2:

Affects: Creates a folder called ‘New Folder.exe’ in your pen drive and creates a copy of every folder in itself with the same name (which is actually a .exe file). For example, if you have a folder called ‘example’, you would find another folder called ‘example.exe’ inside the ‘example’ folder.

Harm: Doesn’t seem to be any harm until you accidentally tried to open the ‘New Folder.exe’ or any of the replicas. If you had done that,

1. you would not be able to open the task manager.
2. you would not be able to open registry editor
3. System slows down.

Symptoms:

1.A folder named “New Folder.exe” created in your pen drive.

2. Right Click on your pen drive. If you find any gibberish language, there is a 99.99% chance that the pen drive is infected with virus.

3. There is a replica of a folder inside each folder.

I didn’t know from where I got this virus, but the first time I found it was in my lab where the system had automatically shut down itself in order to prevent the virus from doing any more damage. It also saved me from the lab session, as I was not able to show my output. Thanks to the virus, cause I was not ready with the output.

The first thing that my friend and I tried to remove the virus was to delete the “New folder.exe” virus and also the replicas. There were more than 200 replicas. Thanks to Search feature in Windows! But the “New Folder” is created once again everytime the pen drive is loaded.

To remove the infections:

Just restore the system to a earlier date when the virus was not there. That will do temporarily to keep the system away from the virus. Now you can reopen the task manager (doesn’t work if you had tried to open “New Folder.exe” before). Beware that the infections come again if you try to load the pen drive again.

To remove the virus:

There are removal tools for this virus. One of the removal tool I came across is

http://technodigits.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/new-folderexe-sohanad-virus-removal-tool/

(Cautious Note: Use the above removal tool at your own risk)

Virus 3:

Affects: Hides the original folders and replaces it with the replicas of the same folders (but these are .exe files which look like folders)

Harms: Slows down the system. Some devices will be unable to read the memory card if plugged in through USB.

Symptoms:

1. Right Click on your pen drive. If you find any gibberish language, there is a 99.99% chance that the pen drive is infected with virus.

2. Right Click on any folder in your pen drive. If you can find “Run as”, the folder is a virus as no folder can be run as an application.

The important thing to note about this virus is that you wouldn’t even know it actually exists in the pen drive. Neither did I. When I was wondering how I managed to delete Virus 2 in my pen drive, I didn’t even know that another virus was actually in my pen drive.

When you click on the folder, you would feel as if you are opening an exe file but the resultant would be the contents of the folder (I hope you get what I mean). But that is not easy to detect, is it?

What confirmed that the virus was there in my pen drive was when I plugged in a mobile through USB to load songs. But the mobile phone didn’t find any song, as it was unable to find any folder as all it could see was .exe files. I tried to create a new folder and store the songs in it, but the virus’s algorithm is to find any folder (if existed), hide it and create a replica .exe of it. So there was no use doing it.

Cure:

The above sohanad removal tool will work for this virus too.

I deleted them using a Antivirus. But then still the actual folders were not visible. To view the folders, follow these steps.

1. Click on Start -> Run.
2. Go to the command prompt by typing “cmd” (without quotes).
3. Go to the pen drive. For example, if F is your pen drive, type F:
4. in F drive, type the following

F:>attrib –s –h /s /d

1. Wait for sometime and the hidden folders would be automatically restored.

I hope you find all the above information useful. Good luck.

Bill Please!

What all would people do to avoid tax? Recently I went to a helmet shop to get a helmet lock. It costed 150 bucks. Once I paid the money, he didn’t give me the bill. Usually, I don’t bother about the bill, but this time, something told me to get the bill from him.

“Your wish” was what my friend said, when I asked him outside the shop whether to forget about the bill.

I immediately went inside and asked for the bill. This is what happened between the shopkeeper and me.

Shopkeeper: Oh! You want the bill? It would cost around…

The shopkeeper took out his calci and meddled with it before continuing.

Shopkeeper: …around 20 bucks extra. Do you want it?

He sounded the last few words as if he is very anxious about the reply.

I went out and asked my friend whether to pay the extra amount, meanwhile wondering whether the twenty bucks extra would do anything good for the country.

“Your wish” was again my friend’s reply.

I went back in and…

Myself: Alright! I need the bill

The shopkeeper just nodded his head and reluctantly took out his bill pad.

After reaching a blank page…

Shopkeeper: Are you sure you want to pay extra twenty bucks?

Myself: Yes!

Shopkeeper: Why do you want to waste twenty bucks?

Myself: No problem. I don’t mind

Shopkeeper: Oh! You need the bill for claiming the money, right?

Myself: Ya… something like that

Shopkeeper: Shall I write it in one slip and give it to you?

Myself: No. Make it in a bill.

The shopkeeper finally decided to shut his mouth and let his pen do the action. He scribbled something in his notepad along with the bill details and added VAT charges, and summed it up exactly to 170 bucks. I paid the extra twenty bucks to the shopkeeper, who, at that time, looked like he had suffered huge business loss.

People just want to avoid tax as much as possible. So they follow against the rules. We never get a bill from a grocery store. How much tax charges would they have avoided? It won’t be a surprise if the grocer stares at you as if you are crazy, just because you asked for the bill.

Its happening!

Many peculiar things have been happening recently. First, my college reopens just a week after the exams got over. Very unusual for my college. Attendance is also being taken, which, under the Anna Univ Norms, should begin only during the first week of January. What about the students who got arrear exams? Will they be lacking the attendance? Maybe they would be given the days off on the days of the arrear exam. But what about the study holidays that they might take? Would they be given those days off too? Too many questions raised, yet one more to go. Considering all this, is the attendance being taken only for namesake?

There has been monkeys, not just one, but two roaming in my college. By monkeys, I mean real monkeys. One day, a friend of mine in hostel told me to lock the door before I leave the room cause he mentioned that the monkey might enter the room and mess everything up. I thought he referred a real person as monkey but only later I came to know that there were real monkeys roaming around my college hostel. I myself witnessed two monkeys and assuming that they are of opposite gender, it won’t be long before my college has too many monkeys (unless they are caught and handed over to the concerned authorities). According to Dr.Malcolm from Jurassic Park, “Nature finds its own way”, right?

In Orkut, there was a fake message being spread rapidly across the globe. This message, which stated to be from the Director of Orkut, said that the Orkut has only a few account space left and that Orkut is going to close down the accounts of the members who doesn’t forward that same message to everyone. Clearly, this message is a hoax. Even if the director has sent that message, how would he be able to track that message? A message almost similar to this was sent in Y! Messenger long time back. Another similar message is being spread in Orkut stating the cost details of accounts if the user fails to forward that message to everyone. People forward it without realizing it is a hoax or maybe in fear that it maybe true. Even if the message is true, it is better to be a loser than to be a fool, right?